Death Valley NP Historic Resource Study of Mining Vols 1 and 2

Death Valley NP: Historic Resource Study (Table of Contents)
Death Valley
Historic Resource Study
A History of Mining
TABLE OF CONTENTS
COVER
PREFACE
Volume I — Part 1 of 2
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS — Volume I (Parts 1 and 2)
I. INTRODUCTION TO DEATH VALLEY NATIONAL MONUMENT
A. Summary of Mining Activity
1. Stow Beginnings
2. A New Century Brings Renewed Interest in Metallic and
Nonmetallic Resources
3. Attempts are Made to Regulate Mining Within the National
Monument
4. Validity Tests and Stricter Land-Use Regulations are Imposed
5. Controversial Aspects of Mining in NPS Areas
6. Death Valley National Monument Mining Division
B. Setting
1. Land of Varied Attractions

2. Weather and Temperature
3. Topography
4. Panamint Range
5. Amargosa Range
6. Roads and Trails
7. Water Hoies
8. Tourism
C. A Note on Historical and Archeological Resources of Death

Valley
1. Limited Scope of Present Study

2. Archeological Research and Fieldwork
http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/deva/contents.htm[7/26/2008 3:04:44 PM]

II. EARLY MINING DISTRICTS IN THE OWENS AND PANAMINT

VALLEYS
A. Coso, Russ, Telescope Peak, and Argus Mining Districts
1. Darwin French Expedition

2. S. G. George and New World Mining and Exploration
Company Expeditions
3. Indian Depredations and Crude Mining Methods Hinder
Development
B. Lone Pine Mining District
1. Rise and Fall of Cerro Gordo

2. Reopening of Cerro Gordo
C. Panamint Mining District
1. Panamint City
2. Ballarat
D. New Coso Mining District
1. Darwin
2. Revitalization of the Darwin District
E. Lookout and Modoc Mining Districts
1. Short Existence of Lookout

2. Modoc District Supported by George C. Hearst
F. Summation
III. INVENTORY OF HISTORICAL RESOURCES: THE WEST SIDE
A. Southern Panamints and West Side Road
1. Panamint Mining District
a) Formation and Establishment of Boundaries

b) The District's Future Seems Assured
c) Mining Activity Spreads in Southern Inyo
County
d) Interest in the Panamints Spreads to Nevada
e) Consistent Production Continues into Late
1900s
f) Impact of Panamint and Other Early Mining
Districts on Southern Inyo and Death Valley

History
g) Panamint City
h) Personalities
i) Sites
(1) Wonder (of the World?) Mine, Bob Stewart
Lode, Mina Verde, and Sunnyside
(2) Ino, Jim Davis, Hill Top, Alta, Comstock,
Gold Star, World Beater, Big Bill, Elephant,
Florence, Gem, General Lee, Gold Note, Golden
Terry, Little Till, Lookout, Mammoth, and
Summit Mines
(3) Mohawk Lode
(4) Silver Queen Lode
(5) Homestake Lode, Home Stake Lode
(6) Sheba Lode
(7) Sun Set Mine
(8) Nellie M Mine
(9) Star of the West Mine
(10) Christmas Lode
(11) Christmas Gift Mine and Co., No. 1 Mine
(12) Exchequer Lode
(13) North Star Mine
(14) Argenta Lode
(15) Uncle Sam Lode
(16) Magnet Mine
(17) Grand View Mine, Anaconda Mine
(18) Willow Spring Mine
(19) Mountain Girl Mine
(20) Black Rock Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4
(21) New York, Idaho, and Dolly Varden Mines
(22) Republican Mine
(23) Cooper and Mountain Boy Mines
(24) Valley View Mine
2. Gold Hill Mining District
a) History
(1) Taylor Quartz Mine and Mill Site
(2) Gold Hill Quartz Mine and Mill Site
(3) Death Valley Mine
(4) Treasure Quartz Mine
(5) No. 1 (No One) Mine
(6) Silver Reef (Reefe) Mine
(7) Ibex Mine
(8) May Mine
(9) Breyfogle Mine
(10) Oro Grande Mine
(11) Beckerton Mine.
(12) Georgia Mine
b) Present Status
(1) Gold Hill Area
(2) Panamint Treasure Claim Group
c) Evaluation and Recommendations
(1) Gold Hill Area

(2) Panamint Treasure Mine

d) Related Sites
(1) Arrastre Spring
(a) History
(b) Present Status
(c) Evaluation and Recommendations
3. Butte Valley Mining District
a) History
(1) Warm Springs
(2) Mysic Mill Site
(3) Queen of Sheba Quartz Mining Claim
(4) Golden Eagle Claim
(5) Emigrant Mining Claim
(6) Hidden Treasure, Golden Treasure, and
Bunker Hill Claims
(7) Nutmeg Mine
b) Sites
(1) Anvil Spring
(a) History
(b) Present Status
i) Anvil Spring and "Geologist's Cabin"
ii) Butte Valley Stamp Mill and Environs
i) Anvil Spring and "Geologist's Cabin"
(2) Greater View Spring
(a) History
(b) Present Status
(3) Russell Camp
(a) History
(b) Present Status
(4) Willow Spring
(a) History
(b) Present Status
(5) Squaw Spring
(a) History
(b) Present Status
4. Anvil Spring Canyon
a) History
b) Present Status
5. Wingate Wash
a) History
(1) Location, and Derivation of Name
(2) Chloride Cliff Trail

(3) Twenty-Mule-Team Borax Route

(4) Mining Activity
(5) Epsom Salts Monorail
(6) Development of Manganese and Lead-Silver
Deposits
(7) "Battle" of Wingate Pass
b) Present Status
(2) DV Group of Silver-Lead Lode Mining
Claims
(3) Wingate Pass "Battle" Site
(2) DV Group of Silver-Lead Lode Mining
Claims
6. Panamint Mine
a) History
b) Present Status
7. Warm Spring Canyon Talc Mines
a) Growth of Talc Mining in the Region

b) Growth of Talc Mining in Death Valley
c) Sites
(1) Grantham, Warm Springs, Warm Springs
West, Warm Springs Nos. 2 and 3, and White
Point Mines
(a) History
(b) Present Status
8. Warm Spring Camp (Gold Hill Mill Site)
a) History
b) Present Status
9. Pink Elephant Fluorite Claim
a) History
b) Present Status
10. Other Mineral Deposits in Warm Spring Canyon
a) Barite
b) Fluorite
c) Wollastonite, Feldspar, and Mercury
11. Montgomery (Panamint) Mine

a) History
b) Present Status
12. Carbonate (Carbonite) and Queen of Sheba Mines
a) History
(1) Clarence E. Eddy Locates Original Outcrop
(2) Jack Salsberry Tackles a Multitude of
Problems
(3) Progress of the Carbonate Lead Mines
Company
(4) New Sutherland Divide Mining Company
Takes Over
(5) Waning Years
b) Present Status
13. Galena Canyon Talc Mines
a) Sites
(1) Bonny Mine
(a) History
(b) Present Status
(2) Mongolian Mine
(a) History
(b) Present Status
(3) Mammoth Mine
(a) History
(b) Present Status
(4) Death Valley Mine (White Eagle Claim)
(a) History
(b) Present Status
14. Hungry Bill's Ranch
a) History of Indian Ranching In and Near Death

Valley
b) Hungry Bill and His Family
c) Hungry Bill and Death Valley Mining
d) Mining in Johnson Canyon
e) Hungry Bill's Homestead
f) Present Status of Hungry Bill's Ranch Site
g) Evaluation and Recommendations
15. Hanaupah Canyon Mines
a) History
b) Present Status

16. Trail Canyon Mines
a) History
(1) Death Valley Wonder Mining & Milling
Company
(2) Wild Rose Mining Company
(3) Trail Canyon Mining Company
(4) Old Dependable Antimony Mine
(5) Tungsten Mines
b) Present Status
B. Emigrant Wash and Wildrose Canyon
1. Thorndike Camp
a) History
b) Present Status
2. Wild Rose Mining District
a) Early Activity
b) First Locations
c) Formation of District and Establishment of
Boundaries
d) Mining Companies and Further Locations
e) Heliograph Dispatches
f) Settlement of Emigrant Spring Brings Need for
Road to Keeler
g) More Properties Located Throughout 1940s
h) Historic Wildrose Station
i) Sites
(1) Wildrose Canyon Antimony Mine
(a) History
i) Possible Site of Earliest Mine Location in
Monument
ii) Antimony Mining in the Region
iii) Development of the Monarch,
Combination, and Monopoly Mines and the
Kennedy Claim
(b) Present Status
(2) Wildrose Spring Cave House
(a) History
(b) Present Status
(3) A Canyon Mine
(a) History
(b) Present Status
(4) Nemo Canyon Mines
(a) History

(b) Present Status

III. INVENTORY OF HISTORICAL RESOURCES: THE WEST SIDE

(continued)
B. Emigrant Wash and Wildrose Canyon (continued)
2. Wild Rose Mining District (continued)
(5) Christmas (Gift) Mine

(a) History
(b) Present Status
(6) Bald Peak Mine.
(a) History
(b) Present Status
(7) Argenta Mine
(a) History
(b) Present Status
(8) Napoleon Mine
(a) History
(b) Present Status
(9) Harrisburg
(a) History
i) Shorty Harris and Pete Aguereberry Strike
Ore on Providence Ridge
ii) The Area Fills Up Rapidly
iii) Cashier Gold Mining Company is Formed
iv) A Multitude of Claims are Located in the
Area
v) A Mill Appears Imminent
vi) Litigation Over Aguereberry's Eureka Mine
vii) Cashier Mill Opens for Business
viii) Waning Years
ix) Mines in the Harrisburg Vicinity
(b) Present Status
(10) Jordan Mine
(a) History
(b) Present Status
(a) History
(b) Present Status


(13) Journigan's Mill
(a) History
(b) Present Status
(14) Mill Site North of Journigan's Mill
(a) History
(b) Present Status
(15) Gold King Mine
(a) History
(b) Present Status
(16) Tiny and Sunset Mines
(a) History
(b) Present Status
(17) Cabin 1-1/2 Miles Southeast of Skidoo
(18) Blue Bell (Garibaldi) Mine
(a) History
(b) Present Status
(19) Skidoo
(a) History
i) Ramsey and Thompson's Great Discovery
ii) E. A. Montgomery Acquires the Property
iii) Granite Contact Mines Company
iv) A Townsite is Established
v) A Communications Link to Rhyolite
Needed
vi) The Skidoo News Arrives
vii) Conditions Continue Promising
viii) Leases Opened on the Skidoo Mines
Company Property
ix) The Townsite Expands
x) Transportation Problems Arise
xi) Continuing Activity by the Skidoo Mines
Company
xii) Skidoo Continues Systematic
Development
xiii) The Skidoo Pipeline is Finally a Reality
xiv) The Hanging of Joe Simpson
xv) The Skidoo Mill Supports the Town
xvi) A Fire and Litigation Bring an End to
Mining Activity
xvii) Revival of Mining in the Area in the
Later 1900s
(b) Present Status
i) Skidoo Mine and Mill
ii) Del Norte Group
iii) Skidoo Historic District
(20) Saddle Rock (Saddlerock) Mine
(a) History

(b) Present Status

(21) Nellie Grant and Uncle Sam Mines
(22) Junietta, Blizzard, and Virgin Mines
(23) Tucki Mine
(a) History
(b) Present Status
(24) Telephone Spring
(a) History
(b) Present Status
(25) McLean Spring
(26) Lemoigne Mine and Junction Camp
(a) History
i) John Lemoigne Arrives in Death Valley
ii) Lemoigne Properties
iii) Lemoigne Castle at Garlic Spring
iv) Controversy Surrounding Lemoigne's
Death
v) Later History of the Lemoigne Mine
(b) Present Status
C. Cottonwood Mountains
1. Hunter Cabin
a) History
b) Present Status
2. Ubehebe Mining District
a) Copper Veins Attract Attention

b) Boston Capitalists Become Interested
c) Rising Copper Prices Benefit Ubehebe
d) Townsites are Discussed and a Mining District
Formed
e) Ubehebe Copper Mines and Smelter Company
Determines to Construct Railroad into Area
f) Work Continues Despite Panic of 1907
g) Mining in Ubehebe Hampered by Isolation and
Transportation Problems
h) Variety of Metals and Nonmetals Contribute to
Ubehebe's Production Record
i) Other Ubehebe Properties
j) Sites
(1) Ulida Mine and Ulida Flat Site
(a) History
(b) Present Status
i) Ulida Flat Site
ii) Ulida Mine


i) Ulida Flat Site
ii) Ulida Mine
(2) Goldbelt (Gold Belt) Spring and Mining
District
(a) History
(b) Present Status
(3) Ubehebe Mine
(a) History
(b) Present Status
(4) Lost Burro Mine
(a) History
(b) Present Status
(5) Lippincott (Lead King) Mine
(a) History
(b) Present Status
(6) Ubehebe, Keeler, and Quackenbush Talc
Mines
(a) History
i) Ubehebe (Stone Pencil) Mine
ii) Keeler (White Horse) Mine
iii) Quackenbush (Gold Belt) Mine
(b) Present Status
i) Ubehebe Mine
ii) Keeler Mine
iii) Quackenbush Mine
(c) Evaluations and Recommendations
3. Skookum Mining District
a) Death Valley Gold Mining Company Working

Property Near Sand Spring
b) World Exploration Company Enters Area
c) Demise of Mining Operations
D. The Valley Floor
1. Presenting Death Valley to the World
a) Resorts Open in the 1920s

b) Tourism Increases When Area Becomes
National Monument
2. Stovepipe Wells Hotel
a) History
(1) Old Stovepipe Wells
(2) Eichbaum Toll Road Brings Visitors to Death
Valley

(3) Construction of the Resort Begins

(4) Easter Sunrise Celebration the First of
Several New Tourist Services
(5) Toll Road Abolished After Creation of
National Monument
b) Present Status
3. Furnace Creek Inn
a) History
(1) Pacific Coast Borax Company Foresees
Tourist Potential of Region
(2) Union Pacific and Santa Fe Railroads
Encouraged to Promote Death Valley
(3) Furnace Creek Inn Opens to the Public
(4) Sightseeing in the Valley
b) Present Status
4. Furnace Creek Ranch
a) History
(1) Greenland Ranch Supplies Food to Borax
Workers and Serves as Mule Train Depot
(2) Pacific Coast Borax Company Takes Over
Ownership, and Ranch Becomes Friendly Oasis
for Prospectors
(3) Precautions Necessary Because of
Unbearable Summer Heat
(4) Indian Population
(5) Ranch Contemplated as Health Resort
(6) Official Weather Station
(7) Date Growing Introduced
(8) Ranch Turned into Tourist Resort
b) Present Status
5. Nevares Cabin and Homestead
a) History
b) Present Status
6. Corduroy Road
a) History
b) Present Status
7. Shoveltown
a) History
b) Present Status

E. Furnace Creek
1. Borax Mining in Death Valley
a) Early Production in Region Limited

b) Harmony and Eagle Borax Works Process
"Cottonballs"
c) Discovery of Colemanite Revolutionizes
Industry
d) Pacific Coast Borax Company Turns Attention
to Calico Mountain Deposits
e) Borax Mining Returns to Death Valley and the
Lila C.
f) The Death Valley Railroad Shifts Activity to
(New) Ryan
2. Furnace Creek Wash
a) History
(1) Early Mining Districts
(2) Development of Area by Pacific Coast Borax
Company
b) Present Status
(1) Dantes View Road Sites #1 and #2
(2) DeBely Mine
(3) Corkscrew (Screw) Mine
(4) Monte Blanco
(5) Gower Gulch
(1) Importance of Borax in Death Valley Mining
History
(2) Variety of Cultural Resources Present
(3) National Register Nominations
APPENDIXES
A. Mining Laws of the Panamint Mining District, 1873

B. Establishment of Rose Springs Mining District, 1888
C. Organization and Laws of Monte Blanco Borax and Salt Mining
District, 1882
D. By-Laws of Death Valley Borax and Salt Mining District, 1883
Volume II — Part 1 of 2
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS/LIST OF MAPS — Volume II (Parts 1 and 2)
IV. INVENTORY OF HISTORIC RESOURCES--THE EAST SIDE

A. The Bullfrog Hills
1. Introduction
2. Original Bullfrog Mine
a) History
b) Present Status, Evaluation and
Recommendations
3. Miscellaneous Bullfrogs and Tadpoles
a) Bullfrog Extension Mining Company

b) Big Bullfrog Mining Company
c) Bullfrog Fraction
d) Bullfrog Apex Mining and Milling Company
e) Original Bullfrog Extension
f) Bullfrog Red Mountain-- Rhyolite Bullfrog
g) Present Status, Evaluation and
Recommendations
4. Bullfrog West Extension Mine
a) History
Recommendations
5. Gold Bar Mine
a) History
b) Miscellaneous Gold Bars
c) Present Status, Evaluation and
Recommendations
6. Homestake-King Mine
a) History
b) Miscellaneous Homestakes
c) Present Status, Evaluation and
Recommendations
7. Las Vegas and Tonopah Railroad
a) History
Recommendations
8. Leadfield
a) History
Recommendations
9. Miscellaneous Bullfrog Hills Properties
a) Happy Hooligan Mine

b) Currie Well
c) Mexican Camp
d) Phinney Mine
e) Strozzi Ranch
B. The Funeral Range
1. Introduction
2. Chloride Cliff
a) History
Recommendations
3. Keane Wonder Mine
a) History
Recommendations
4. Johnnie Cyty and the Big Bell Mine
a) History
(1) Big Bell Mine
(2) Cyty's Mill
Recommendations
(1) Big Bell Mine
(2) Cyty's Mill
5. South Bullfrog Mining District
a) History
b) Death Valley Lone Star Mine
c) Capricorn Mine
d) Howard Little Exploration Company
e) Monarch Canyon Mine
(1) History
(2) Present Status, Evaluation and
Recommendations
f) King Midas Claim
g) Keane Springs and Townsite
(1) History
Recommendations
IV. INVENTORY OF HISTORIC RESOURCES--THE EAST SIDE

(continued)

B. The Funeral Range (continued)
6. Echo-Lee Mining District
a) History
b) Lee, California
c) Hayseed Mine
d) Present Status, Evaluation and
Recommendations
7. Echo Canyon
a) Inyo Gold Mine

(1) History
Recommendations
b) Schwab Townsite
(1) History
Recommendations
c) Echo Townsite
d) Miscellaneous Echo-Lee District Sites
e) General Echo-Lee District Recommendations
C. The Black Mountains
1. Introduction
2. The Greenwater District
a) History
Recommendations
(1) Greenwater, Furnace and Kunze
(2) Greenwater Springs
(3) "Coffin" Mine
3. Greenwater District Mines
a) Mines and Mining in Greenwater

b) Furnace Creek Copper Company
c) Greenwater Death Valley Copper Company
d) Kempland Copper Company
e) Greenwater Death Valley Copper Mining
Company
f) The Greenwater Boom
4. Greenwater Suburbs
a) Willow Creek and Gold Valley

(1) History
Recommendations
b) Rhodes Springs
(1) History


Recommendations
c) Virgin Springs
(1) History
Recommendations
5. Miscellaneous Black Mountain Properties
a) Desert Hound Mine

(1) History
Recommendations
b) Ashford Mine and Mill
(1) History
Recommendations
c) Confidence Mine and Mill
(1) History
Recommendations
d) Bradbury Well
D. South Death Valley and the Ibex Hills
1. Introduction
2. The Ibex Springs Region
a) Ibex Hills Gold and Silver Mining

(1) History
Recommendations
b) Ibex Springs Area Talc Mines
(1) History
Recommendations
c) Ibex Springs
(1) History
Recommendations
3. Gold and Nitrate
a) Amargosa Gold Placers

(1) History
Recommendations
b) Amargosa Nitrate Mines
(1) History
Recommendations
4. The Saratoga Springs Region

a) Saratoga Springs Area Talc Mines

(1) History
Recommendations
b) Saratoga Springs
(1) History
Recommendations
V. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR TREATMENT OF DEATH VALLEY

MINING SITES
A. General Proposals
B. National Register Properties
C. List of Classified Structures
GLOSSARY
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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deva/hrs/contents.htm
Last Updated: 22-Dec-2003

Death Valley NP: Historic Resource Study (History of Mining)
Death Valley
A History of Mining
Death Valley National Monument

A History of Mining
Volume I (Parts 1 and 2)

Linda W. Greene
Volume II (Parts 1 and 2)

John A. Latschar
March 1981
Historic Preservation Branch

Pacific Northwest/Western Team
Denver Service Center
National Park Service
U.S. Department of the Interior
Denver, Colorado
TABLE OF CONTENTS
http://www.nps.gov/deva/hrs/index.htm
Last Updated: 13-Jun-2003
http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/deva/index.htm[7/26/2008 3:04:48 PM]

Death Valley NP: Historic Resource Study (Preface)
Death Valley
A History of Mining
PREFACE
This Historic Resource Study is the culmination of a two-year-plus research
project focusing on the mining history of Death Valley National Monument. Its
purposes are manifold:
1. to comply with E. O. 11593 with respect to the monument's mining history,

emphasizing hard-rock mining, by producing an overview of the various mining
phases in the valley and by completing individual narratives of each camp and
mine;
2. to identify sites with sufficient integrity to justify their nomination to the

National Register, and to thus hopefully correct an imbalance on that official
listing by adding sites and structures significant in the very important theme of
westward mining expansion;
3. to provide needed information relative to the significance of historical

structures and sites located on patented or valid mining claims to ensure that
their continued existence is not jeopardized by further mineral development;
4. to gain for monument interpreters information that has not heretofore been
compiled on the area's cultural, historical, and industrial heritage, and thus
influence future park interpretive programs and visitor-use plans;
5. to enable park management to determine methods of treatment or disposal of

surviving relics of the valley's mining past. This involves questions pertinent to
visitor safety, such as which dangerously-exposed shafts and adits may be
capped, and which dilapidated, unsightly structures are not deemed sufficiently
significant to warrant expenditure of time and money in their stabilization or
restoration
6. to furnish a sound reference base for future park planning efforts; and, last but
not least,
7. to dispel or at least qualify as many as possible of the myths and legends

concerning the monument's history that have been promulgated by generations of
writers and that have no basis in historical fact.
The writers sincerely hope that they have succeeded in fulfilling these objectives
in a helpful and satisfactory manner.
In 1975 a team of National Park Service professionals assembled to prepare a

List of Classified Structures for the Western Regional Office. Utilizing Ben
Levy's 1969 history study of Death Valley to determine the scope of the project
http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/deva/preface.htm[7/26/2008 3:04:50 PM]

in that particular area, the team then proceeded with an on-site survey of the
monument in December of that year. During the next six months they performed
research in mining journals and other sources as time and projects permitted,
under the guidance of the regional historian. On the basis of this entire effort a
revised estimate of the scope of the research problem in Death Valley was made,
resulting in the funding of this more thorough mining history.
The amassing of data for this report has been an exhaustive and time-consuming
task made bearable primarily by the enthusiastic cooperation of many individuals
and institutions. The writers would first like to extend their thanks to former
Superintendent Donald M. Spalding and to Superintendent George Von der
Lippe and the various members of their staff who made our visits to the park
pleasant and profitable during the course of our research and fieldwork. Chief
Ranger Richard S. Rayner arranged several times for rangers to serve as
chauffeurs and guides into some of the more remote sections of the monument,
and their familiarity with the area and willingness to traverse miles of rugged
terrain probably saved both writers from becoming additional "Death Valley
victims." Robert T. Mitcham, mining engineer, and Anne Madsen, then of the
mining office, contributed information from their vast files and knowledge of the
area, in addition to xeroxing services, that greatly facilitated the research effort.
Mr. Mitcham's knowledge of all aspects of the park's mining operations is indeed
impressive. Also to be thanked is Virgil I . Olson, Chief Interpreter, who freely
lent negatives from the visitor center photograph file for use in our report and
assisted in other ways with interpretive information
Several private individuals were also consulted, who were either frequent visitors
to the area or else are engaged in personal research on some facet of the valley's
history. They were all most generous with their time and knowledge of the
region, and include William G. Fiero, University of Nevada at Las Vegas, and
Richard E. Lingenfelter, University of California at San Diego.
Many institutions also provided assistance, and the authors would like to thank
the staffs of the California Historical Society; the Bancroft Library; the
California State Bureau of Mines and Geology; the California State Library; the
Nevada State Library; the University of Nevada-Reno Library; the Colorado
School of Mines Library; the University of Colorado Library; the California
Secretary of State's Office in Sacramento; the South Dakota Secretary of State's
Office in Pierre; the Office of the Nye County Recorder and Auditor in Tonopah,
Nevada; the Office of the Inyo County Clerk-Recorder, Independence,
California; the United States Geological Survey Library in Denver; and the
National Archives and Records Service of the General Services Administration,
the Library of Congress, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Washington, D.C.
On several occasions, certain individuals stood out from the crowd in their
enthusiasm, interest, and expertise. Chief among these was Guy Rocha, Curator
of Manuscripts for the Nevada State Historical Society. A special debt of
gratitude also goes to Ruth Larison, the overworked Librarian of the Denver
Service Center, who spent much time and effort in securing research material
and microfilm copies of early mining papers and journals for our perusal.
Finally, we wish to acknowledge the guidance and moral support offered by our
colleagues Gordon Chappell, Western Regional Historian, San Francisco, and
Erwin N. Thompson, Senior Historian, Pacific Northwest/Western Team, Denver
Service Center, on this study, our first research project for the National Park

Service.
Linda W. Greene
John A. Latschar
November 1979
deva/hrs/preface.htm

Death Valley NP: Historic Resource Study (List of Illustrations and Maps)
Death Valley
A History of Mining
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS
1. "Mining Map of Inyo County," by J. M. Keeler, 1883

2. Ballarat in 1913
3. Ballarat in 1973
4. Darwin, about 1908
5. "Map of Inyo County Cal." 1914.
6. Panamint City, 1875
7. Panamint City Mill, about 1877
8. Ruins of Panamint City smelter, no date
9. Area of early mining camps west of Death Valley (north half)
10. Area of early mining camps west of Death Valley (south half)
11. Map of Gold Hill and Butte Valley mining districts
12. Ruins of stone structure on Gold Hill, from northwest
13. Ruins of stone structure on Gold Hill, from southwest
14. Panamint Treasure Claim
15. Air compressor, Panamint Treasure Mine
16. Working adit, Panamint Treasure Mine
17. Adit used as living quarters, Panamint Treasure Mine
18. Metal tramway terminus, Panamint Treasure Mine
19. Route of aerial tramway, Panamint Treasure Mine
20. Tent site, Panamint Treasure Mine
21. Adit near tent site, Panamint Treasure Mine
22. Petroglyphs near Arrastre Spring
23. Petroglyphs near Arrastre Spring
24. Arrastra at Arrastre Spring
25. Close-up view of arrastra wall, Arrastre Spring
26. "Geologist's Cabin," Anvil Spring, north and east elevations
27. "Geologist's Cabin," west and south elevations
28. "Geologist's Cabin," interior, north wall
29. "Geologist's Cabin," interior, south wall
30. Butte Valley Stamp Mill
31. Concrete foundations, Butte Valley Stamp Mill
32. Stamp casing, Butte Valley Mill
33. Water reservoir, Butte Valley
34. Big Blue #1 Mine, Butte Valley
35. Tent site (?), Butte Valley
36. Cave house, Butte Valley
37. Lead mine, Butte Valley
38. Carl Mengel at his home in Butte Valley, 1940
http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/deva/illustrations.htm[7/26/2008 3:04:52 PM]

39. Mengel cabin at Anderson Camp, Greater View Spring

40. Panoramic view, Anderson Camp
41. Russell Camp, Butte Valley
42. Old mining equipment on display, Russell Camp
43. Cabin ruins at Willow Spring, Butte Valley, 1975
44. Cabin ruins at Willow Spring, 1978
45. Cistern near Willow Spring
46. Mill foundations east of Willow Spring
47. Cabin, Squaw Spring
48. Map of Wingate Wash area
49. Devil's Golf Course Road, pre-1930s
50. Borax routes in the Death Valley region
51. Route of Epsom salts monorail
52. Epsom salts monorail, about 1924
53. Monorail in Wingate Pass, 1935
54. Monorail supports in Wingate Pass
55. Map of Warm Spring Canyon mining area
56. Panamint Talc Mine
57. Buildings east of Panamint Talc Mine
58. Site map, Warm Spring Canyon talc mines
59. Adit north of Warm Spring Canyon road
60. Adit south of Warm Spring Canyon road
61. Grantham Mine, Warm Spring Canyon
62. Warm Spring No. 6 Mine, Warm Spring Canyon
63. Warm Spring Mine, Warm Spring Canyon
64. Warm Spring West and Nos. 2 and 3 Mines, Warm Spring Canyon
65. No. 4 and White Point workings, Warm Spring Canyon
66. Mine adjacent to Warm Spring mining camp in Warm Spring Canyon
67. Talc mines, Warm Spring Canyon
68. CCC Camp, Warm Spring, 1934
69. Warm Spring (Grantham) mine camp
70. Warm Spring camp and former ore-processing machinery (Gold Hill Mill
site)
71. Diesel engine and ore bin, Gold Hill Mill site
72. Arrastra, Gold Hill Mill site
73. Blake jaw crusher, Gold Hill Mill site
74. Ball-mill, Gold Hill Mill site
75. Cone crusher, Gold Hill Mill site
76. Pink Elephant Mine
77. Compressor house foundations, Pink Elephant Mine
79. Miner's cabin on road to Montgomery (Panamint) Mine
80. Earliest workings at Montgomery (Panamint) Mine
81. Old ore bin, Montgomery (Panamint) Mine
82. Carbonate Mine
83. Queen of Sheba Mine and Mill site, 1962
84. Queen of Sheba Mill site
85. Queen of Sheba ore bin and mill ruins
86. Map of Galena Canyon mining area
87. Bonny Talc Mine, Galena Canyon
88. Death Valley Talc Mine, Galena Canyon
89. Platform area, Death Valley Talc Mine
90. Kennedy Minerals Camp, Galena Canyon
91. Map of Johnson Canyon, showing area of proposed Hungry Bill's Ranch

Historic District
92. Arrastra in Johnson Canyon
93. Arrastra in Johnson Canyon
94. Drift fence, Johnson Canyon
95. Arrastra, Johnson Canyon
96. Stone wall of corral, Johnson Canyon
97. Stone pen, Hungry Bill's Ranch site
98. Hungry Bill's Ranch site, view to northwest
99. Stone windbreak (?), Hungry Bill's Ranch site
100. Building site, Hungry Bill's Ranch site
101. Map of Hanaupah Canyon mining area
102. Mine camp, South Fork of Hanaupah Canyon
103. Mine road in Hanaupah Canyon
104. Map of Trail Canyon mining area
105. Ronald "A" #1 Mine and camp, Middle Fork, Trail Canyon, 1962
106. Ronald "A" #4 Mine, Middle Fork, Trail Canyon, 1962
107. Broken Pick Millsite and Small Hill Millsite, Middle Fork, Trail Canyon,
1962
108. Broken Pick Mine, North Fork, Trail Canyon, 1962
109. Lucky Find Millsites *1 and #2, South Fork, Trail Canyon, 1962
110. Map of Wild Rose Mining District (south half)
111. Sleeping cabin, Thorndike Camp
112. Garage and shop, Thorndike Camp
113. Toilet, Thorndike Camp
114. Water tank, Thorndike Camp
115. Living quarters, Thorndike Camp
116. Cabin, Thorndike Camp
117. Kitchen and dining room, Thorndike Camp
118. Laundry and shower room, Thorndike Camp
119. Layout of Thorndike homestead
120. Goldfish pond (?), Thorndike Campground
121. Stone steps and wall, Thorndike Campground
122. Emigrant Spring, no date
123. Wildrose Station, Wildrose Canyon, 1964
124. Wagon roads in western Death and Panamint valleys, 1907
125. Prospect, Wildrose Antimonium Group of Mines
126. Wood debris, Wildrose Antimonium Group of Mines
127. Entrance to cave house, Wildrose Spring
128. Cave house and adjacent building site (?)
129. Headframe and tool shed, A Canyon Mine
130. Forge, A Canyon Mine
131. Moonlight Claims, Nemo Canyon
132. Nemo #1 Mine (Christmas Mine)
133. Christmas Mine camp

134. Caved-in shaft, Christmas Mine
135. Skidoo pipeline support, Christmas Mine area
136. Shaft lined with pinyon pine logs, Christmas Mine
137. Open stope, Christmas Mine
138. Metal cabin at mine miles northwest of Bald Peak

139. Ore bin at mine 1-1/2 miles northwest of Bald Peak

140. Main street, Argenta Mine, 1969
141. Main street and upper workings, Argenta Mine, 1969
142. Main street, Argenta Mine, 1978
143. Upper workings, Argenta Mine, 1978
144. Shaft and ore chute, Napoleon Mine
145. Ore bin and collapsed chute, Napoleon Mine
146. Map of Emigrant Canyon and Wild Rose Mining District (north half)
147. Harrisburg Camp, 1908
148. Pete Aguereberry, no date
149. Cashier Mill ruin and Pete Aguereberry, 1916
150. Aguereberry Camp, 1978
151. Collapsed dugout, Aguereberry Camp
152. Eureka Mine, Harrisburg
153. Stone dugout near Cashier Mill ruin, Harrisburg
154. Cashier Mill ruin
155. Dugout, Harrisburg hill
156. Journigan Mining and Milling Co., 1935
157. Buildings on Journigan's Mill site, 1962
158. Journigan's Mill ruins
159. Cyanide tanks, Journigan's Mill
160. Stamp on hill below cyanide tanks, Journigan's Mill ruins
161. Cyanide mill ruins north of Journigan's Mill
162. Cyanide tank at mill ruin north of Journigan's Mill
163. Shaft, Gold King Mine
164. Dugout, Gold King Mine
165. Mill ruin, Tiny Mine
166. Reservoir, Tiny Mine
167. Building site, Tiny Mine
168. Headframe, Sunset Mine
169. Cabin 1 miles southeast of Skidoo
170. Cabin 1 miles southeast of Skidoo
171. Stock certificate, Garibaldi Mining Co
172. Cabin on Blue Bell mining claim
173. Hanging Cliff Mill site
174. Aerial tramway, Hanging Cliff mill site
175-176. Two stone dugouts, Garibaldi Mine site
177. Adit, Garibaldi Mine
178. Ruins of stone mill buildings, Garibaldi Mine
179. Office of Skidoo News, 1907
180. Plat of the town of Skidoo, January 1907
181. Plat of the town of Skidoo, May 1907
182. Rhyolite-Skidoo stage
183. Skidoo Club, 1907
184. Townsite of Skidoo, 1907
185. Community of Emigrant Spring(s), 1907
186. Skidoo Mines Co. camp, 1907
187. Skidoo Mines Co. headquarters building, 1943
188. Skidoo Mines Co. stock certificate
189. Team hauling Skidoo pipeline, 1907
190. Skidoo Mines Co. camp, 1909
191. Skidoo Mines Co. mill, 1909
192. Skidoo townsite, post-March 1907
193. Skidoo townsite, 1916

194. Skidoo Mines Company camp, 1916?

195. Skidoo main street, 1916?
196. Skidoo townsite, 1916?
197. View east of Skidoo townsite, 1978
198. Ruins of Skidoo Mill
199. Stamps in Skidoo Mill
200. Kennedy Mine near Skidoo, 1916?
201. Remains of heap cyanide leaching process, Del Norte Mine site
202. Digging up Skidoo pipeline, CCC crew
203. Skidoo pipeline scar across Harrisburg Flat
204. Masonry support for Skidoo pipeline
205. Mining activity at Saddle Rock Mine
206. Adit, Saddle Rock Mine
207. Tucki Mine, 1975
208. Tucki Mine, 1978
209. Mill ruin, Telephone Spring
210. Arrastra gold mill, Telephone Spring, 1934
211. Wooden bridge, McLean Spring
212. Map of Lemoigne Canyon
213-214. John Lemoigne, about 1915
215. John Lemoigne, no date
216. Tramway, mine dumps, ore bin in Lemoigne Canyon
217. Building foundations and debris, Lemoigne Canyon
218. Stone dugout, Lemoigne Mine
219. Tent site, Lemoigne Canyon junction camp
220. Grave of John Lemoigne
221. Map of Hunter Mountain
222. Map showing "Hunter Ranch," 1924
223. Map showing "Hunter Ranch," 1927
224. Hunter cabin
225. Corral complex, Hunter cabin
226. Map of Ubehebe Mining District
227. Advertisement for Lost Spanish Mine, Ubehebe Mining District
228. Ubehebe Mining District, 1908
229. White Top Mountain mining area
230. Tin Mountain mining area
231. Ulida Flat site
232. Stone smelter, Ulida Mine
233. Main adit, Ulida Mine
234. Garden, Goldbelt Spring, 1959
235. Ruins of community at Goldbelt Spring
236. Loading dock, Cal-Met Mine
237. Mine workings and aerial tramway, Ubehebe Mine
238. Cabins, Ubehebe Mine
239. Cabin, Lost Burro Mine
240. Mine workings, Lost Burro Mine
241. Ruins of stamp mill, Lost Burro Mine
242. Map showing Tin and White Top Mountain mining areas and approximate
route of Lost Burro Mine pipeline to Burro Spring
243. Sally Ann Copper Mine
244. Mining camp, Lippincott Lead Mine
245. Lead King Mine
246. Stope, Lippincott Lead Mine
247. Mine camp, Lippincott Lead Mine

248. Cabins, Lippincott Lead Mine

249. Cabin, Ubehebe Talc Mine
250. Mine workings, Ubehebe Talc Mine
251. Headframe and ruins, Keeler Talc Mine
252. Dozer cut, White Horse #2 Claim
253. Headframe, Quackenbush Talc Mine
254. Adit and headframe, Quackenbush Talc Mine
255. Map showing old Stovepipe Wells, Stovepipe Wells Hotel, Eichbaum Toll
Road route, and McLean Spring
256. Bottle dugout, old Stovepipe Wells
257. Stovepipe Wells waystation, 1908
258. Present old Stovepipe Wells site
259. Eichbaum toll road and "Bungalow City," Ca. 1920s
261. Map showing Nevares cabin, Furnace Creek Ranch, Furnace Creek Inn,
Corduroy Road, Shoveltown, and Furnace Creek Wash sites
262. Union Pacific tour bus used by Death Valley Hotel Company
263. Aerial view, Furnace Creek Inn
265. Furnace Creek Ranch, about 1909
266. Furnace Creek Ranch, about 1915
267. Furnace Creek Ranch, 1916
288. Date orchard, Furnace Creek Ranch
269. Entrance, Furnace Creek Ranch
270. Dolph Nevares, no date
271. Nevares homestead, 1950
272. Entrance to Nevares cabin
273. Entrance to root cellar, Nevares homestead
274. Pelton wheel, Nevares cabin
275. View east along Corduroy Road
276. Bridge on Corduroy Road
277. Site of Shoveltown, 1969
278. Furrowed salt mud at Shoveltown, 1969
279. Ruins of buildings, and waste dumps, at LilaC Mine, 1943
280. Ryan, 1964
281. Map showing (New) Ryan, Dantes View road sites, and DeBely Mine
282. Adit, Dantes View Road site #1
283. Adits and stone mound, Dantes View Road site #2
284. Stone wall, Dantes View Road site *2
285. DeBely Mine
286. Corkscrew Mine
287. Adit along Twenty-Mule-Team Canyon Road
288. Sandbag dugout near Monte Blanco
289. Monte Blanco
290. Stone loading platform and wooden chute on face of Monte Blanco
291. Wagon road and mining area east of Monte Blanco
292. Stone mounds at borax site east of Monte Blanco
293. View of Eagle Borax Works showing stone mound similar to those found at
Monte Blanco and other borax sites in monument
294. Monte Blanco assay office/bunkhouse, Twenty-Mule-Team Canyon
295. Cellar of Monte Blanco assay office
296. Tent site across road from Monte Blanco assay office site
297. Wagon road from Zabriskie Point to Gower Gulch
298. Building site in Gower Gulch

299. Two types of stone structures found in Gower Gulch

300. Scene of borax mining activity at west end of Gower Gulch
301. Trail leading over ridge from borax mining site in Gower Gulch
1. Advertisement for Bullfrog Townsite, June 1905

2. Bullfrog, November 1905
3. Rhyolite, Nevada, November 1905
4. Rhyolite Brokerage House, June 1906
5. Death Valley Victim
6. Rhyolite, Nevada, February 1909
7. John S. Cook Bank ruins, 1978
8. Rhyolite jail ruins, '1978
9. Golden Street, Rhyolite, 1978
10. Rhyolite school, 1978
11. Stock Certificate, Original Bullfrog Mines Syndicate, 1908
12. Original Bullfrog mine, summer 1905
13. Original Bullfrog mine, November 1905
14. Original Bullfrog mine, June 1906
15. Big Bullfrog mine, November 1905
16. Stock Certificate, Bullfrog Apex Mining & Milling Company
17. Advertisement, Bullfrog Apex Mining & Milling Company, November 1905
18. Disputed Ground Around Original Bullfrog mine, July 1906
19. Bullfrog Extension mine, 1978
20. Advertisement, Bullfrog West Extension Mining Company, October 1905
21. Advertisement, West Extension Leasing and Milling Company, February
1908
22. West Extension and Original Bullfrog mines, March 1907
23. West Extension and Original Bullfrog mines, from site of Amargosa, 1978
24. West Extension and Original Bullfrog mine ruins, 1978
25. Original Bullfrog mine, 1978
26. West Extension mine, 1978
27. Gold Bar and Homestake mining camp, November 1905
28. Gold Bar and Homestake mines, 1905
29. Gold Bar shaft and whim, November 1905
30. Gold Bar mine, June 1096
31. Gold Bar hoisting plant, June 1906
32. Stock Certificate, Gold Bar Consolidated Mining Company, 1908
33. Gold Bar-Homestake camp, January 1908
34. Gold Bar Mill, January 1908
35. Gold Bar-Homestake camp, June 1906
36. Homestake hoist, June 1906
37. Homestake-King Mill, May 1908
38. Homestake-Gold Bar camp, June 1908
39. Battery room, Homestake-King Mill, June 1908
40. Tube mills, Homestake-King Mill, June 1908
41. Homestake-Gold Bar camp, 1978
42. Gold Bar mine, 1978
43. Gold Bar Mill, 1978
44. Homestake-King headframe, 1978

45. Homestake-King Mill foundations, 1978

46. Homestake-King Mill foundations, 1978
47. Homestake-King Mill ruins, 1978
48a. 48b. Two views of Las Vegas & Tonopah Railroad grade, 1978
49a. 49b. Two views of Las Vegas & Tonopah Railroad grade, 1978
50a. 50b.Las Vegas & Tonopah Railroad station, Rhyolite, Nevada 1978
51. Advertisement, Death Valley Consolidated Mining Company, March 1906
52. Leadfield rush scene, ca. 1926
53. Leadfield, March 1926
54. Leadfield, ca 1926
55a. 55b. Two views of Leadfield, 1978
56. Western Lead mine ruins, 1978
57. Main street, Leadfield, 1978
58. Advertisement, Happy Hooligan Mining Company, March 1906
59. Happy Hooligan mine ruins, 1978
60. Currie Well, 1978
61. Phinney Mine ruins, 1978
62. Strozzi Ranch, 1978
63. Stock Certificate, Death Valley Mining & Milling Company, 1905
64. Franklin mine, 1978
65. One-stamp mill below Franklin mine, 1978
66. Chloride City dugouts, 1978
67. Chloride City site, 1978
68. Chloride City boarding house ruins, 1978
69. Chloride City gravesite, 1978
70. 1916 Lane mill ruins, 1978
71. 1941 mercury mill ruins, 1978
72. Advertisement, Keane Wonder mine, April 1906
73. Keane Wonder mill, December 1907
74. Keane Wonder Mill complex, December 1907
75. Keane Wonder mine, 1909
76. Keane Wonder Mill, March 1909
77. "Old Dinah" hauling borax in 1898
78. "Old Dinah" at rest, 1978
79. Keane Wonder Mill and Cyanide Plant, 1938
80. Keane Wonder upper tramway terminal, 1978
81. Keane Wonder mine complex, 1978
82. Keane Wonder upper tramway terminal workings, 1978
83. Keane Wonder mine hoist, 1978
84a. 84b. Keane Wonder tramway towers, 1978
85. Keane Wonder tramway tower, 1978
86. Keane Wonder Mill complex, 1978
87. Keane Wonder lower tramway terminal, 1978
88. Keane Wonder Cyanide Plant ruins, 1978
89. Advertisement, Death Valley Big Bell Mining Company, December 1906
90. Broadside, Unique and Adobe Concert Halls, ca 1907
91. Big Bell mine complex from above, 1978
92. Big Bell cable road anchor, 1978
93. Big Bell mine complex, 1978
94. Details of Big Bell mine complex, 1978
95. Big Bell mill ruins, 1978
96. Machine drill, 1978
97. Big Bell mine, 1978
98. Big Bell mill, 1978

99. Big Bell living complex, 1978

100. Detail of rock shelter walls, 1978
101. Cyty's mill and shack, 1978
102. Cyty's mill, 1978
103. Cyty's shack, 1978
104. Advertisements, South Bullfrog Mining District, 1906
105. List of South Bullfrog District Mining Companies
106. Advertisement, DeForest Mining Company, June 1906
107. Advertisement, Hartford-Montana Mining & Milling Company, April 1907
108. Advertisement, Death Valley Lone Star Mining Company, March 1906
109. Advertisement, Capricorn Mining Company, November 1908
110. Monarch Canyon mill ruins, 1978
111. Monarch Canyon stamp mill, 1978
112. Advertisement, Keane Springs Townsite, April 1906
113. Keane Springs pumping station, ca 1935
114. Keane Springs pumping station, 1978
115. Keane Springs pump ruins, 1978
116. Keane Springs townsite, 1978
117. Keane Springs tent platform, 1978
118. The Funeral Range, from Keane Springs, 1978
119. Advertisement, Echo Canyon, October 1906

120. Advertisement, Lee Imperial Mining Company, December 1906
121. List of Lee, California, mines
122. List of Lee, Nevada, mines
123. List of Echo Canyon mines
124. Stock Certificate, Lee Gold Grotto Mining Company, 1907
125. Advertisement, Echo Gilt Edge Mining Company, March 1907
126. Echo-Lee mine, March 1907
127. Advertisement, Echo-Lee Mining Company, March 1907
128. Advertisement, Lee, Nevada, townsite, March 1907
129. Advertisement, Lee, California, townsite, March 1907
130. Advertisement, Lee merchant, March 1907
131. Sample advertisements, Lee merchants, August 1907
132. Panorama, Lee, California, 1907
133. Advertisement, Hayseed Mining Company, March 1907
134. Panorama, Lee, California, 1978
135. Main Street, Lee, California, 1978
136. Lee, California, from Lee Addition, 1978
137a. 137b. Ruins of rock retaining walls, Lee, California, 1978
138. Hayseed mine, 1978
139. Hayseed engine foundation, 1978
140. Retaining wall, Lee Addition, 1978
141. Rock corral, Lee Addition, 1978
142. Inyo Mine and Mill, ca 1938
143. Inyo Mine and Mill, 1973
144. Inyo Mill ruins, 1978
145. Inyo cookhouse, 1978
146. Winch drum and engine, "Furnace" mine, 1978
147. Cable drag road, "Furnace" mine, 1978

148. "Furnace" Mill complex, 1978

149. Ore furnace remains at "Furnace" mill, 1978
150. Advertisement, Schwab Townsite, March 1907
151. Schwab town site, 1978
152. Two tent platform remains, Schwab townsite, 1978
153. Beer cellar, Schwab townsite, 1978
154. Gravesite, Schwab townsite, 1978
155. Echo Townsite, 1978
156. Ruins of "Saddle" cabin, 1978
157. Cabin in Upper Echo canyon, 1978
158. Collapsed building in Upper Echo canyon, 1978
159. Mine ruins in Upper Echo canyon, 1978
160. Access road to Upper Echo canyon mines, 1978
161. Abandoned mine in Upper Echo canyon, 1978
162. Abandoned shack, 1978
163. Advertisement, Greenwater townsite, August 1906
164. Ramsey, October 1906
165. Advertisement, Greenwater Saratoga Copper Company, October 1906
166. Kunze's Greenwater, late 1906
167. Kunze's Greenwater, late 1906
168. Greenwater Times and Post Office building, late 1906
169. Main Street, Kunze's Greenwater, late 1906
170. Advertisement, Furnace Townsite, December 1906
171. Cover of Death Valley Chuck-Walla, April 1907
172. Advertisement for Death Valley Chuck-Walla, February 1907
173. Advertisement, Butte & Greenwater Copper Company, February 1907
174. Advertisement, Greenwater Townsite, February 1907
175. Advertisement, Furnace Townsite, March 1907
176. Advertisement, The Mining Advertising Agency, April 1907
177. Advertisement, Alkali Bill's Death Valley Chug Line, April 1907
178. Furnace Creek Copper Company mine, 1978
179. Hoisting platform ruins, Furnace, Creek Copper Company, 1978
180. Furnace townsite, 1978
181. Kunze townsite stone shelters, 1978
182. Mine ruins at Greenwater Springs, 1978
183. "Coffin" mine ruins, 1978
184. List of Incorporated Mining Companies, Greenwater District
185. California and Calumet mine, 1906
186. Furnace Creek Copper Company mine, December 1906
187. Greenwater Death Valley Copper Company mine, December 1906
188. Inside a shaft of the Greenwater Death Valley Copper Company mine,
December 1906
189. Advertisement, Greenwater Clinton Copper Mining Company, April 1907
190. Advertisement, Willow Creek Townsite, May 1907
191. List of Willow Creek and Gold Valley Mining Companies
192. Gold Valley townsite, 1978
193. Willow Creek townsite, 1978
194. Cone-crusher from Rhodes Springs mill, 1978
195. Rhodes Springs mill ruins, 1978
196. Rhodes Springs pumphouse, 1978
197. Rhodes Springs shack, 1978
198. Small stone ruins, Virgin Spring canyon camp, 1978
199. Large stone ruin, Virgin Spring canyon camp, 1978
200. Tent sites, Desert Hound mine, 1978

201. Desert Hound mine, 1978

202. Ashford Mill, ca 1915
203. Modern complex, Ashford mine, 1978
204. Old complex, Ashford mine, 1978
205. Ashford mill office building, 1978
206. Ashford mill ruins, 1978
207. Confidence Mill, 1909
208. Confidence mine site, 1978
209. Confidence mine ore tipple, 1978
210. Confidence mill ruins, 1978
211. Bradbury Well, 1978
212. Ibex mine area, 1978
213. Homestead at the Monarch Talc mine, 1962
214. Pleasanton Talc mine, 1962
215. Lower level, Pleasanton talc mine, 1978
216. Upper level, Pleasanton talc mine, 1978
217. Moorehouse talc mine complex, 1962
218. Strip mining at the Moorehouse talc mine, 1978
219. Ibex Springs townsite, 1962
220. Ibex Springs structure, 1978
221. Ibex Springs stone ruins, 1978
222. Death Valley Niter beds, 1909
223. Superior talc mine ruins, 1978
224. Ponga talc mine ruins, 1978
225. Whitecap talc mine headframe and hoist, 1978
226. Saratoga talc mine, northern complex, 1978
227. Saratoga talc mine, southern complex, 1978
228. Stone cabin ruins, Saratoga Springs, 1909
229. Stone cabin ruins, Saratoga Springs, 1978
230. Construction at Saratoga Springs, 1909
231. Pacific Nitrate company camp, Saratoga Spring, 1910
232. Spring house at Saratoga Springs, ca 1930
LIST OF MAPS
1. Bullfrog Hills Area

2. Sketch Map, Bullfrog District
3. Sketch Map, Bullfrog claims, 1905
4. Sketch Map, Original Bullfrog-west Extension Historic Site
5. Sketch Map, Homestake-Gold Bar claims, 1905
6. Sketch Map, Homestake-Gold Bar Historic Site
7. Sketch Map, Las Vegas & Tonopah Railroad grade
8. Leadfield area
9a 9b. Grapevine Mountains
10. Funeral Range Area

11. Chloride Cliff Area

12. Sketch Map, Cloride Cliff
13. Keane Wonder area
14. Sketch Map, Keane Wonder mine and mill complex
15. Big Bell mine area

18. Sketch Map, Lee, California and Hayseed mine
19. Echo Canyon area
20. Miscellaneous Properties, Echo Canyon area
21. Black Mountain area
22. Sketch Map, Greenwater District, 1906
23. Greenwater Mining District, 1907
24. Greenwater District, 1978
25. Willow Creek and Gold Valley area
26. Rhodes Springs and Virgin Spring area
27. Desert Hound mine and Ashford mine area
28. Confidence mine and mill area
29. South Death Valley and Ibex Hills area
30. Ibex Springs area
31. Saratoga Springs area
32. Death Valley National Monument (omitted fron on-line edition)
deva/hrs/illustrations.htm

Death Valley NP: Historic Resource Study (Section 1)
Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION I:
INTRODUCTION TO DEATH VALLEY
NATIONAL MONUMENT
A. Summary of Mining Activity
1. Slow Beginnings
The mineral resources of the Death Valley area have been assessed and investigated ever
since the days of the California Gold Rush. Extending over a period of at least 120 years, the
fascinating and often complex mining history of the region has unfortunately been
overshadowed by the much shorter but more romantic adventures experienced by the
Bennett-Arcane party and other groups of the '49ers who attempted to cross the valley floor
on their way west to the goldfields. For several years after their harrowing travails this
desolate area was regarded as a vast, forbidding tract, and only a few daring souls finally
ventured into it again in the 1850s, enticed by rumors of the Lost Breyfogle Mine and the
fabulously-rich Gunsight Lead. Many unfortunates, unaware of and unequipped for the
hardships involved, perished from the heat, the lack of water, and other excruciatingly painful
inflictions perpetrated by the harsh environment. Their persistent endeavors, however, not
only resulted in formation of several early mining districts, but also contributed enormously
to the growing store of knowledge about the topography and resources of the region that was
slowly being acquired through military surveys and personal exploratory forays.
Mining in Inyo County, and especially in Death Valley, was slow in gaining momentum,
though by the early to mid-1860s there were reportedly fourteen quartz mills and 130 stamps
at various locations in the county. [1] Despite their enthusiastic beginnings, the early mining
districts met a notable lack of success in their endeavors to extract and process their ore due
to a variety of reasons, including lack of money, primitive and inefficient technological
methods, the constant threat of Indian depredations, the scarcity of water and fuel, and
especially the absence of nearby transportation facilities, which made it economically
impossible to mine any but the highest-grade ores. The silver excitement at Panamint City,
lasting from about 1874 to 1877, roused the mining community for awhile from its sluggish
state, and was soon followed by the establishment of other mining ventures in such places as
Chloride Cliff, Darwin, Lookout, and Lee.
From the 1880s to the early 1900s, however, only sporadic and limited mining operations
were attempted in the Death Valley region. None of the camps lasted, again due mainly to
the factors mentioned earlier, which still exercised a strong influence over the course of
mining in the valley and the surrounding mountain ranges. The still-limited financial means
of most miners left them little option--to either strike enough pay dirt immediately to finance
future operations, or else shut down. The exciting discoveries of gold in the Black Hills of
South Dakota, at Leadville, Colorado, at Tombstone, Arizona, and elsewhere in the West
attracted many men away from the region who were already discouraged by their inability to
make paying propositions of their remote and inaccessible mines in Death Valley. It was
http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/deva/section1a.htm[7/26/2008 3:04:56 PM]

actually the discovery of nonmetallics in the area, initially of borax and later of talc, that
ensured the region's industrial future, for in time these commodities far outweighed the more
sought-after metallic elements in lasting commercial value.
2. A New Century Brings Renewed Interest in Metallic and Nonmetallic Resources
Not until the early 1900s did conditions become conducive to large-scale hard-rock mining
operations, prompted by a renewal of interest in gold and silver. By this time more people
had penetrated the desert regions, and responsible authorities were encouraging the
immigration by locating and marking water supplies, roads, and trails with signs and
designating them on maps. The primary instigator of this move was the Los Angeles Chamber
of Commerce, which had earlier negotiated passage of a law in California calling for the
erection and protection of water supply sources in the state's deserts. The U.S. Geological
Survey improved on the situation by surveying certain parts of the southwestern deserts and
subsequently publishing maps showing existing trails and water supplies. [2]
A variety of metallic minerals were exploited in Death Valley during the 1900s, including
gold (Bullfrog Hills, Skidoo area, Ubehebe, Chloride Cliff, Funeral Mts., Black Mts.);
antimony (Wildrose Canyon); copper (Greenwater District, Black Mts.); lead, zinc, and silver
(Ubehebe, Lemoigne Canyon, Galena Canyon, Wingate Wash); and tungsten (Harrisburg
Flats, Trail Canyon). This activity resulted in the formation of several boom towns whose
progress paralleled for a while the maturation of Goldfield, Tonopah, and Rhyolite in
Nevada. Much of the productivity witnessed in places such as Bullfrog, Skidoo, and the
Ubehebe region was directly attributable to lessees. Often large companies working a
particular mine were not immediately successful in blocking out large quantities of shipping
ore, due either to time or circumstances, and consequently requested that lessees take over
and try their luck. More often than not they were remarkably successful, tending to be more
careful in their prospecting work and generally more interested in quality than quantity.
Striving to find pay ore as quickly as possible, they worked hard, and were one of the prime
factors in the successful development of a mine and thus of the surrounding area. The larger
Death Valley towns of the first decade of the twentieth century flourished until the financial
panic of 1907 hit, causing in most of them an immediate slowdown of work and often total
cessation of mining activity. Prosperous large-scale metallic mining in Death Valley ended,
for all practical purposes, by about 1915, though Skidoo, for one, managed to hold on for a
few more years.
During World War I nitrate prospecting was carried on in the Ibex and Saratoga springs
areas, prompted by the nation's need for the product for use in explosives and fertilizers.
After World War II, in the 1950s, tungsten prospectors combed the hills near Skidoo and in
Trail Canyon, mostly covering areas previously claimed or prospected. This activity was a
direct result of new price stability and the absence of tungsten exports from mainland China.
[3] Lead and silver deposits in Wingate Wash were also investigated at this time. A major
talc industry that had begun during World War I but that had never thrived because of a
limited market and the remoteness of the deposits started up again after the Second World
War, as did uranium prospecting.
The search for and mining of metallic resources in the monument has generally been sporadic
because of its dependence on the fluctuating selling price of a certain commodity, which in
many cases has resulted in the development of particular properties over and over again and
the reopening of others because the initial owners were ignorant of a mineral that had since
become of economic significance. Most nonmetallic mineral deposits, except for the major
talc and borate ones still being worked today, have been of only marginal importance,
detrimentally influenced to a great degree by their scattered occurrence in isolated geographic
locations, the high transportation costs involved in taking them to market, and the always

variable law of supply and demand. All mining in the area has been subject to shifts in
international. monetary policies and market controls and to stiff competition with foreign
vendors.
3. Attempts are Made to Regulate Mining Within the National Monument
Prior to establishment of the national monument, all publicly-owned lands in the area were
open to mineral entry under a federal mining law of 1872 that was designed to promote
American mineral development in the nineteenth century. Although lands withdrawn by
Presidential Proclamation are normally not open to further mineral location, an Act of 13
June 1933 specifically reinstated rights to mineral entry in some parks, subject to regulations
regarding their surface use. Existing claims with valid rights could also continue work. By
January 1976 active interest was being maintained in about 1,700 unpatented claims (34,000
acres) in Death Valley. [4] On the valid ones the owner held prospecting and mining rights,
but not title to the surface.
Before the repeal of mineral entry provisions in certain units of the National Park System by
Public Law 94-429 on 28 September 1976, many inflammatory arguments had arisen
between those (primarily in the mining profession) holding the extreme view that mining and
prospecting should be allowed to continue unrestricted regardless of any harmful effects, and
advocates of the diametrically-opposed belief (NPS officials and environmental groups) that
lands within a national park or monument should not be exploited for commercial production,
especially of minerals. By 1971 approximately 50,000 unpatented mining claims were
estimated to have been located within the monument, 30,000 of which had been filed since
1920, during an era when people were desperate for extra sources of income. About 8,000
acres of private inholdings were patented, the majority of which are mining properties. Today
five privately-owned companies possess the largest holdings: U.S. Borax and Chemical
Corporation; American Borate Corporation; Pfizer, Inc.; Fred Harvey, Inc.; and Trevel, Inc.
Until passage of P. L. 94-429 an average of 200 to 300 new claims were being located in the
park annually. Under this law those claims not recorded with the Interior Department by 28
September 1977 were declared null and void. [5]
4. Validity Tests and Stricter Land-Use Regulations are Imposed
Although this law successfully prohibited new mineral entries, existing patented and
unpatented claims were still a problem to be dealt with. This has necessitated long and costly
investigation by NPS officials and scientists into the validity of unpatented claims within
several units of the NPS. If a claim is judged valid, the Park Service may exercise either of
two options: permit mining to continue, subject to regulation by the Secretary of the Interior
in accordance with strict environmental safeguards, or, if mining activity in that particular
spot is potentially detrimental either physically or aesthetically, the federal government has
authority to purchase the property. If a claim is determined to be invalid by NPS personnel,
the government will initiate court action to declare it void. Patented mineral deposits of
known economic value in Death Valley are limited to talc and borates, whose large reserves
ensure new exploration and development attempts in the near future.
Today, in order to mine Inside a unit of the park system, the owner of an unpatented valid
mining claim or even of a patented one must submit a proposed plan of operations to the
park superintendent and regional office that complies with the environmental safeguards set
by Congress in 1976, which incorporate provisions of the National Environmental Protection
Act. Archeological and historical clearance must also be given to the project. Other
restrictions are imposed by permits that are necessary for constructing roads or vehicle trails
or for many other mining-related activities.

5. Controversial Aspects of Mining in NPS Areas
One of the most recent threats to the integrity of the national parks related to mining
exploration was that posed by a National Uranium Resource Evaluation group intending to
survey thirty-seven national parks for forty-five minerals and metals under the auspices of
the U.S. Department of Energy. The stated purpose was to identify lands favorable for the
exploration of nuclear-energy fuels. The survey had been authorized by Congress in 1974 to
determine whether this country had enough uranium to operate nuclear power plants. The
proposal greatly alarmed environmentalists, who feared it would lead to wholesale
commercial development of natural areas within the park system. Antagonism also arose
between park superintendents and survey personnel, the former also of the persuasion that
exploration of such resources in a national park is improper and that it is generally impossible
to reconcile large mining operations with an area's integrity as a historic, scenic, and natural
preserve. The surveyors, on the other hand, generally held the belief that parks should be
opened to mining on a limited basis if the presence of a commodity sufficiently valuable to
the national welfare is indicated. The potentially voluble argument was ended by NPS
Director William J. Whalen's directive prohibiting such surveys within National Park Service
areas. [6]
6. Death Valley National Monument Mining Division
Mining operations in the Death Valley region are carefully monitored by an efficiently-
manned mining office, headed by Robert T. Mitcham, monument mining engineer. Death
Valley is the only Park Service unit requiring such a large, full-time mining office and staff
to administer its minerals management program. This office, aided by rangers who keep tabs
on mining activity and enforce the regulations and conditions of the special-use permits,
attempts to minimize the impact of mineral exploration and development on the monument,
to discourage any prospecting activity involving surface disturbance unless it is related to
valid mining claims or demonstrated mineral potential, and to determine officially the status
of claims being used illegally and/or on which there are dilapidated structures and broken-
down equipment. [7] Without the dedicated efforts of this office, working closely with the
park superintendent, the Western Regional Office, and mining company officials, the effects
of mining on the human, animal, and plant ecology of the area would have been irreparably
damaging.
Within the boundaries of Death Valley National Monument today are the remains of mining
ventures whose periods of productivity spanned the years from the late 1850s, when
Mexicans first reportedly attempted to work silver and gold deposits using only the most
primitive of mining techniques, to today's modern talc and borate operations that employ
massive machinery and precise scientific methodology to locate and extract the ore. Only
traces of the earliest mines and their associated camps can be found, although in several
instances valid, historically significant structures remain in the form of mining-related
apparatuses or dwelling and milling structures. Unfortunately, more recent activities
involving the search for gold and tungsten in the 1930s and 1950s resulted in the
abandonment of a tremendous assortment of unsightly junk on many claims within the park.
Despite the fact that many metal and wood components have been salvaged over the years
either for scrap or use at other claims, there are still plentiful reminders of past occupation in
the form of rusty cars, battered appliances, and dilapidated tin shacks.

deva/hrs/section1a.htm

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION I:
NATIONAL MONUMENT
B. Setting
1. Land of Varied Attractions
Death Valley National Monument lies mostly within the state of California, although the
Bullfrog Hills area in its northeast corner extends over into Nevada. The park was created by
Presidential Proclamation on 11 February 1933, and after some boundary changes it now
encompasses about 3,000 square miles of varied desert and mountain terrain. Its landscape
has been shaped by tremendous volcanic forces resulting in faulting and folding of the earth's
crust. Subsequent erosion and deposition have resulted in the spectacular badlands formations
along Furnace Creek Wash and in the large alluvial fans at the mouths of the many canyons
that open onto the valley floor. Evidence still remains of the Ice Age lake that once filled the
valley, formed by runoffs from the nearby Sierra Nevada glaciers.
It is a land of strong visual contrasts, none of which were appreciated by the first white men
who entered the region. This group of '49ers became lost in Death Valley while seeking a
shortcut to the California goldfields, and escaped only after days of severe hardship and
deprivation. Today's visitor is able to view the spectacular scenery from well- maintained
roads, and comfortable accommodations help make a visit to the area a most enjoyable
experience. Driving along the valley floor from the southeast to the north one passes through
about 200 square miles of salt flats, beginning in the sticky playa clay around Saratoga
Springs and ending in the salt pinnacles, pools, and marshes that make up the salt pan in the
middle section of the valley. Here also is Badwater, lowest elevation in the United States and
consequently one of the park's main tourist attractions. Further north near Stovepipe Wells
Resort are fourteen square miles of picturesque sand dunes, fascinating because of their
instability that makes them victim to the ever-shifting vagaries of the wind and light. In the
most northern section of the monument is the Ubehebe, an area of volcanic activity
characterized by several craters, foremost among them being Ubehebe Crater, 800 feet deep
and one-half mile in diameter. Other tourist attractions in this area include the Racetrack
Valley, stage for the moving rocks, and Scotty's Castle, a mansion blending Spanish and
Italian designs that was built in the Grapevine Mountains by Albert Johnson, a Chicago
millionaire, for Death Valley's enigma, Walter Scott.
In contrast to the parched valley floor, the surrounding high mountain ranges harbor forests
of juniper, mountain mahogany, and pinyon and other assorted pines, while thirteen species
of cactus are found at slightly lower elevations. Animal life in the area covers a broad
spectrum, ranging from chuckwallas, lizards, and snakes, to rodents, the more exotic pupfish
and tarantulas, and larger mammals such as the coyote, fox, feral burro, and desert bighorn
sheep. The extreme heat of the valley forces a nocturnal life-style on the animal population,
somewhat restricting the public's view of them.
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2. Weather and Temperature
For about six months of the year, in fact, the heat on the valley floor is unbearable, with
temperatures in summer normally climbing well above 100 degrees F., resulting in a
phenomenally high ground temperature, especially on the salt pan. The mountain air is
generally several degrees cooler, however, prompting the early Indian inhabitants to live on
the floor of the valley only during the winter, and migrate to the higher spots in the summer.
Rarely is rain able to pass over the enclosing mountain ranges, making precipitation almost
nonexistent on the salt flats. Average annual rainfall is about 1.7 inches, though in some years
rainfall is inordinately heavy, washing out roads and precipitating flash floods. The
unfortunate effects are somewhat alleviated by the appearance in spring of numerous patches
of glorious wildflowers, contrasting strikingly with the dark volcanic hillsides.
3. Topography
Death Valley itself is a deep north-south trough thousands of feet below the summits of the
mountains that border it. The driving distance from the foot of the Last Chance Mountains in
the extreme northwest corner of the park to a point near Saratoga Springs in the southeast
corner is a little over 130 miles; the width of the valley varies from around five to over
fifteen miles. At about its midpoint the valley narrows and its axial direction swings to the
northwest-southeast. Also at this point low sedimentary hills begin to intrude on the desert
floor, and have been construed by some as dividing the valley into two separate and distinct
entities. An early 1890s government report, in fact, referred to the southern section of the
park as Death Valley proper and to the northern arm as Lost Valley, a distinction continued
by a host of later writers. Today, however, the entire area is considered an integral whole
despite its variations in topography.
4. Panamint Range
The Panamint Mountains that parallel Death Valley on the west were thus designated by Dr.
Darwin French in 1860, although the significance of the name is not known. Highest point in
the range is Telescope Peak, 11,049 feet above sea level, and a prominent landmark that
remains snow-capped most of the year. It is particularly impressive in contrast to the flat, arid
desert floor immediately in front of it. The northwest quadrant of the park is bordered by the
northern extension of the Panamints, the Cottonwood Mountains, which stretch north from
Towne Pass. Their northern tip extends into the Ubehebe area, separating Hidden Valley from
the main valley floor. Highest peak of this range is Tin Mountain, 8,953 feet in elevation.
Bordering on the west side of Racetrack Valley is the extreme southern end of the Last
Chance Range.
5. Amargosa Range
Extending down the east boundary of the park is the Amargosa Range, an all-encompassing
term that includes three distinct series of mountains: the Grapevines, in the northeast corner,
possessing the longest valley frontage end the highest ridges, culminating in Grapevine Peak
at 8,738 feet above sea level; the Funeral Mountains, facing the midsection of the valley and
located between Boundary Canyon and Furnace Creek Wash; and the Black Mountains,
rising steeply from the salt flats in the southern end of the monument and extending south to
merge with the Ibex Hills. The Owlshead and Avawatz mountains close off the southern end
of the valley.
6. Roads and Trails
Access to Death Valley is possible via a comparatively large number of mountain passes,

many of which, due to the valley floor's situation below sea level, possess relatively steep
grades. From the west, entrance can be made via Searles Lake and Trona across the Panamint
Valley to Ballarat, thence up into the Panamint Range through Wildrose Canyon, along the
old road once used by freighters carrying goods from Johannesburg to Skidoo and environs.
The route was originally pioneered by burro trains hauling charcoal from the kilns in
Wildrose Canyon to the Modoc Mine in the Argus Range. In Wildrose Canyon the road
forks, the southern branch proceeding on to the kilns and Thorndike's camp close to the
Panamint crest near Telescope Peak, the other going north toward Harrisburg Flats and
Emigrant Spring. Old trails lead across the flats to Skidoo and other nearby mines and
prospects. The Harrisburg road has been extended on to the crest of the Panamint Range at
Aguereberry Point from which a gorgeous panorama of the valley floor unfolds below. North
of Emigrant Spring the road exits from Emigrant Canyon out onto Emigrant Wash, in the
north-central part of the valley, joining California State Highway 190 just east of Towne
Pass. This faster route crosses over the Panamints from Lone Pine, following the tracks of the
old Eichbaum toll road, a forty-mile stretch built in the 1920s from the foot of Darwin Wash
to Stovepipe Wells in order to promote tourism in the valley. These two routes are handy for
traffic bound between Los Angeles and Goldfield or other northeast Nevada points.
In the extreme north part of the valley, entry can be made from the east over a good paved
road from Sand Spring through Death Valley Wash. Another good route from the east leaves
U.S. Route 95 at Scotty's Junction and winds down Grapevine Canyon past Scotty's Castle.
Titus Canyon, a little further south in the Grapevines, is a one-way road from the east
branching off of the Beatty-Daylight Pass Road, and is characterized by a sandy and tortuous
grade varying in width and steepness throughout its approximately twenty-eight-mile length.
Originally built to promote the short-lived boom town of Leadfield, it is often closed due to
washing and erosion. It is now used mostly for leisurely sightseeing trips. The next large pass
south, Boundary Canyon, is one of the earliest-known entryways, probably having been
traversed by one group of the '49ers. Travelers from Beatty or Rhyolite enter here, and then
can go either south to Furnace Creek, west to Stovepipe Wells Hotel, or north to Ubehebe.
Furnace Creek Wash is the most famous early passage to the valley, as evidenced by its
designation as the "Gateway of the '49ers." It provides access northwest from Shoshone or
Death Valley Junction and, like Boundary Canyon, is a natural break in the mountains.
Travelers can also enter the monument west from Shoshone and Tecopa via Salsberry Pass.
In the southeast corner of the monument several smaller routes unite near the south boundary
before entering the valley below Ibex Spring. One comes from Mojave, Randsburg, and
Johannesburg via Granite Wells and Owl Holes Wash; one originates in Barstow and Daggett
and approaches the valley by way of Garlic Spring, Cave Spring, and Cave Spring Wash;
while a third enters from Silver Lake through Riggs Valley. These are old desert roads built
from water hole to water hole, and their use varies according to climatic conditions. Another
now-unused route entered the southwest corner of the valley via Wingate Pass, rounding the
south end of the Panamints. This road, originally used by the borax-carrying twenty-mule
teams, is always sandy, sometimes washed, and always tricky to navigate. Only twenty or so
miles of the route are now open to travel, the remainder being part of the Naval Weapons
Range.
7. Water Holes
Water is always a precious commodity in desert environments, and no less so in Death

Valley, which contains an about-average supply of watering places, although slightly more
than Panamint Valley, its higher neighbor to the west, and many more than Saline Valley to
the northwest, which contains not a single water source. Most of Death Valley's supply,
however, is characteristically warm and tainted with minerals. Several important water holes
are located along West Side Road, including Gravel Well; Bennetts Well, named for Asa

Bennett of the Bennett-Arcane party of '49ers; Shortys Well; and Tule Spring, now thought to
have been the last camping spot of the Bennett-Arcane party before their rescue. In the
Panamint Range are Wildrose and Emigrant springs, both heavily used by Indians and
miners. Further north on the valley floor are Salt Well, located beside the main valley road
four miles southwest of old Stovepipe Wells, actually nothing more than a pothole filled with
saline water that is used mostly by stock; Stovepipe Wells, originally two holes about five
feet deep providing good water for early Indian and miner transients and later for the
Rhyolite-Skidoo trade; Sand Spring, north of the monument boundary; Grapevine Springs
near Scotty's Ranch; Daylight Spring near Daylight Pass; Hole-in-the-Rock Spring in
Boundary Canyon; Furnace Creek; Bradbury Well in the Black Mountains; and Ibex and
Saratoga springs further southeast.
Valley watercourses consist of the Amargosa River, an intermittent stream flowing north
through the southeast corner of the monument near Saratoga Spring and continuing up to the
vicinity of Badwater Basin where it loses itself in the salt flat. Because it never carries much
of a flow it often peters out before reaching even this point. Salt Creek, an undrinkable
stream, flows south from about the vicinity of Stovepipe Wells thirty miles down the middle
of the valley, and is responsible for the often marshy conditions near the salt pools where it
terminates in the Middle Basin area. Furnace Creek, given this name by Dr. Darwin French in
1860 supposedly because of the presence of a crude ore reduction furnace in the vicinity, is
fed by Funeral Mountain springs, mainly Travertine and Texas. Its plentiful water supply has
enabled the Furnace Creek Wash area to become a veritable garden spot and eventually the
site of two large resorts.
8. Tourism
In the years since its opening to the public Death Valley National Monument has become one
of California's most popular scenic areas. Its rich and varied history involving the Indian,
emigrant, and mining communities, is a constant source of interest and amazement to
visitors. Their new appreciation of the area's scenic splendor and of its wealth of prehistorical
and historical resources linked to its early aboriginal and mining cultures has done much to
dispel the vision of Death Valley as a hot, barren wasteland. [8]
deva/hrs/section1b.htm

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION I:
NATIONAL MONUMENT
C. A Note on Historical and Archeological Resources of Death Valley
1. Limited Scope of Present Study
The reader who is looking in this study for another rehashing of the adventures and
adversities of the '49ers as they groped their way out of Death Valley, or for another
summary of the early penetrations into the region by the Dr. Darwin French and Dr. S. G.
George expeditions of 1860, the surveying mission of Lt. J. C. Ives in connection with the
U.S.-California Boundary Survey of 1861, or for a resume of the accomplishments of the
Wheeler Expedition of 1871 or of any of the later government surveys or U.S. Army
reconnaissances, or of the biological survey of 1891, will be sorely disappointed. Although
carrying the general title of Historic Resource Study, this work focuses totally on a history of
Death Valley mining activities, past and present, and has consciously ignored more than a
cursory mention of earlier white visitation. Mention of them can be found in varying degrees
in almost every book on Death Valley, and Benjamin Levy's background study written for the
NPS in 1969 contains detailed information on their various contributions.
2. Archeological Research and Fieldwork
In the realm of archeological resources, the park is estimated to contain approximately 1,400
archeological sites, most of them prehistoric. A few specialized archeological investigations
have been undertaken in the past, such as those conducted by William J. Wallace and Edith
S. Taylor in the Butte Valley and Wildrose Canyon areas, but most surveys have been
accomplished only under threat of some type of imminent surface disturbance. The most
recent archeological work has been carried out by personnel of the Western Archeological
Center, Tucson, in the form of reconnaissance surveys requested to be made within 117 claim
group areas to determine what resources are present, their condition, and the probable effects
of renewed mining activity on them. Little historical archeology has been carried out in the
monument in past years, but a number of new sites with potential for historical archeologists
have been discovered as a result of the archeological center's recent work and of field
explorations by historians from the Denver Service Center. Recommendations of the latter as
to historical sites warranting further investigation by archeologists are found in this report.
These sites could add substantially to our knowledge of mining techniques, communication
and access routes, life-styles, and dwellings of this desert environment.
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Illustration 1. "Mining Map of Inyo County," by J. M. Keeler, 1883. Courtesy of Inyo

Co. Clerk and Recorder, Independence, Ca. (click on image for an enlargement in a
new window)
deva/hrs/section1c.htm

Death Valley NP: Historic Resource Study (Section II)
Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION II:
EARLY MINING DISTRICTS IN THE OWENS
AND PANAMINT VALLEYS (continued)
The following is a very brief summary of the development of the mining industry in the
Owens and Panamint valley areas west of Death Valley. Although this region is outside the
boundaries of the national monument, the districts and camps that once thrived here were
precursors of the mining ventures in Death Valley and involved many of the same
individuals, both prospectors and investors, who moved freely throughout southern Inyo
County. Through the years the growth of these districts were reflections of the same market
trends that determined and guided the fortunes of the Death Valley camps. A fuller discussion
of Panamint, the first Death Valley-vicinity bonanza town, and of the Panamint Mining
District that evolved from it and embraced the first large-scale mining activity within Death
Valley proper will follow. This synopsis by no means includes all the early mining districts in
the Owens and Panamint valley areas, but deals with the major ones that were
contemporaneous, or nearly so, with prospecting efforts in the Panamint and Amargosa
ranges.
The first strikes in the Owens and Panamint valleys were made in the early to mid-1860s and
centered mostly around the extraction of silver, although lead and gold also appeared in
promising amounts. High transportation costs, low yields, expensive machinery unsuited for
the job at hand, and falling lead and silver prices soon contributed to the demise of these
enterprises. By the late 1870s the earliest southern Inyo camps were already collapsing. Even
the arrival of the narrow-gauge Carson and Colorado Railroad at Keeler in 1883, enabling
tower freight rates for the Inyo County mines, could not stave off oblivion. In the early
1900s, however, a revival of the mining industry occurred, and old mines were reopened and
new prospects were further developed. By 1908 districts in the region all the way from
Mazourka Canyon, east of Independence, south were showing explosive activity. The
development of electric power in the Sierras, the extension of the standard-gauge Southern
Pacific Railroad north from Mojave, and the dawning realization of Inyo County's varied
wealth in metals and nonmetals, including gold, silver, lead, copper, zinc, sulphur, graphite,
borax, soda, salt, soapstone, talc, magnesium, tungsten, molybdenum, and marble, were all
contributing to a growing optimism within the mining community. In the postwar years these
valuable commodities could be mined even more profitably by improved processing
equipment, which has added stability and certain success to this facet of Inyo County
industry.
deva/hrs/section2.htm
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Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION II:
A. Coso, Russ Telescope Peak and Argus Mining Districts
1. Darwin French Expedition
The experiences of the '49ers in Death Valley, though made even more horrifying in the
retelling, nonetheless served to stimulate the interest of prospectors and miners in Death
Valley, the Panamint and Owens valleys, and the Argus and Slate ranges. The tantalizing
possibility of relocating the fabulous "Gunsight Lead" not only attracted the ever-inquisitive
desert prospector, but also prompted some noteworthy early exploration by organized
expeditions.
In the early summer of 1860 Dr. Darwin French and companions, entering from the west,
initiated exploration of the Coso Springs and Darwin Wash areas, ultimately penetrating as
far east in Death Valley as Furnace Creek Wash, which they are credited with naming.
Among the other accomplishments of this group was the discovery of ore near Coso, the
creation in the spring of 1860 of the Coso Mining District, and the formation by some of the
French party of the Coso Gold and Silver Mining Company. [1]
2. S. G. George and New World Mining and Exploration Company Expeditions
In this same year a group of men led by Dr. S. G. George met and united with the New
World Mining and Exploration Company expedition headed by Colonel H. P. Russ, and the
two detachments entered the Owens Valley region together. The Union lode was discovered
at this time, incorporating the Union, Eclipse, and Ida claims, arid while Russ undertook to
organize the Russ Mining District (hailed by one writer as "the first semblance of any form
of civil government in the territory now included in Inyo County") [2] and name the Inyo
Mountain Range, a subdivision of the George party traveled further east from the Owens
Lake area to explore the Panamints.
In the course of their trek they discovered and named Telescope Peak and Wildrose Canyon
and explored in the Slate Range. The Christmas Gift antimony mine was discovered in the
Wildrose Canyon area, and the Telescope Mining District was also organized at this time.
Little actual mining work was done, however. The year 1860 also saw the formation of the
Argus District by unknown parties.
3. Indian Depredations and Crude Mining Methods Hinder Development
The further development of any of the mines found during these early forays was hindered by
the constant threat of attacks by hostile Piutes who were resentful of the encroachment upon
their lands by miners arid settlers in the Owens and Panamint valleys. The frequency and

ferocity of their attacks led to the establishment of Camp Independence in the Owens River
Valley on 4 July 1862. This action did not deter the Indians, however, who continued to raid
and prey on small groups of settlers and miners. Severe retaliation by soldiers and citizens
alike culminated in 1865 in the slaughter and drowning of about 100 Indians at the mouth of
Owens River. This act broke the resistance of the Piutes, and the way into these fertile and
mineral-rich lands was opened for settlers, farmers, and miners. [3]
Before long, however, it was clear that other factors would impose even more detrimental
effects on the rapid development of the region: crude mining methods and/or lack of adequate
facilities forced the miners to attempt working their ore without roasting it first, and the
resulting poor production levels led to the conclusion that the ores in the area were too base
to be profitably worked. This, coupled with the isolation, lack of a nearby supply depot,
exorbitant transportation charges, and the need for expensive machinery whose acquisition
was impossible because of a lack of capital, precipitated an exodus of miners from Inyo
County, which lasted until the fabulously-productive Cerro Gordo Mine provided a hint of
the vast mineral wealth of the area that was obtainable by more refined and systematic mining
methods.

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION II:
B. Lone Pine Mining District
1. Rise and Fall of Cerro Gordo
Cerro Gordo, on the western slope of the Inyo Mountains about seven miles east of Keeler
and thirty miles south of Independence, was the first major silver strike in Owens Valley.
Originally a small-scale operation worked by Mexicans between 1862 and 1866, the mine
was included in the Lone Pine Mining District organized in April 1866. Three years later
Americans took over the property and ultimately turned it into the largest producer of silver
and lead in California, yielding ores that assayed at least as high as $300 per ton. [4] In the
early 1870s two smelters were erected at Cerro Gordo and one on Owens Lake near the rival
town of Swansea. Contributing to Cerro Gordo's commercial success was the fact that this
was an excellent area for smelting works: water and wood were abundant, good fire-clay was
available, and because of the wide variety of ores in the district, necessary fluxes were
obtainable. Productive mines of the area were the historic Union Mine, and the later Cerro
Gordo, Cerro Gordo Extension, Estelle, Silver Reef, and Santa Rosa mines. [5] Mule teams
transported the ore to Los Angeles, 275 miles away, necessitating high-class ore and bullion
in order to make a profit. In 1875 Cerro Gordo suffered a series of setbacks, necessitating the
shutdown of its furnaces. These problems resulted from a scarcity of ore in the mine, which
had lasted for several months, and the temporary drying up of its water supply; no small
factor in the slowdown of production was the litigation that had been initiated in 1870 over
ownership of the Union lode. [6] This latter question was finally settled, and on 13 January
1876 the Union Consolidated Mining Company of Cerro Gordo was created and preparations
made to return to full-scale production. The revival was not destined to last, however, and by
late 1876 and early 1877 the Union Mine appeared to be played out. A fire that raged through
some of the mine buildings and the Union shaft was the final straw; the furnaces were closed
the following February. A more lethal blow was dealt by falling lead and silver prices,
effectively ending this era of activity at Cerro Gordo.
2. Reopening of Cerro Gordo
By 1905 mining activity was reviving in the Panamint region, and hope was seen for many of
the old productive mines. Cerro Gordo was purchased by the Great Western Ore Purchasing
and Reduction Company, which envisioned building a 100-ton smelter for custom work and
also to process ore left on the Cerro Gordo dumps, earlier considered too low grade for the
technological methods then in use. By modern methods the ore could be worked profitably.
[7]
By 1907 high-grade zinc was found in the old Cerro Gordo stopes, and ore shipments were
begun. [8] In 1912 the Cerro Gordo group, whose property now consisted of tunnels and

shafts and an aerial tramway connecting the mine with the narrow-gauge Southern Pacific
Railroad at Keeler, which had absorbed the old Carson & Colorado, was acquired by Utah
mining men. Shipping 1,000 tons of ore daily, Cerro Gordo now became the largest producer
of zinc carbonates in the United States. [9] In 1920 about ten men were still employed by the
Cerro Gordo mines company and silver-lead ore was being shipped. A few years later, in
1924, silver-lead ore on the old dumps was to be worked by concentration and flotation after
five concentrators were installed in the Keeler mill. [10] Gross production of the Cerro
Gordo camp from its early profitable years up until 1938 was probably around $17 million.
[11] As a sidelight to this story, the old Swansea Mining District, seven miles southeast of
Lone Pine and a competitor of Cerro Gordo in the 1860s, was also producing again in 1924
as its old dumps were slowly sampled.

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION II:
C. Panamint Mining District
1. Panamint City
As if to keep up morale among the mining community in the Panamint Valley, immediately
on the heels of the strike at Cerro Gordo erupted the loudest, wildest, most frenzied boom
ever to be seen on the west slope of the Panamint Range. It began in January 1873 with the
discovery of copper-silver ore in Surprise Canyon. Silver samples assayed as high as $3,000
per ton, with the probable average value of metal-bearing ore being at least $125 a ton. [12]
By August 1874 a road had been completed through Panamint Valley and up Surprise
Canyon, providing contact with Los Angeles for freighting and supply purposes. The boom
lasted only until about 1876 when the two major mines were depleted, but while it lasted
memories and legends were created that ensured its place in the history of this region. A
more complete narrative concerning Panamint City and the Panamint Mining District follows
later in this report.
2. Ballarat
Around 1897 another town in the vicinity of Panamint rose to prominence. This was Ballarat,
named for an important Australian gold camp near Melbourne. It was located one-half mile
north of Post Office Spring, which had served as a communications center and overnight stop
for prospectors during the Panamint boom. The main mine, the Radcliffe, produced 15,000
tons or more of ore from 1898 to 1903. From 1927 to 1942 its tailings were cyanided with a
reported recovery value of one quarter of a million dollars in gold. [13] In 1941 the Ballarat
Mining and Milling Corporation, a Nevada company, bought property in the Slate and
Panamint ranges in San Bernardino and Inyo counties. A Los Angeles company intended to
make exhaustive metallurgical tests, paving the way for a projected modern fifty-ton
reduction mill south of town to perform custom work. An assay office and metallurgical
laboratory were to be part of the complex, [14] and once again Ballarat would see a
resurgence of mining activity.

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION II:
D. New Coso Mining District
1. Darwin
Around 1870 gold, silver, and lead deposits were again discovered in the Coso Range,
resulting in formation of the New Coso Mining District circa 1874. Darwin was the main
commercial center, and the Defiance the principal mine of the district. Other producers were
the Argus-Sterling, Christmas Gift, Lucky Jim, Custer, Independence, Keystone, Thompson,
and Wonder. During the period 1870 to 1877 three smelters were erected and water was
piped in from the Coso Mountains. By the end of 1875 the town boasted two smelters, twenty
working mines, 200 frame houses, seventy-eight business establishments, and a population of
700. [15] In the late 1870s, as was happening in other Inyo County camps, Darwin began to
falter in production. The Defiance furnace was shut down in August 1876; all it took to
completely depopulate the town were strikes in Bodie and Mammoth City around 1878, and
the remaining miners took off for these promising new frontiers.
Illustration 2. Ballarat in 1913, a typical desert mining community. Photo courtesy of

Death Valley National Monument.
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Illustration 3. Ballarat in November 1973, its adobe ruins slowly sinking back into
the sandy desert floor. Photo courtesy of G. William Fiero, University of Nevada at
Las Vegas.
2. Revitalization of the Darwin District
Darwin's rebirth also occurred during the revival of industry in southern Inyo County around
1906. Earlier left on the dumps or not mined because it was considered worthless, copper was
now a valuable metal and copper mining was showing unprecedented profits. In 1907 Senator
Tasker L. Oddie of Nevada bought nine claims in the Darwin area, while Nixon and
Wingfield of Goldfield Consolidated fame also took over some property there. [16] That
Darwin had caught the fancy of miners again is evidenced by the statement of one
Greenwater miner who said that Darwin's showing of copper was even more promising than
that of the famous bonanza town in which he currently lived. [17] Also by 1907 the Lucky
Jim Mine was shipping lead-silver ore to Salt Lake smelters. In June 1919 the Darwin
District, especially the Lucky Jim and Christmas Gift mines, was still going strong, given
impetus by an advance in the price of silver. It was showing up so well, in fact, that in 1920
the stock of the Lucky Jim was placed on the New York Stock Exchange. [18]
By 1927 the Darwin District's future seemed assured, for the area was found to contain ores
of nearly all the metallic minerals: silver, lead, gold, tungsten, and copper. Production for the
area from 1870 to October 1938 reached approximately $3 to $5 million, [19] some estimates
being as high as $7 million by 1945. In that year the Anaconda Copper Mining Company
purchased the principal mines and took over operations there. Darwin became the chief
source of lead in California, producing two-thirds of all that commodity used in the state. The
total value of all lead, silver, and zinc produced has been put at $15 million. [20]

Illustration 4. Darwin, probably about 1908. This picture might have been taken on
the Death Valley Expedition by Veager and Woodward. Photo courtesy of DEVA
NM.
deva/hrs/section2d.htm

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION II:
E. Lookout and Modoc Mining Districts
1. Short Existence of Lookout
While Darwin was flourishing, silver strikes were erupting all over in various areas, notably
in the Waucoba District opposite Big Pine in the Inyo Range, in Wildrose Canyon in the
Panamint Range, and in the Lee District between Owens Lake and Death Valley. In May
1875 the Lookout District was formed, whose main camp of Lookout consisted only of rock
and wood buildings, some general stores, and the ever-present saloons. The Lookout District
peaked in 1877 and production soon began to fade.
2. Modoc District Supported by George C. Hearst
From this initial effort, however, the Modoc District was born between 1880 and 1890 on the
east slope of the Argus Range, fifteen miles southeast of Darwin. Producing mines were the
Minietta and Modoc, the latter, along with the Lookout smelters, having been bought in 1876
by George C. Hearst and other capitalists who proceeded to form the Modoc Consolidated
Mines Co. of San Francisco. At first the Modoc, Lookout, and Minietta ores were reduced in
the Surprise Valley mill at Panamint City, but in the fall of 1876 Hearst had two thirty-ton
furnaces built at the Modoc Mine. Remi Nadeau, freighter for Cerro Gordo and Panamint
City, built a road up the Panamint Valley from the foot of the Slate Range to the Modoc and
Minietta mines and soon was hauling charcoal by wagons and muleback to the Modoc
furnaces from the ten charcoal kilns in Wildrose Canyon.
The Minietta operated on and off until 1915. In 1924 this silver-lead-gold mine was reopened
and the Modoc Mine was leased. [21] Their slag piles and dumps were reworked, yielding
gold, silver, copper, lead, and zinc. In the mid-1930s the Minietta was leased and refinanced
and a mill and modern equipment were to be installed. If gold and silver prices held, the
future of the mine seemed bright. [22] By 1938 the Modoc Mine had produced $1,900,000
worth of ore and the Minietta $1,000,000. [23]
deva/hrs/section2e.htm
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Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION II:
F. Summation
These were the principal mining towns and districts of the Owens and Panamint valley
regions in the 1800s, none of which had any more exciting and robust a growth than
Panamint City. A multitude of books and articles, many listed in the bibliography of this
report, have exposed the hardships, dreams, and disappointments experienced by miners and
promoters alike in this rip-roaring camp at the head of narrow Surprise Canyon, and it is not
the writer's intention to rehash any of this. A brief narrative on the town, however, and the
resultant Panamint Mining District, and especially a history of some of its principal mines,
many of which bore names similar to later claims in Death Valley, may help clear up some
confusion created by this duplication, as well as help determine which properties were
located outside the monument boundaries and which were within. (Note: The Panamint
Mining District also included the Gold Hill area, immediately northeast of Butte Valley. The
history and sites of this region will be treated separately, however, since they are of major
importance to this study.)
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Illustration 5. "Map of Inyo County Cal." (Segment.) (San Francisco: C.F. Weber &
Co., 1914). Courtesy of Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. (click
on image for an enlargement in a new window)
deva/hrs/section2f.htm
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Death Valley NP: Historic Resource Study (Section III)
Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION III:
INVENTORY OF HISTORICAL RESOURCES
THE WEST SIDE
A. Southern Panamints and West Side Road
1. Panamint Mining District
a) Formation and Establishment of Boundaries
The precursor of the Panamint Mining District was the Telescope District, organized in 1860
by members of the Dr. S.C. George expedition who had penetrated into the Wildrose and
Panamint regions. Named for nearby Telescope Peak, this early district was located on a spur
of the Panamint Range bordering Death Valley on the west. Although the mines in the area
were not heavily worked in the first few years after their discovery, the late 1860s and early
1870s saw some rough beginnings of a mining industry there. An 1872 newspaper article
speaks favorably of the richness and extent of the Telescope District mines, which, it states,
had been located some three years earlier. The lead, silver, and gold ores were said to be
comparable to those of Cerro Gordo, besides being easy to smelt because of the nearby
pinyon pines and clay necessary for the reduction process. [1]
On 1 February 1873 four notices were posted in the mountains of the Panamint Range,
informing the prospecting community that:
There will be held at the camp of R.C. Jacobs & Co., in Mormon Canyon at the
southern end of the Panamint Mountain Range, on February 10, 1873, a miners'
meeting, for the purpose of organizing a new mining district, and forming laws
to govern the same. All claim owners are respectfully invited to be present at
said meeting.
R. C. Jacobs
W.L. Kenneday [Kennedy]
R. Stewart [2]
The meeting was subsequently held as advertised, resulting in the formation of the Panamint
Mining District. Boundaries were established as follows:
Commencing in "Windy Canyon" (a point four miles north of Telescope Peak) at

a point called Flowery Springs, and running thence in an easterly direction,
following the said "Windy Canyon" to the summit of the range; thence down the
east side and out to the center of Death Valley; thence southerly to "Mesquit
Springs," on the eastern slope of "Slate Range;" thence westerly to the summit of
"Centrie Canyon," and down the same to its mouth, continuing the same course
westerly to the center of "Slate Range Valley;" thence northerly to a point in
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"Panamint Valley" ten miles due west from "Flowery Springs;" thence easterly
ten miles to the place of beginning." [3]
Laws and regulations were adopted and Robert Stewart elected recorder for a one-year term
beginning 10 February 1873. The recorder's office was to be located in Surprise Valley,
where most of the principal claims were found.
b) The District's Future Seems Assured
By 30 August 1873 the prospects of the new district still looked favorable:
It is represented by experts, who have visited it for speculative purposes, as being

one of the very richest and most prolific districts on the Pacific Slope in silver
ores. Some one hundred silver lodes have been discovered and located, which
for body and richness stand, at least in the State of California, unrivalled--the
lodes running from two to thirty feet in width, and assaying from $200 to $1,200
per ton of ore. [4]
Even allowing for the tendency toward excitability and gross exaggeration common to the
average California mining prospector of this era, men of some experience and supposed
sound judgement and caution felt that this district had distinct economic possibilities. The
best route to the mines was said to be from Havilah by stage to Little Owens Lake, seventy
miles away by the Havilah and Independence stage route, and from there by mule trail, "a
short two day's ride of fifty-five miles." [5]
Newspaper clippings and journals of the time give some indication of the ensuing fortunes of
the Panamint District. In December 1879 some Panamint miners organized the "Breyfogle"
District twenty miles north of Panamint. The main lode, of the same name, produced ore
assaying from around $500 to almost $4,000. [6] By the year 1881 the Inyo Consolidated
Mining Company of New York, which had purchased the Garibaldi and North Star mines in
the Rose Springs (Wildrose) District circa 1876, had also purchased the only mill and several
promising locations in the Panamint District and were working vigorously with much
success, the mines and mill having produced about $60,000 worth of ore already. [7]
c) Mining Activity Spreads in Southern Inyo County
In July 1887 valuable ores were stilt being discovered in the surrounding country, but
discouraging to miners was the fact that the rich ore could not be shipped easily or speedily
to market. By May 1894 the California mining news correspondent of the Engineering and
Mining Journal was projecting 11a decided tendency toward a mining boom in Southern
California this year. Never within 10 or 12 years has such general interest been manifested as
is shown at present. There are now more new enterprises, and apparently substantial ones,
than ever before. . . ." By this time a new district referred to as South Park was springing up
around Red Rock and Goler canyons, with lucrative results appearing inevitable. [8] The
Redlands Gold Mining Company was in business by the summer of 1894 and was
enthusiastically purchasing prospects. It even erected a ten-stamp mill five miles south of
Panamint Canyon, which two years later, however, was not producing much. [9] Hampering
progress in this more southerly area too was its distance from a railroad and lack of wood
and water.
A correspondent of the Pacific Coast Bullion made a trip to Death Valley about this time,
and in addition to describing the sights and geologic wonders of the area, reported on the
current mining situation. Panamint City, he said, now housed only a watchman guarding the
mill and storehouses, leaving itinerant prospectors the run of the town. He went on to explain
that lawsuits had closed the mines for awhile, but the litigation was now settled and eighteen

claims had been recently patented; unfortunately the current price of silver was too low to
work them profitably.
The correspondent remarked that few mines were being worked in the Panamints. Charles
Anthony's Defiance Mine near Post Office Spring at Darwin was operating, although no mill
existed on the property. The only other mining activity centered around the Redlands Gold
Mining Company. Heavy transportation costs were still hindering mining in the mountains
contiguous to Death Valley. [10]
The revival of a large-scale mining industry in the Panamint District in the late 1800s
evidently centered around Tuber Canyon properties. In April 1897 a Mr. Donahue and others
purchased property there for $15,000 preparatory to commencing exploratory work. [11] A
correspondent to the Independent wrote from the new town of Ballarat in the Telescope
Range in June 1897 that "the future of this camp and district as a gold mining proposition is
very bright and assured." [12] The country had a good water supply, plenty of wood available
on the nearby summits of the Panamint Range, and fruit could be grown in the mountains.
Quail were an abundant food source. [13] Among current activities mentioned was the work
in Tuber Canyon, where development and prospecting were pushing ahead vigorously, with
considerable San Francisco capital being invested there. [14] The Tuber and Aurora claims
were active, while in Jail Canyon the Gem and Burro groups were being worked. In Pleasant
Canyon, near the old town of Panamint, the Worldbeater and other Montgomery properties
had closed down until a new bigger mill nearer the mines could be bought and installed.
Claims in the Mineral Hill and Redlands Canyon areas further south were showing some
unrest, with many claims changing hands. The prospecting stage here had passed, and efforts
were now being made to further develop those lodes whose extent and richness were
becoming evident. A custom mill was sorely needed, although it was being rumored that a
three-stamp mill would be moved into the vicinity soon. [15]
Other southern Inyo County mining efforts consisted of "chloriding" operations, notably in
Shepherd's, Cottonwood, and Emigrant canyons, where development of the lodes was much
hampered by their inaccessibility. Revenue Canyon mines on the western edge of Panamint
Valley also harbored rich strikes. [16]
The new town of Ballarat was now the gathering place for Panamint Range miners,
prospectors, and the Indian community. The Fourth of July celebration in the year 1897 was
replete with "foot races, hammer and stone-throwing, burro and horse racing, giant powder
salutes and a grand tug of war, in which every male inhabitant and visitor to the place,
Indians included, took part, save one who from his immense size and strength was debarred
from either side and officiated as referee." [17] Talks on the significance of the day
entertained the visitors from almost every canyon in the evening. A stage and mail line
between Ballarat and Garlock was about to commence, consisting of a single round trip
weekly, to be increased to tri-weekly when cooler weather came and mining activity
resumed. The main portion of the town's business and freight came through Mojave and
Garlock (which evidently had the nearest custom mill, 150 miles away) because of lower
freight charges and passenger fares from that direction. Although mail communication was
desired through Owens Valley and Independence, the residents there were antagonistic
toward facilitating this because of the camp's close communication and financial ties to the
southern towns. [18]
Also in this year mention was made of construction of a Randsburg Railway from Kramer
station on the Santa Fe and Pacific to Randsburg, and a possibility evidently existed of the
line being projected to Salt Lake City, thus making another transcontinental route. The Los
Angeles trade would be increased tenfold, it was argued, by bringing the line north into the
Panamint Valley from Kramer and tapping the Searles borax fields, the Argus and Slate

ranges, and all the mining camps in Redlands Canyon, Mineral Hill, Pleasant Canyon, Happy
Valley, Surprise, Hall, Jail, and Tuber canyons, and the Wildrose area, not to mention the
Argus, Revenue, Snow Canyon, and Modoc mines on the west side of the valley. [19]
By 1897 new placer locations had been found on the east side of the Panamints, panning $30
to $40 per day. The central Panamints were still quiet, Panamint City now containing but two
residents, sole witnesses to the steady decay of the town's large stores, saloons, and billiard
halls full of furniture. The only operating business was a large, fully-stocked hardware and
implement store selling goods to miners at incredibly low prices. Several mills in the vicinity
full of machinery were idle. [20]
By April 1898 Ballarat sported a population of nearly four hundred, at least one hundred of
whom were gainfully employed. It contained substantial adobe houses and was the outfitting
point for the Panamint Range, Snow Canyon, and other nearby districts. Mines were being
worked near Willow Spring to the south; the Burro Mine in Jail Canyon had recently been
bought, the new owner also purchasing the Redland Company's mill; the South Park mines
were producing; and the Tuber Canyon mines were doing well, as were the Mineral Hill
properties four miles south of Ballarat. [21]
From 1898 to 1899 freight teams left Johannesburg, sixty miles south of Ballarat in Kern
County, for the Argus Range hematite iron-ore deposits, some yielding $8 a ton in gold, and
for the Panamint District high-grade silver-lead ore mines. Although Johannesburg was the
best outfitting point for a prospector coming to Panamint from the south, Keeler, the closest
railroad stop to the Panamint Range, was more accessible for people from the north or from
Nevada. [22]
d) Interest in the Panamints Spreads to Nevada
By February 1900 the Panamint District continued strong and reported much activity.
Ballarat, in the process of heavy construction, held much commercial importance in the area
because of its central location arid accessibility to miners in the adjacent mountains, its good
water supply, and its proximity to the railroad. Mines in the Panamints were producing ore
that could be easily milled or on which cyanide treatment was effective. Principal mines in
the western Panamint Range were still in Tuber, Jail, and Pleasant canyons, and at Mineral
Hill. In Tuber Canyon a twenty-five-ton Bryan mill had been erected and in Jail Canyon a
three-stamp mill was operating. The Radcliffe Consolidated Gold Mining Company was
running a twenty-stamp mill in Pleasant Canyon, and ore was being transported from the
property by tramway at low cost. [23]
By 1902 the Inyo Gold Company of Los Angeles, which owned mines in Tuber Canyon, near
Panamint, and the Tuber Mine at Ballarat, was shipping in a fifty-ton cyanide plant to wash
tailings from the Tuber and also ore from there. This was in addition to a six-stamp mill
already on the Tuber Mine property. [24] In the early 1900s the Panamint District began
attracting the attention of prospectors from the Goldfield, Nevada, area. [25] Because earlier
prospectors had been intent only on silver, it was now thought that vast amounts of gold
probably remained. Geologically, the southernmost part of the range seemed to be similar to
the Tonopah, Goldfield, and Bullfrog districts, and good opportunities were imagined to exist
for those who took the time to look.
Jail Canyon was still the best producer in the Panamints, boasting the Gem Group and rich
Burro Mine. In Surprise Canyon, Jack Curran had located some good gold claims near
Panamint City. The Radcliffe Group in Pleasant Canyon was still producing, as was the
World Beater just above it. Coyote Canyon, between Goler and Redlands, was the location of
a great strike showing ore of a high assay value, more than $35, some shoots running up to

$125 and $230 per ton. Prospects looked good further south except for a lack of capital. [26]
New locations were constantly being made, though, since water and wood were plentiful.
Several companies were already operating in the Redlands area and it was thought that
summer and fall would bring an influx of desert prospectors.
By autumn the entry of prospectors from the Tonopah, Goldfield, and Bullfrog fields into the
Panamint region seemed even more imminent, despite the region's isolation from railroad
transportation facilities and roads, which cast doubt on the success of every mining venture.
But because remote areas of Nevada were proving to be profitable, new hope was seen for
the Panamint area, especially because these prospectors from Nevada were familiar with the
problems and frustrations of desert mining. [27]
In the meantime the original Panamint Mine seemed slated for a comeback. An October 1905
newspaper article stated that Jack Curran, the "King of the Panamints," had relocated the old
mine, which it reported was at one time bonded for $5,000 to an English syndicate. Some
later history of the once-roaring silver camp was presented, although some facts, such as
those regarding population figures, are open to question. The article reported that $700,000
was spent developing the old mine (improvements, wages, etc.). Currently remains of the
twenty-stamp mill, saloons, and stone warehouses could still be seen. The canyon was
deserted, the article continued, when silver, once selling for $1.29, was demonetized, and the
lack of good transportation facilities in addition made mining in the area unprofitable. After
the camp was deserted, the owners of the mine fell into dissension over some matter. The
workmen were not paid, and in retaliation took over possession of the property, which they
worked until they received due compensation. After setting fire to some of the buildings, they
scattered, and the town was left to the elements. [28]
Several more well-known prospects were appearing in the Panamints at this time in Hall
Canyon, such as the Pine Tree Mizpah and the Valley View, and prospecting was becoming a
much more organized and systematic business. A party of four men from Goldfield came into
the Panamint Range in November 1905 equipped with fourteen burros, an elaborate camp
outfit, and a determination to cover as large a territory in as short a time as possible. The
head of the party, who also held interests in Colorado mines, stated that in the Panamints he
saw the same class of ore as at Leadville, but of higher grade. Colorado investors, he
allowed, were very interested in the value of ores that could be found here. [29]
During the early 1900s mining in the Panamint section was booming: mineral resources were
good, geological conditions promising, new mining camps were being established nearby at
Greenwater, and at Emigrant Spring, Harrisburg, and Skidoo, and Nevada mining men were
now investing large sums in the Panamint region. Full forces of men were at work, reminding
people of the early days of Tonopah and Goldfield. The new camp of "Panamini," mentioned
earlier, was predicted to be one of the most prosperous of western mining camps, with water
being piped a mile and a half to supply all needs. [30]
Mining was not easy for men in this region, as evidenced by the statement of a mining
engineer in 1906 that the bodies of eight prospectors who had died from heat stroke in the
Panamints were brought in during his stay. The average temperature for several days was
116°F., even at midnight, while the thermometer would rise to 135°F. by noontime. In
contrast, by the first of March 1907 Skidoo and Ballarat were buried in deep snow. Other
problems existed in addition to vagaries of the weather, one group of prospectors reporting a
difficulty centering around settlers in the Panamint Valley who staked and restaked mining
claims, but never worked them, effectively preventing their exploration by bona fide mining
men. [31]
The price of silver in 1907 was holding steady, running around 75¢ in New York, as high as

it had been for several years. Locations were still being made at this time around old
Panamint City. While another new "Panamint" was in the throes of birth just across the
mountains in Johnson Canyon, miners arriving to work there were also crossing over to the
old townsite and staking claims in this still-mineral-rich area. The finding of high-grade
silver ore was mandatory in order to realize a profit because of transportation problems. One
miner locating here reported sixteen patented locations around the old mill site, where a
dozen vacant buildings were left from the boom days. [32]
e) Consistent Production Continues into Late 1900s
For the next few years mining continued in southern Inyo County on a profitable scale. At
Cerro Gordo, Darwin, and other places on the west side of the Panamints steady ore
production was maintained. By 1912 the Panamint Mine had been purchased by Al Meyers of
Goldfield-Mohawk fame, the property's productive record having reportedly been two to
three million dollars. The mine had been idle since 1893, but rehabilitation work was to
commence immediately; the ore was to be shipped to Randsburg, the nearest railroad point,
seventy miles away.
A summary of Panamint Range mining activity in the early 1920s appeared in the Inyo
Independent Most operations in the section were concentrated on the western slope, except
for the Carbonate silver-lead mine on the east edge and small gold mines at Anvil Spring in
Butte Valley. The Trona Railroad and American Magnesium Company's monorail system
were ameliorating somewhat the transportation and isolation problems that had existed in the
area for such a long time.
Producing properties were located in Goler Canyon (Admiral Group, Shurlock, Gold Spur);
South Park Canyon (Gibraltar); Hall Canyon (Horn Spoon); Jail Canyon (Gem Group, Burro
Mine); and Tuber Canyon (Salvage Mine and mill, Sure Thing Group). The Pleasant Canyon
mines (World Beater, Radcliffe, and Anthony mines) were now all idle. The Panamint Mine
under Myers's ownership was being resurrected by modern mining and milling equipment.
[33] The Panamint Mining Company determined at this time to construct a stone and gravel
toll road beginning at Surprise Canyon and climbing east 5-1/2 miles to the old Panamint
City site. The purpose of the toll was to get revenue from miners in that area to assist in road
maintenance, and as such was a venture similar to the later Eichbaum toll road built further
north a few years later. [34]
All along the Panamints refinements in technique were expected to finally make the old
silver-lead deposits below the 200-foot level pay. By the early 1930s silver was expected to
stabilize at a high market figure, and the mining community eagerly anticipated great things
for the Panamint Valley and environs. In the mid-1930s Tuber and Jail canyon mines were
operating on a large scale, the development of mines in Pleasant Canyon was being well
financed, and Goler Wash, now more accessible, was being explored. No big strikes were
made during the late 1920s and early 1930s, but prospectors kept combing the hills and
earlier operations kept producing. [35]
Leasers and owners both were working in the Ballarat District by the late 1930s, and the
consensus of opinion was that "taken as a whole the Panamint Range, while not spectacular,
is a consistent [sic] producer, an estimated 5000 tons having been shipped from there during
the present year." [36] The diversified resources of Inyo County were just now starting to be
fully realized, and companies such as Sierra Talc and the Pacific Coast Talc Co. were
involved in development work in the Darwin district. This somewhat offset losses in lead and
silver mining in the area, whose condition was stagnant due to the low market price of these
particular metals. Despite this, it was concluded by mining officials in the county that "the
mining industry in southern Inyo seems to be thriving at the present time. It has as always

many difficulties to contend with, especially in the gold producing districts. The greatest need
there is milling facilities closer to the properties. It should be borne in mind that the shortest
mine to mill [route] established in the immediate vicinity, (and] a program of more and better
improved roads would be the greatest single factor toward increased prosperity of the miner
and thereby of our whole county. [37]
Overall, production levels reached now seemed to stabilize due to increased values in market
prices, newer machinery, and improved roads and processes. On through the 1940s and
1950s the Darwin District, Tecopa District, and Modoc and Slate Range regions continued to
produce steadily. The Panamint mines were leased in 1947-48 by the American Silver
Corporation, which performed some work on them. The properties that originally initiated
exploratory work in the area--the Alabama, Hemlock, East Hemlock, and High Silver
patented claims, and the unpatented East Hemlock and High Silver mill sites--were privately
owned, as were the Challenge, Comstock, Eureka, Hudson River, Marvel, Stewart's Wonder,
Wyoming, Star, Little Chief, Independence, Ida, and Panamint Central patented claims, and
Stewart's Wonder, Challenge, Little Chief, and Wyoming patented mill sites, plus four other
unpatented claims, but all were idle. [38] Tungsten was later found on the Stewart's Wonder,
Challenge, and other claims in the Panamint mines complex, and soon a strong resurgence of
interest in the Panamint Range centered around this strategic mineral. The renewed interest
was attributable to some price stability occurring as a result of the federal government's
stockpile sales policy and to the absence of tungsten imports from mainland China. [39]
Exploration in this new field was short-lived, however, as it proved to be further north on
Harrisburg Flats.
f) Impact of Panamint and Other Early Mining Districts on Southern Inyo and Death
Valley History
The mining districts west of Death Valley have played an important and productive role in
Inyo County's economic and social history, and are worth further study on their own. What is
important, and what has hopefully been transmitted in this short chapter, is a realization of
the extreme and lasting influences exerted by these early communities and their inhabitants
on the later mining progress of southern Inyo County, including especially that of Death
Valley. The amount of territory covered by Owens and Panamint valley prospectors, and by
businessmen on the lookout for a promising investment, was phenomenal, especially in light
of the dearth of transportation facilities available at the time. These peregrinations were the
primary means by which men in the Death Valley camps and in the Nevada fields further east
were kept apprized of mining conditions in surrounding areas and the methods most
successfully used in extracting ore. The exploitation of these western mining districts has
been at times energetic, at times frenzied, and always sporadic. By dint of much persistence
and experimentation, however, the groundwork was laid here for the more systematic and
technologically sound methods that ultimately produced such gratifying results in later
mining operations in the southern Panamint, Wildrose, and Ubehebe sections of Death Valley
during the next few years.
g) Panamint City
The first boom town of the Panamint Range was Panamint City, in an area first discovered in
January 1873 by R.C. Jacobs, W.L. Kennedy, and R.B. Stewart, who located eighty or ninety
claims in the vicinity. Two necessities for successful milling operations--timber and water--
were plentiful near the site immediately south of Telescope Peak and about 100 miles from
Independence.
As word of the strike leaked out, excitement once again prevailed in southern Inyo County.
Numerous parties left immediately for the district with wagonloads of tools and provisions.

Principal lodes were the Wide West, Gold Hill, Wonder, Wyoming, Marvel, Pinos Altos,
Surprise, Challenge, Beauty, Chief, Cannon, Venus, King of Kayorat, Esperanza, Silver
Ridge, Garry Owen, Balloon, Panamint, Mina Verde, Blue Belle, Sunset, and Pine Tree. [40]
Optimism about affairs at Panamint ran high. An August 1873 edition of the Independent
quoted a Lagunita, California, resident who told of the "exceedingly fair ores" being taken
out of the district. "Panamint prospects are improving daily," he stated, "I think we have in
this camp the most intelligent and liberally inclined miners that perhaps ever got together.
[41]
To reach the Panamint Valley and the scene of the new strike, on mules or in wagons, afoot
or on burros, one had to branch east from the bullion trail at Lagunita (Little Lake), about
fifty-five miles distant, and follow a burro path across the Coso and Argus ranges. Jacobs,
realizing that the area's development was dependent upon a good communications system,
proceeded to raise funds in Los Angeles by subscription for a more convenient road going
south of the mountains via what is now Searles Lake and the north end of the Slate Range.
Because the future of the Panamint mines seemed promising enough at this point to warrant
such investment, money was quickly raised on the West Coast, many of the businessmen
there recalling the lucrative trade the city had established earlier with Cerro Gordo.
By mid-June 1874 the road was completed over the Slate Range where it connected with the
Surprise Canyon section. Although this latter road was almost immediately washed out by a
cloudburst, it was soon repaired and the entire route ready by mid-August 1874, whereupon
Jacobs hurriedly shipped in a ten-stamp reduction mill from San Francisco to process ore
from his Wonder Mine.
Earlier, around 18 December 1833, E.P. Raines, a well-known mining man and promoter, in
an effort to finance the camp, journeyed to Los Angeles to enlist support for the Panamint
District. An article in a Los Angeles paper of 13 December stated:
Messrs. Vanderbilt, Kennedy and Rains arrived here Wednesday from Inyo
county with some very rich specimens of silver ore from the Panamint district.
The specimens are exhibited at the Clarendon creating quite a little excitement,
particularly among those who are unfortunately not interested in the lead. The
ore is familiarly known as copper silver glance, but does not contain enough
copper or other base metals to prevent it from being easily crushed. The claim is
situated about sixty miles south east of Cerro Gordo and was located last January
by Mr. Kennedy. It presents the most encouraging prospects and will be
developed as soon as the necessary tools and machinery can be procured. It is
estimated that the ore will turn out about $1,000 to the ton [42]
Raines did finally succeed in persuading Senator John P. Jones of Nevada, who had already
made a fortune in the silver mines of Nevada's Comstock lode, to look into the matter in the
spring of 1875; impressed, he in turn interested his fellow senator, William M. Stewart of
Nevada, and other capitalists in investing in the Panamint lodes. Together they organized the
Panamint Mining Company in 1875 with a capital outlay of $2,000,000. [43]
With the entry of these moguls onto the Panamint mining scene, the attention of the western
mining community was safely captured. Jones's and Stewart's Surprise Valley Mill and Water
Company became the area's principal business enterprise. Stewart ultimately bought up
Jacobs's ten-stamp mill; the Surprise Canyon Toll Road that ran up Surprise Canyon to
Panamint, built by Bart McGee and others for $30,000; a site for a twenty-stamp quartz mill;
and all principal mines of the area. 44 First-class ore was shipped to England for smelting (an
indication of its richness); the rest would be reduced in the projected local mill and furnace.
[44]

In November 1874 a wagon road from the Owens Valley through the Coso and Argus ranges
to the Panamint Valley was opened, and twice-weekly service was initiated. Later in
November a second stage line brought visitors east from Indian Wells, connecting with San
Francisco and the West Coast. Stages also were routed from San Bernardino and Los
Angeles.
By November 1874 the population of Panamint City was close to 1,000. The main, mile-long,
muddy, rutted street was lined with rubbish and tents, about fifty buildings, either frame or
stone, and log or rock huts in which the hardy miners huddled for warmth. The town
supported many business establishments and the usual number of saloons, all demanding
exorbitant prices for goods. The Bank of Panamint was begun, a first indication of stability,
and even a newspaper, the tri-weekly Panamint News printed its first issue on 26 November
1874. A cemetery was located a short distance up Sour Dough Canyon.
Senator Stewart soon made known his need for someone to export his ore and bring in
machinery essential for the continuing productivity of his mills. Remi Nadeau, the French-
Canadian involved in Cerro Gordo freighting, was the logical choice, but too expensive. A
San Bernardino freighter was contacted, and he began hauling freight through Cajon Pass and
across the Mojave Desert in October 1874, creating as a side effect a vast new business for
his hometown. Realizing the profits that were daily being lost, Los Angeles teamsters entered
the trade by early November, directing their teams past Indian Wells and on to Panamint. And
not surprisingly, soon Remi Nadeau and his Cerro Gordo Freight Company joined in
transporting the heavy flow of goods passing between Panamint City and Los Angeles. The
latter truly began to share in the prosperity created by the Panamint boom, as lumber, grain,
flour, and whiskey passed in large quantities to the growing camp full of thirsty men.
By December 1874, the height of Panamints career, the Surprise Valley Company operated
six mines and employed 200 'miners. [45] In the middle of that month Jacobs's ten-stamp
mill began production. Population of the camp was now between 1,500 and 2,000 men. A
Frenchman, Edmond Leuba, deciding to visit the active town, left Los Angeles around
December 1874. He constantly met people on the road going to and from Panamint, attesting
to the thriving commercial activity between the two places. Unfortunately he arrived at the
mouth of Surprise Canyon at nighttime and had difficulty avoiding the teamsters who were
coming down the steep, narrow canyon road even at this time of day. This was a toll road,
costing Leuba $3.00 for his two horses and a wagon. Three miles further east the ravine
opened out and the lights from many fires were visible in the canyon. Mining blasts sounded
every instant. He found a place for his horses in the shelter of a tent and lodging for himself
in the dug-out cellar of a restaurant, which he shared with "a dozen figures looking more or
less like candidates for the gallows." [46]
Next morning the Frenchman commented on the bright sun and intense heat of the canyon.
Panamint camp, he saw, was "composed of about fifty huts made of logs, tents and little
houses partly dug out of the rocks." [47] Work there progressed until January when the snow
became too deep. At that time many of the miners left camp for warmer regions, and the
population dwindled markedly.

Illustration 6. Upper part of Panamint City, 1875. Photo courtesy of G. William

Fiero, UNLV.
Commenting on the quantity of saloons in the town, Leuba next proceeded on a guided tour
of the Panamint mines, which he stated
have been very little worked as yet. The deepest shafts are not more than
seventy-five feet below the surface and the tunnels showed very little
development. But it is in these first workings that they have found the richest ore
and that which is easiest to work. Only two mines, so far as I know, have
produced good ore to a depth of five hundred to six hundred feet. There is no
mill for the reduction of this ore as yet at Panamint. The richest ore is sent to San
Francisco at a transportation cost of $80 to $100 a ton, while the second class ore
is heaped up at the mouth of the shafts from which it is extracted, awaiting the
time when it can be treated here. [48]
Leuba seemed to think the mines were daily diminishing in value, and the reduction
processes becoming more and more difficult. He says this condition lasted over into the next
year, when Panamint began losing people to Darwin, where lead in the deposits made
reduction easier and less costly.
By the spring of 1875 full-scale production in the area was almost a reality, and toward the
end of June 1875 the Surprise Valley Company's twenty-stamp mill was started up. Bullion
was regularly shipped via the Cerro Gordo Freight Company's mule teams, and work for
everyone was plentiful. The economic mainstays of the camp--the Wyoming and Hemlock
mines--were producing heavily.

Illustration 7. Jones's and Stewart's twenty-stamp mill and furnace

in old Panamint City. Date unknown, but probably prior to 1877.
Photo courtesy of DEVA NM.
Illustration 8. Ruins of old Panamint City smelter, date unknown.

As happens in boom towns, however, the halcyon days could not last, and by the end of 1875
the thriving era of Panamint was coming to a close. As Leuba had noticed, many miners were
now heading toward Darwin and the New Coso Mining District, where it was warmer and
prospects looked good for employment. The Panamint News even moved there early in
November, becoming the Coso Mining News By the spring of 1876 the Wyoming and
Hemlock mines were depleted.
This, in addition to other discouraging factors--no new discoveries in the area; the
demonetization of silver; setbacks experienced by Jones and Stewart at their silver prospects
in the Comstock lode, resulting in depletion of their financial reserves; and the impossibility
of realizing a profit on refractory ores whose yield was not commensurate with their recovery

cost--caused the Surprise Valley mill and mines to shut down in May 1877. Stories also
circulated of "stock jobbing; of grafting and trouble among the grafters; of seizures by
stockholders who were not mining men; of fortunes spent in building a mill where a smelter
was needed; of consequent failure, disappointment, abandonment and complete depopulation
of the once flourishing camp." [49]
h) Personalities
Though the rip-roaring early boom days of Panamint might have ended, the townsite and
surrounding area still supported some interesting characters, both male and female. Men such
as John P. Jones and William M. Stewart (founders of Panamint City), Jack Curran ("King of
the Panamints"), Frank Kennedy ("The Duke of Wild Rose"), January Jones, Clarence Eddy
("The Poet Prospector"), Harry C. Porter ("Hermit of the Range"), Shorty Harris, and Chris
Wicht ("Seldom Seen Slim") all made their contributions to the history of mining in the
Panamint Range.
The women are not without their share of the limelight, too, however. Notable among them
was Mrs. Mary A. Thompson, owner and operator of the Panamint lead mine in 1926. Mrs.
Thompson had stirred up some local animosity by not allowing prospectors on certain
sections that she considered part of her holdings. She was brought to court over this in
Independence where she was convicted and given a suspended sentence. Her affairs did not
improve, as seen by a later newspaper report that she was searching for her two children,
ages 16 and 20, who, she claimed, had been spirited away by "the lawless element of Death
Valley," consisting of "numerous bootleggers who ply their lawless trade far from the seeing
eyes of the law." Despite their attempts to steal her mine because she had attempted single-
handedly to drive them from the region, she did not intend to give in: "I will fight them until I
get my children back and rid Death Valley of them." [50]
In the mid-1930s Mrs. Thompson was still in trouble. Convicted on ten counts of failing to
pay wages to laborers, and facing 600 days in jail or a $1,200 fine, she was appealing her
case to the superior court at Independence. It must have been quite an interesting court
session when, during one afternoon's proceedings, Mrs. Thompson became hysterical and
fainted, necessitating an adjournment of court for the day. [51]
A 1969 newspaper article mentions another woman living in the Panamint Range area. In
1935 Panamint Annie (Mary Elizabeth Madison) began her reign as "Queen of Death
Valley." A truck driver on the New York to Chicago route, she quit that job and moved to
Death Valley to live out her days. Residing in a shack at Beatty, Nevada, she spent her time
prospecting and puttering around the junk piles at her home. She was still alive in 1969 at
age 58. [52]

Illustration 9. Area of early mining camps west of Death Valley (north half).

Illustration 10. Area of early mining camps west of Death Valley (south
half).
i) Sites
The following is an attempt to locate and briefly identify some of the more important mines
on the western slope of the Panamint Range. This list is by no means conclusive. An attempt
has been made to mention these mines chronologically in order of discovery date. The
similarity in name between many of these and other claims within the borders of Death
Valley NM makes the task of sorting out relevant material a time-consuming one.
(1) Wonder (of the World?) Mine, Bob Stewart Lode, Mina Verde, and Sunnyside
These mines were among the principal claims filed on by the founders of Panamint City. On
21 June 1873 deeds were submitted by R.C. Jacobs transferring to someone referred to as
"Paladio" one-eighth interests in the "Bob Stewart" lode and the Mina Verde, Wonder of the
World, and Sunnyside mill sites and timber claims for $1,500 plus other considerations. [53]
In November of the same year notice appeared of the sate by "R.T. [B] Stewart" of a one-half
interest in the Wonder Mine for $20,000 to "a San Francisco party by the name of Rains
(probably E.P. Raines]." [54] The Wonder Mine was the original find of R.C. Jacobs.
In the Death Valley NM mining office a memo was found with the notation "Scotty's Claim

locations." One of these is for a quartz claim "in the Furnace Mountain Mining District,"
lying on the "Death Valley slope about 40 miles west of Saratoga Springs." Date of discovery
was 1 January 1905, the claim to be known as the Death Valley Wonder No. 16 Mine. This
would appear to be east of the original Wonder Mine, possibly in the Butte Valley District.
[55]
(2) Ino, Jim Davis, Hill Top, Alta, Comstock, Gold Star, World Beater, Big Bill, Elephant,
Florence, Gem, General Lee, Gold Note, Golden Terry, Little Till, Lookout, Mammoth, and
Summit Mines
By 1897 these claims in Pleasant Canyon were all owned by the South Park Development
Company. [56]
(3) Mohawk Lode
This claim was originally filed for record on 18 July 1874 so that a shaft could be sunk and
developed for whatever metal it contained. The lode was situated on a hill north of Surprise
Canyon and Browns Camp, and was located by C.D. Robinson and R.D. Brown. A second
location, filed for record on 8 October 1874 by William Welch and George Ranier[?], locates
the claim about 500 feet above the Wonder Mine. [57]
4) Silver Queen Lode
Situated "about 500 yds. SW of the Bullion Lode," this claim was filed for record on 22
August 1874 by C.D. Robinson and John Mantel. [58]
(5) Homestake Lode Home Stake Lode
Two claims by this name appear on the records. The Homestake Lode "situated about 3/4
mile from the mouth of Woodpecker Canon on w. side of the gulch" was filed for record on 7
September 1874 by W.W.(N?) McAllister.
The Home Stake Lode "about 1/4 mile East of Hemlock [Mine]" was filed for record 22
September 1874 by John Kelle and J.B. Durr. [59]
(6) Sheba Lode
This was situated near the summit of the divide between Marvel Canyon and "Canon Gulch,"
about one-half mile from the divide separating Surprise and "Happy Valley" (Happy)
canyons. It was filed for record 8 September 1874 by persons unknown. [60]
(7) Sun Set Mine
A relocation of the Star of Panamint, this claim was filed on 20 October 1874 by Henry
Carbery(?), W. McCormick, and W. Scott. [61]
(8) Nellie M Mine
This mine, not to be confused with the Nellie Mine north of Hungry Bill's Ranch in Johnson
Canyon, was filed for record on 2 November 1874 by John Small, R.M. McDonell, Charles
W. Dale, and L. Rodepouch. It was situated in Woodpecker Canyon on the west side
"opposite the third ravine." [62]
Filed for record on 1 December 1874, this mine, located by J.J. Gunn, John Gough, and John

Williams, was situated on the west side of Woodpecker Canyon about 200 yards north of the
Bismark Mine. [63]
(10) Christmas Lode
"This lode is situated on a hill whose ridge runs nearly eaqual and paralell with Sour Dough
Canon, and about one mile from Surprise Valley, said lode is situated between the red
formation nearly at the Base of said hill and runs for thirty along crest of the hill Fifteen
hundred feet to a white formation at the Northerly line of the lode." It was filed for record 31
December 1874 and claimed by Wellington Hansel Jackel. [64] A North Extension of the
Christmas Lode comprised 1,500 feet on the north side of Surprise Canyon filed for record 5
February 1875 by John Fruke, Arthur Bryle, Michael Bryle, and E.H. Boyd. [65]
(11) Christmas Gift Mine and Co. No 1 Mine
To add further confusion, this claim was filed for record on 3 January 1875 by WalterR.
Maguire and R.J. McPhee. It was situated "about 300 feet more or less in a North by East
direction from the Harrison boarding house. . . ." [66] The No. 1 Mine joined the east end of
the Christmas Gift, and was located 5 July 1896 by John Casey, Charles McLeod, and John
Curran. [67]
(12) Exchequer Lode
James Dolan, W.W. Kitten, and Thomas Sloan filed this claim about one mile west from the
head of Woodpecker Canyon on 25 October 1874. [68]
Filed for record on 20 January 1875 by M.G. Fitzgerald, A. McGregor, D.J. Sweeny, and M.
Holland, ". . . this Ledge to be known as the 'North Star' . . . is situated part on the East side
of a ridge running into Narboe Canon & crossing the divide about 1,000 feet West of the
Gipsy Bride ledge, between Surprise Valley and Narboe Canon and about 2-1/2 miles in a
Northwest direction from the town of Panamint." [69]
(14) Argenta Lode
This claim was filed 27 April 1875, and was located in the center of the west fork of Silver
(Sour Dough) Canyon. [70]
(15) Uncle Sam Lode
On 11 April 1880 John Lemoigne filed a claim on the Uncle Sam Lode, situated one mile
north of the Torine Mine. [71] (This latter was located 3/4 mile south of the Gambetta Mine
and one mile east of a spring in Happy Valley Canyon.) Another Uncle Sam Lode was
recorded 17 December 1883 in the Union District about one mile East of the Barns Mill site.
[72] In 1931 an application for a patent for an Uncle Sam Lode in the Slate Range Mining
District appeared. [73]
(16) Magnet Mine
First mention found of this mine was an 1884 notice that this property in the Telescope
Range, south of Panamint, owned by Spear and Thompson, was doing well, much
development work having been performed in the past few months. [74] Another report of the
mine in 1884 called the Magnet "the only mine in the district [Panamint District] which
promises good returns." [75]

(17) Grand View Mine Anaconda Mine
This mine, located rather nebulously "2 miles in northerly direction from spring in Emigrant
gulch and about 2 miles in southerly direction from Mineral Hill and about 5 miles in NW
direction from Anvil Springs and just south of Buckeye Mine in Panamints," was discovered
by W.M. Sturtevant and recorded 11 October 1888. [76] By September 1892 a Grand View
Quartz Mine in the Panamint Mining District was owned by the Death Valley Mining
Company. The location given of T21S, R45E, would seem to place the mine east of the
Panamint City area and north of Gold Hill. [77] This is probably the same mining company
owning the lodes in the Gold Hill area. The Death Valley Mining Company, represented by
J.H. Cavanaugh, was listed as being delinquent with $23.96 in taxes in 1912. The properties
concerned were Lot No. 62, the Anaconda Mine, and Lot No. 63, the Grand View Mine. [78]
In February 1917 the Anaconda Mine (20 acres) and the Grand View Mine (18 acres), owned
by John W. Cavanaugh and the Death Valley Mining Company, were offered for sale by the
Inyo County tax collector. [79] The two properties were still being advertised a month later.
The least amount for which the properties could be purchased was $281.50. [80]
A note in the mining office at Death Valley National Monument stated that the "Anacada
(Anaconda?)" quartz and Grand View quartz mines were located near Panamint City in
Woodpecker Canyon, "a stones throw away" from the monument boundary. [81]
(18) Willow Spring Mine
This mine, recorded in 1896, was located three miles west of Panamint Toms stone corral.
This probably refers to the stone structure up Pleasant Canyon. [82]
(19) Mountain Girl Mine
In 1930 this gold mine was situated at the head of Happy Canyon, about four miles south of
the Panamint City townsite. [83]
(20) Black Rock Nos. 1 2 3 and 4
These quartz claims in the Panamint Mining District were deeded in 1922 by J. B. Oven to
Mrs. C. Kennedy. [84]
(21) New York Idaho and Dolly Varden Mines
In 1898 a one-third interest in these claims was given by J.F. Ginser to Peter B. Donahoo for
$10. [85]
(22) Republican Mine
A mine owned by George Montgomery and associates, it was working steadily and milling
high-grade ore in the early 1900s. [86]
(23) Cooper and Mountain Boy Mines
Located near the base of Sentinel Peak, these were owned in the early 1900s by the Gold
Crown Company, which intended building reduction works. Much high-grade ore was
present. [87]
(24) Valley View Mine

This claim, recorded in 1896, was located on the west side of the Panamint Range, one mile
south of Pleasant Canyon and 1-1/3 miles east of Post Office Spring. [88]
deva/hrs/section3a1.htm

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION III:
THE WEST SIDE
A. Southern Panamints and West Side Road (continued)
2. Gold Hill Mining District
a) History
Some confusion in researching Gold Hill results from the fact that two similarly-named
regions existed in the vicinity of Death Valley. A very early Gold Hill Mining District was
formed east of Death Valley in the 1860s by a certain Mr. Shaw, and accounts from this area,
also referred to as Gold Mountain, appeared quite frequently for a time. The Gold Hill region
within Death Valley National Monument is in its southwest corner, in the Panamint Mountain
Range, at the northeast end of Butte Valley and north of Warm Spring. It did not see its first
activity until around the 1870s. [89]
On 7 May 1875 a Certificate of Work on the Gold Hill No. 1 claim was filed, the work
consisting only of an open cut.
It is doubtful that this claim was actually located on what is today known as Gold Hill,
because an 1881 location notice for the Bullion Mine, "formerly known as Gold Hill No. 1,
Richmond, and Victor Mine," filed by Robert Mitchell, describes it as being situated "at or
near head of Quartz Canyon, about 2-1/2 miles from Town of Panamint." [90]
The first positive documented evidence of mining activity occurring on the Gold Hill just
north of Butte Valley consists of several site locations filed by Messrs. R.B. Taylor (president
of the Citizen's Bank at South Riverside), W.C. Morton, and R.W. Beckerton of South
Riverside, San Bernardino County, California. [91] These early claims were filed within the
Cleaveland Mining District, which at some early date encompassed, or was thought to, some
of these mining properties. No information on the boundaries or establishment dates of this
district were found in the Inyo County Courthouse.

Illustration 11. Map of Gold Hill and Butte Valley mining districts.
The ten mines these men located probably included some of the following:
(1) Taylor Quartz Mine and Mill Site
The Taylor Quartz Mine (20.54 acres), situated in the Cleaveland Mining District one
hundred yards west of the Treasure Mine, was located first on 11 May 1889 and relocated on
28 August 1890, probably to change the mining district name and at the same time affirm
ownership by the Death Valley Mining Company. It was recorded in the district 11 May 1889
and 1 September 1890, and was filed with the county recorder on 6 June 1889. Over $100
worth of assessment work was carried out on the Taylor Mine at Gold Hill, then said to be
located in the Panamint Mining District, for the year 1890. The mine was subsequently
patented on 21 December 1893. [92]
The directions given for the associated Taylor Mill site (4.42 acres) variously describe it as
being located in Indian Toms (also referred to as Panamint Tom's) Canyon, four miles
easterly from Gold Hill, and about two or two and one-half miles east from Butte Valley.
Water from the mill site, to be used for mining, milling, and domestic purposes, was to be
conveyed partly by six-inch-diameter iron pipes and partly by a ditch two feet wide and one
foot deep. The mill site, located on 28 August 1890 by the Death Valley Mining Company,
and recorded 1 September 1890, was patented on 21 December 1893. [93]
(2) Gold Hill Quartz Mine and Mill Site
The Gold Hill Quartz Mine (19.66 acres) was first located on 30 April 1889 by Morton,
Beckerton, and Taylor. Said to be situated in the Cleaveland Mining District, five miles west
of Death Valley and about 2-1/2 miles east of the "Chief Mine, it was recorded in Inyo
County on 6 June 1889. The mine was relocated in the Panamint Mining District on 28
August 1890 by the Death Valley Mining Company, with the following note appended to its
papers:

The above notice was recorded through error in what was thought to be
Cleaveland Mining District but upon the 30th day April 1889 and s[ic]
rerecorded in Panamint Mining District Inyo County Cal. upon day and year as
above stated.
The mine location was given as on the north slope of Gold Hill, about two miles east of the
Chief Mine and about 500 yards east of the Treasure Mine. Over $100 worth of assessment
work was performed on the Gold Hill Mine for the year 1890, and it was subsequently
patented on 1 May 1893. [94]
The associated five-acre mill site plus water recorded in the Cleaveland Mining District on 30
April 1889 were to be used by Morton, Beckerton, and Taylor in connection with mining,
milling, and domestic purposes. Both mill site and water claim were said to be situated in
Marvel Canyon, about five mites west of Death Valley. They were recorded in the Inyo
County recorder's office on 6 or 7 June 1889. [95]
(3) Death Valley Mine
The original Death Valley claim in the Panamint Mining District, "situated 1/2 mile south of
where the Panamint and Death Valley Trail crosses the summit and on the Death Valley side
of the ridge," was discovered by John Lemoigne and others on 6 June 1879. The next
possible mention of the claim occurs in the form of a location notice for a Death Valley
Mine, situated in the Cleaveland Mining District, "about 1-1/4 miles north of Chief Mine." It
was located 13 May 1889 by Taylor and Beckerton and was recorded on 6 June 1889. The
claim was evidently relocated and rerecorded on 14 November 1890 by the Death Valley
Mining Company, who described the mine as being "Situated 1-1/4 mile NE of Chief Mine
and about 2 mites North of Death Valley Mining Company's Boarding House at Gold Hill
and adjoins the Beckerton Mine to which it runs parallel in Panamint Mining District." A
third relocation notice by the Death Valley Mining Company on 9 August 1893 located the
claim "about 1-1/4 miles NE of 'Ibex' Mine and about one mile north of Death Valley
Company's Boarding House." Possibly the Ibex Mine is a later relocation of the Chief Mine,
about which the writer could find no mention in the county courthouse records. [96]
(4) Treasure Quartz Mine
This claim (20.39 acres) was first located on 30 April 1889 by Beckerton, Morton, and
Taylor. Said to be situated in the Cleaveland Mining District, two miles northwest of the
"Chief Mine," it was recorded in the county records on 6 June 1889. According to the survey
plat of the claim, the mine was relocated on 28 August 1890 and rerecorded 1 September
1890. At the request of R.B. Taylor, president of the Death Valley Mining Company, for an
inspection of the claim, the Panamint Mining District recorder found that over $100 worth of
assessment work had been accomplished at the mine for 1890. It was patented on 20 March
1893. [97]
(5) No 1 (No One) Mine
This claim, situated in the Cleaveland Mining District, 1,000 feet west of the Taylor Mine
and joining the Gold Hill Mine on the east, was located 10 May 1889 by Morton, Beckerton,
and Taylor and recorded with the county on 6 June 1889. Over $100 worth of assessment
work was performed on the mine in 1890. Whether or not this mine is a relocation of the
Gold Hill No. 1 located in 1875 is conjectural. [98]
(6) Silver Reef (Reefe) Mine

This claim was first recorded on 6 June 1889 in the Cleaveland Mining District, having been
located on 17 May 1889 by Morton, Taylor, and Beckerton. It was relocated and refiled on 11
December 1890 by the Death Valley Mining Company. In the relocation notice its position is
given as "1/2 mile west from Death Valley Mining Company's Boarding House at Gold Hill
and is crossed by trail leading from Gold Hill to Panamint in Panamint Mining District." [99]
(7) Ibex Mine (formerly Chief Mine?)
This claim, situated "alongside trail leading from Panamint to Gold Hill about one mile west
from Death Valley Mining Company's Boarding House at Gold Hill," in the Panamint
Mining District, was not located and filed on until December 1890 by R.W. Beckerton, so it
was probably not one of the original ten Gold Hill properties. [100]
(8) May Mine
This claim was located on 7 May 1889 by Morton, Beckerton, and Taylor, and recorded with
the county on 6 June 1889 in the Cleaveland Mining District 14 mile southwest of the Chief
Mine. Rerecorded and refiled on 11 December 1890 by the Death Valley Mining Company,
its location was further stated as "3/4 mile west from Death Valley Mining Co's Boarding
House being crossed by trait leading from Gold Hill to Panamint and is on west slope of Gold
Hill" in the Panamint Mining District. [101]
(9) Breyfogle Mine
This claim "west of trail going to Panamint and about 600' south of Ibex Mine," was located
in the Panamint Mining District on 9 August 1893, and so was not one of the original, ten
claims in the area. It was a relocation of the "Bryfogle [sic] Mine' 600' south of Ibex Mine to
north of Gold Hill trait which it crosses." A man by the name of S. Smith relocated the mine
again as the "Bryfogle Quartz Mining Claim" on 1 January 1896. The mine was described as
a lode of quartz-bearing copper adjoining the Nutmeg Mine "on SW side tine and is south of
Panamint Trail about 1000 feet and North West of Gold Hill about 3/4 of mile. Is on low
divide between Panamint Mts. and Gold Hill." A second notice of relocation in 1896 gave its
spelling as "Breyfogle" again and stated it was a relocation of the Breyfogle Mine formerly
claimed by Henry Gage. [102]
(10) Oro Grande Mine
The first mention found of this claim was a 9 August 1893 relocation notice filed by Henry T.
Gage. The location given was "on south slope of Gold Hill about 2000' west from Taylor
patented mine and about 2000' SW from Treasure patented mine in Panamint Mining
District." Four years earlier, on 27 May 1889, a Notice of Appropriation for the waters of Oro
Grande Springs, "situated 3 mites west of Chief Mine and about 8 miles north of Anvil
Spring in NW corner of Butte Valley in Butte Valley Mng. District," was filed by Frank
Winters and Stephen Arnold. The waters, to be used for mining, milling, and domestic
purposes, were to be developed by ditches, pipes, and flumes. [103]
(11) Beckerton Mine
This mine was located 14 May 1889 by Morton, Beckerton, and Taylor, and recorded with
the county on 6 June 1889. It was situated in the Cleaveland Mining District, 1-1/4 miles
northeast of the Chief Mine and 1,000 feet north of the Death Valley Mine. [104]
(12) Georgia Mine
This claim was located 19 May 1889 and recorded on 6 June 1889. Also in the Cleaveland

Mining District, it was situated 1-1/2 mites north of the Chief Mine and was supposedly a
northern extension of the Breyfogle Mine. [105] If so, there must have been an earlier
recordation of this latter mine than the one found by this writer.
According to the Inyo Independent the mines in the Gold Hill region were first discovered by
an Indian who imparted the information to a man named Carter who immediately told R.B.
Taylor, C.M. Tomlin of Riverside, and a Mr. Nolan about them. These four men went and
examined the ledges, located several claims, shipped in provisions, and hired two young men,
Stephen Arnold and Frank Withers, to work their claims. As incentive they gave the boys
some nearby properties, and then returned home. Although word of the find slowly leaked out
after the boys returned to the coast, causing others to take an interest in the area, no one
knew much about the ore, which was rumored to range from $80 to $250 per ton. It was also
said that Taylor was contemplating opening a road into the property. [106]
Papers incorporating the Death Valley Mining Company "to do a general mining business"
for fifty years were filed in the office of the Secretary of State on 13 July 1889. The principal
place of business was South Riverside, San Bernardino County, California, and the following
were listed as directors: R.B. Taylor (S. Riverside), W.C. Morton (San Bernardino City),
R.W. Beckerton (S. Riverside), H.R. Woodall (S. Riverside), and J.H. Taylor (S. Riverside).
The corporation had one million dollars of capital stock divided into 10,000 shares worth
$100 each, though the amount of capital stock actually subscribed was $60,000, raised by the
five directors plus James Taylor, Sr., and W.A. Hayt. [107] Soon after its organization the
company obtained U.S. patents for at least five of its mines: Treasure (20 March 1893), Gold
Hill (1 May 1893), Taylor (21 December 1893), Grand View, and Anaconda.
Further news of the new camp was available a couple of months later, when it was reported
that the "ores are rich in gold, the veins strong and well defined, and as far as opened have
every indication of permanency." [108] Prospects appeared so encouraging and Taylor and
his associates had accomplished enough labor that reduction works seemed warranted. Other
miners had also moved into the area and owned promising properties. In these early days at
Gold Hill it is probable that Indian labor was utilized at the mines and that they were taking
the ore three miles west to Arrastre Spring to process it.
By 1896 the mines at Gold Hill were still being worked. A Richard Decker was evidently
running the operations for R.B. Taylor, and the veins still looked promising. [109] The mines
produced so well, in fact, that by the fall of 1897 R.B. Taylor and his business partners James
P. Mathes of Corona and W.A. Hayt of Riverside were able to sell a group of five of their
free-milling mines to an English syndicate for $105,000. The Independent reported that "This
is the most important sate of Inyo mining property that has yet transpired in the 'southeastern'
districts. . . ." [110] The mines involved were the Treasure, Taylor, Gold Hill, Grand View,
and Anaconda, located "about seven miles southeast from Panamint and ten miles northeast
from the head [mouth?] of Pleasant Valley; are at the north end of Butte Valley and near the
head of Anvil Canyon. . . ." Dumps In the Gold Hill area had already accumulated 500 to 600
tons of ore, not free-milling as had been rumored, but impregnated with copper and iron.
Water could be piped to the mines from Arrastre Spring and of course lumber was available
on the higher mountains. The only major problem hindering development revolved, as usual,
around lack of easy access to mine and market. It was suggested that a road be cut down
Butte Valley past Anvil Spring to connect with the old "Coleman road," probably meaning
Wingate Pass. [111]
Taylor evidently had negotiated a further sale of Gold Hill property by 1899, for reports were
found that he then sold the Gold Hill mine "known as the Death Valley mining property" to
New Yorkers for $207,000. They were supposedly going to spend another $100,000 erecting
a forty-stamp mill, bringing in other machinery, and in making needed improvements. The

sale was made because the owners (Taylor and Beckerton) did not have sufficient capital to
fully develop the mine. [112] By the next year the Death Valley Mining Company had
reportedly been doing extensive work in opening up its properties in order to fully determine
their extent and richness. A sixteen-foot vein of solid auriferous ore had been exposed, and
some sort of reduction works were needed. An Inyo newspaper reported that
This section in the near future will become an important factor in the gold
production of the State. The veins are large, the nature of the ground admitting of
extraction at a minimum expense with water and fuel handy. [113]
The year 1900 also saw the entrance of a new mining company into the Gold Hill region as
the Gold Hill Mining Company, a wealthy New York-based firm, announced intentions to
begin activities there around the first of March. [114]
Future transactions concerning the Gold Hill Mine are somewhat confusing. In April 1900 the
Independent reported that this claim had been resold on the seventeenth "to Mr. Taylor, a
banker of South Riverside, for $207,000." [115] In May an article stated that the Gold Hill
"lead mines" had been sold to some southern California capitalists (possibly including Mr.
Taylor) who were envisioning commencing operations there immediately. [116] By 1904 the
Gold Hill Mining and Development Company was in some financial difficulty, appearing on
the Delinquent Tax List of Inyo County for the year 1903 because of taxes due on the Taylor
Mine and Mill Site (Lots 39A and B, comprising twenty-five acres), the Gold Hill Mine (Lot
37, twenty acres), and the Treasure Mine (Lot 38, twenty acres). The amount assessed the
company was $39.46. An assessment of $8.10 for the very same property was made against
an L.A. Norveil, who apparently held a mortgage on-these properties, possibly as executor of
the W.H. Greenleaf Estate that is mentioned in the assessment. [117] Suffice to say,
ownership of the claims had become fairly involved by this time.
No detailed mention of the mines in this area over the next few years came to light. In 1906
two other persons, Ralph Williams and Bob Murphy, were mentioned in connection with
mining properties on Gold Hill, and both reports indicate that satisfactory progress was still
being made in the area. [118] By 1911 the Delinquent Tax-List of Inyo County listed John
W. Cavanaugh as being assessed $25.01 in state and county taxes for the Anaconda Mine
(Lot No. 62 Mineral Survey, twenty acres) and the Grand View Mine (Lot No. 63 Mineral
Survey, twenty acres). The Gold Hill Mining and Development Company, of which
Cavanaugh was the secretary, was assessed $25.51 in overdue state and county taxes again
for the Taylor Mine and Mill Site and the Gold Hill and Treasure mines. [119]
In February 1917 these three mining locations are reported as having been sold to the state on
28 June 1904 for 1903 taxes (Deed No. 72). Since no effort had been made in the past five
years by the Gold Hill Mining and Development Company to redeem the properties, they
were being offered for sale. The total assessment levied, including overdue state and county
taxes for 1903, penalties on delinquency and costs, total interest at 7% per year from 1 July
1904, plus smaller miscellaneous costs, fixed the price asked at at leas? $82.60. [120]
The Anaconda and Grand View mines had already been sold to the state on 25 June 1901 for
non-payment of taxes during 1900. Cavanaugh and the Death Valley Mining Company were
being assessed a total of $149.50 in back taxes, $27.19 in penalties, and $84.99 in total
interest charges. This plus miscellaneous costs brought the minimum purchase price of the
two properties to $281.50. The minimum purchase price of the Taylor, Gold Hill, and
Treasure mines, still up for sale, had fallen slightly, to $799. [121]
The 1932 Journal of Mines and Geology presents a capsulized summary of the current
workings at the Gold Hill Mine. It comprised four patented claims on the east slope of the

Panamints at an elevation of 5,400 feet. The owners at that time were Fred W. Gray of Los
Angeles and William Hyder of Trona, California, but the property was under lease at the time
to Miss Louise Grantham, also of Los Angeles. Gray and Hyder said the property, patented in
1894, had been deeded to the state, from whom they bought it in 1919. The owners claimed
there were three tunnels on the property (the longest, 300 feet) from which were coming
"lead carbonates and galena, with gold and silver as associate minerals." Rumor was that
Miss Grantham intended to construct a mill to process the ore at Warm Springs, about four
miles southeast of Gold Hill. [122] (More information on this mill will be found in the Warm
Spring section of this report.) A 1948 USGS Bulletin stated that the Gold Hill Mine,
producing gold, silver, and lead, was owned (or operated) by Messrs. James and Dodson of
Lone Pine, California, in 1940. [123]
In 1951 the Journal mentions several Gold Hill area mines: 1) Golden Eagle Group of six
claims on the southwest slope of Gold Hill (T22S, R46E, MDM). These were owned by
Louise Grantham and development consisted of a 40-foot tunnel with 10-foot winze. High-
grade gold, silver, and copper was present, but in this year no activity was recorded; [124] 2)
Panamint Treasure Mine (Taylor, Treasure, Gold Hill) on the southeast slope of Gold Hill.
This ninety-acre holding comprised the three patented claims above plus three unpatented
fraction claims and a mill site at Arrastre Spring, all owned by Louise Grantham and
associates of Ontario, California. A 50-foot adit and a 100-foot adit were present on the
Taylor Claim with ore assaying on the average 1.02 ozs. gold, 9.4 ozs. silver, and 3.2% lead.
From 1931 to 1941, 150 tons of ore were shipped and 300 tons milled, but the property was
now idle; [125] 3) Red Eagle Group (Blue Bird Group) on the southwest slope of Gold Hill
comprised six unpatented claims also owned by Louise Grantham. Workings on the now idle
property consisted of a 50-foot shaft, an open cut, and a 100-foot adit. Assays on the ore
returned lead, silver, and smaller amounts of gold. [126]
A partial list of mining claim locations within the monument in 1960 reveals that the Gold
Hill area contained at least twelve unpatented and three patented gold, silver, and lead claims.
[127] The files in the Death Valley National Monument mining office offer a more complete
look at the more recent claims and the present mining situation in the Gold Hill area:
In 1975 Gold Hill proper contained fifteen claims owned by Ralph Harris of Victor Material
Co. of Victorville, California, and his son Harold: the Treasure Quartz Mine (patented),
Taylor Quartz Mine (patented), and Gold Hill Quartz Mine (patented); Panamint Treasure
Fractions #1, #2, and #3 (located 20 February 1937); Golden Eagle #1, #2, and #3 (located 30
July 1935); Red Eagle #1, #2, and #3 (located 31 July 1935); and Bullet #2 and #3 (located
30 April 1942), and #4 (located 19 September 1956). All claims were located for gold, except
the Red Eagle Group, which was located for lead and silver. The patented Taylor Mill site,
although associated with mining at Gold Hill, is located at Arrastre Spring about four miles
west. The Red Eagle Mill site (located either 19 or 24 April 1946) is located at Six Springs,
two miles northeast of Arrastre Spring in Six Spring Canyon.
b) Present Status
The claims listed earlier are all included within the Panamint Treasure Claim Group and lie in
the vicinity of Gold Hill, north of Warm Spring Canyon, in protracted Sections 14, 23, and
24, T22S, R46E, MDB and MDM.
(1) Gold Hill Area
The Gold Hill area is reached by a rough dirt road taking off in a northerly direction from the
Butte Valley Road about 2-1/2 miles west of its intersection with the Warm Spring Canyon
Road. About 1/4 mile north on this road some ruts veer to the west, leading about another 2-

1/2 miles up a steep four-wheel-drive slope to Arrastre Spring. Proceeding north on the main
road, however, for about another two miles leads to a fork in the road, the northernmost route
leading up over a hill to a site marked "Prospect" on the USGS Bennetts Well quadrangle.
This area is on the Bullet claim, and according to on-site observations made by Rich Ginkus
in July 1974, the site contains a 30-foot shaft fifty feet south of the road approximately 1,500
feet from the road's end where remains of two old wooden buildings were found along with a
rusting gas or diesel generator. A nearby adit about 100 feet long contained mine rails. Three
other smaller cuts are also present. It did not appear that any recent work had been done in
the area. [128]
The southern fork leads to an area marked "Mine" (Red Eagle Claim) on the USGS
quadrangle. This road has been extended since the area was officially mapped, so that instead
of ending in the wash below the prospect area, it switchbacks up the side of the hilt, finally
trending on east toward the summit of the saddle south of Gold Hill. The mine workings
viewed by this writer along this newer extension of the road appear to be exploratory in
nature, consisting of small adits and open cuts along the sides of three gullies, with no
structures or mining artifacts in association.
The writer followed along the road to about the 5,000-foot elevation point on the saddle
below (south of) Gold Hill. Here were found the remains of a small stone structure, whose
walls measured approximately twelve by fifteen feet. Some wood scraps, fragments of metal
cans, and pieces of murky white glass lie in and around the ruins. About thirty-seven paces
northeast is a small beehive-shaped mound of stones one to two feet high--probably a claim
marker. This structure was the only item of historical interest found during this exploration of
Gold Hill.
Illustration 12. Ruins of small stone structure on saddle south of Gold Hill,
view from northwest. Photo by Linda W. Greene, 1978.

Illustration 13. View of stone structure from southwest. Photo by Linda W.

Greene, 1978
(2) Panamint Treasure Claim Group
Investigation of the Panamint Treasure Fraction #1-#3 lode claims, made a month later,
proved much more productive. The best way to reach the area (other than by helicopter) is on
foot via a burro trail leading west from the Sunset Mine, which is located at the end of a road
veering west from the stockpile of the Montgomery (Panamint) Talc Mine. After an
exhausting uphill climb of two hours duration the site was found on the southeast slope of a
ridge southeast of Gold Hill.
The complex consists actually of two distinct sites. The most easterly one contains two adits-
-an upper 226-foot tunnel that was worked and a lower one used as living quarters. The
second site, around west on the south slope of the same ridge, contains a third adit and a tent
site. An extensive tramway system still exists at the first location, complete with cable and
supports This was used to transport ore from these main workings down the mountainside 1-
1/2 miles probably to the wash just north of the ridge that lies northwest of the Warm Spring
Canyon-Butte Valley roads junction. Time did not permit driving up this wash to see if any
structures remained at the bottom of the tramway.

Illustration 14. View toward west-northwest of Panamint Treasure Claim.

Photo by Linda W. Greene, 1978.
Illustration 15. Model A frame possibly supporting air compressor for

Panamint Treasure adit. Photo by Linda W. Greene, 1978.
Reportedly, work on the lodes here stopped in 1941, a date that corresponds closely with the
cultural remains left on site, of which there are many. Examining the property is difficult
because of the steepness of the slope and the fact that it is covered with loose rock from
mining activity. Descent to the lower workings is possible only by holding on to the tramway
cable.
In front of the upper adit is a Model A frame containing a Phillips 66 battery, which might
have functioned as an air compressor. A pipe with a gate valve leads from here to a nearby
adit. Various debris (tin cans, rubber hosing, nails, hand drills, a windlass, an axe handle, and
drill stems) is scattered over the slope. In the upper adit, whose main tunnel branches off in
about seven different directions, creating a fairly large open central area, were many items of
interpretive interest. Just inside the entrance on the floor is an almost-full box of bits and

some drills (labelled "Timken Roller Bearing Co., Mt. Vernon, O."). A large Fairbanks scale
on wheels stands nearby, all its weights still in place. Also on the floor near the entrance are
an adze handle, coiled rubber hosing, and a small rusted oil can. In the exploratory tunnel
furthest west are two picks leaning against the wall. The tunnel at this point was being
excavated upwards for a height of about six feet, and the entire excavation was filled with
crickets. Nearby are the remains of a dynamite box and a burlap specimen bag.
As stated earlier, several exploratory tunnels branch off from the main one, but some were
backfilled or went in only a few feet. On the south side of the main tunnel is a stoped-out
area below a short cut-off bank. An ore cart built from half of a steel drum placed on wheels
was pulled by a cable up short wooden tracks to the main tunnel level. Pieces of rope, big
sheets of burlap, and blanket remains are scattered around. On one of the latter is imprinted:
"Plummer Bag Mfg. Co., Bags, Tarpaulins, & Tents, San Pedro & L.A., 108#. An old shoe,
made in Taiwan, lies on the floor. Atlas powder box fragments and fuses are also found.
Illustration 16. Adit to Panamint Treasure Mine to right, storage pit to left.

Illustration 17. Adit used as living quarters, Panamint

Treasure Mine. Photo by Linda W. Greene, 1978.
Near a shallow pit just outside the tunnel entrance is a dugout storage area. Scraps of the Los
Angeles Examiner, dated in April (probably 1940 or 1941 judging from the news content),
and some canvas bags (sample sacks?), one with a drawstring, were found here. Further
searching revealed four dry-cell batteries fastened together, some waxed paper from
dynamite boxes, and the head of a sledgehammer.
Below this first tunnel is a stone wall, undoubtedly shoring up the entrance and providing a
working platform area. The next tunnel downhill was definitely used as living quarters. A
stovepipe projects from the entrance, which has a wood frame opening to which a canvas
door is attached. In front of the door were found soldered tin cans and Mason jars. Inside the
tunnel are a wealth of household goods: Alber's Flapjack Flour cases, Fluffo vegetable
shortening (4 lbs./49¢); a 1941 Saturday Evening Post a dime western magazine; a Los
Angeles Times dated 15 December 1940; a five-gallon oil can; a shovel; another Mason jar
with vertical ridges encircling it; a saw; a cooking pan; a wall shelf fashioned from an
explosives box; a coffee can full of pinto beans; a can of Diamond A cut green beans; a 24-
1/2 lb. A-1 flour sack made into a pillow covering; two sacks of flour; a spoon; a skillet;
strips of jerky in a bottle; two pie tins; a small square pie pan; two small homemade stools; a
four-legged table; and two metal bunks, one with a feather pillow. A cardboard box was
found addressed to "K.H. Grantham, Wilmington, Ohio." Nearby was a postcard addressed to
"Fritz" from "Mother and Dad Gibson." Outside the entrance are a small warming oven with
shelves, a homemade pitcher, a milk can with a wire handle, the remains of a water bag, gear
parts, and an electric line fastened to the rocks above the door.

Illustration 18. Metal tramway terminus, Panamint Treasure Mine. Photo by

Linda W. Greene, 1978.
Illustration 19. View south down slope along route of

tramway cable. Photo by Linda W. Greene, 1978.
A metal terminus for the cable tramway is located outside and a little below the tunnel
entrance. Lying just west of the terminus, against the rocks are some spare parts and wooden
ties, possibly an equipment storage area. The cable tramway operated like a ski lift. Six
supports for it are left, one of which is metal, the rest wood. Two buckets lie on the ground

under the cable. Visible from this point across the valley to the east, below the trail by which
the mine is reached, is another adit, but work here does not appear very extensive.
Farther down the hill and around the slope to the west, is another adit with what appears to
be an early tent site in front of it. A rock wall has been built to shore up the cleared space,
and timbers are strewn about. Some legs from cots remain. Also found were square-headed
nails, a plastic button, china fragments, and purple glass. A large white glass fragment from
an apothecary bottle was also found. Inside the adit were boards with pegs that were hung on
the wall to store clothes, etc. Two metal bunks and a shovel were also present. On the dump
down the hillside in front of the tent site were tin cans, screen fragments, and other debris.
Tent stakes were driven into the ground on top of the stone retaining wall.
On top of the ridge above these sites is a claim marker in a cairn: "Panamint Treasure
Fraction #1, Aug. 10, 1976, east end center." Also found were some old wooden stakes in
cairns with markings that appeared to be "WBV, 8 Bill." Near these are three prospect holes,
with a shovel and a horseshoe on a nearby rock. North and east of the mine workings is a
marker on the ridge up which the trail came from the Panamint Mine. It consists of a metal
cross-shaped plate imbedded in a rock and affixed with melted metal.
Illustration 20. Tent site, view to southwest, Panamint Treasure Mine.


Illustration 21. Adit at northeast corner of tent site, used

as living quarters. Photo by Linda W. Greene, 1978.
(1) Gold Hill Area
The Gold Hill Mining District is one of the oldest mining areas within the boundaries of
Death Valley National Monument, with prospecting and mining work dating from at least the
1870s. Documentary data regarding specifics on the district is scarce, however, not providing
much more than a broad overview of mining activity. Most of the workings that are visible
now in the areas marked "Prospect" and "Mine" on the USGS quads date from the 1930s,
1940s, and 1950s, and have no historical significance in themselves. The stone ruins on top
of the saddle south of Gold Hill could well be the structure labelled "Iron Cabin" and located
in the extreme northwest corner of the claim on the 1891 survey plat of the Treasure Quartz
Mine. Whether the name refers to construction materials used on the cabin (corrugated iron),
or to its use possibly as a blacksmith shop, is unclear. It appears to have been situated
alongside a trail, shown on the plat, cutting across the claim from east to west. The only other
structure mentioned in the documentary data is the Death Valley Mining Company's boarding
house, but its location appears to have been further west and north of this area. These stone
foundations are interesting but do not warrant restoration or stabilization. Nor should they be
willfully destroyed, since they are probably part of early Death Valley mining history. A
policy of benign neglect is recommended.
(2) Panamint Treasure Mine
This property possesses educational potential and historical significance due to the presence
of workings dating from a turn-of-the-century tent site with associated dump up through a

mining operation of the 1930s and 1940s. Their further study by historians and historical
archeologists relative to the lifestyles and technological processes common to small, remote
desert mining operations of the late 1800s and early 1900s is recommended. Any personal
items found in the adit near the cable tramway or in association with the earlier site around
the corner of the ridge have the potential to yield information pertinent to behavioral patterns
of miners from the 1890s through the 1940s, providing data on eating habits, amusements
available (reading matter, etc.), type of furniture used, and so forth. The mining-related
objects found in the upper adit are scientifically significant because they can contribute to an
understanding of the technological processes used on a small desert claim. Many of the
houseware and machinery items are makeshift, fashioned from everyday materials at hand,
and thus are instrumental in showing the adaptations miners had to make because of their
distance from supply sources.
Rarely in the monument does a situation such as this exist where the residents of an area
have left the premises virtually intact and nothing has been vandalized or stolen. Even at
Harrisburg, where the living quarters are intact, there is no such complete abandonment of
mining equipment. Because the Gold Hill Mining District in which this site is located was
one of the earliest commercially-operated areas within the national monument, and due to
this particular site's long history, excellent research potential, and the obvious assets of being
able to use this data for comparative purposes, the site is determined to be of local
significance and eligible for nomination to the National Register of Historic Places.
Some uncertainty exists as to whether the aerial tramway and its associated adits are located
on the Taylor Quartz Mine site, which is patented, or on the Panamint Treasure Fraction #1 to
#3 claim, which is not. If these structures are on unpatented land and the claims are found to
be invalid, every effort should be made to preserve the materials on site. Any interpretive
effort here would be impractical because of the site's inaccessibility, but selected artifacts
could be recorded and then removed to the monument museum collections for study and
interpretive use. If the site is on patented property and is not added to the National Register,
it is suggested that attempts be made to acquire significant items from the owner after
documenting their location and photographing them in situ. If the owner is unwilling to
donate or sell them to the park, attempts should at least be made to thoroughly inventory and
photograph all artifacts on the site as well as to map the area and designate the relationships
of the various components of the site to each other.
d) Related Sites
(1) Arrastre Spring
(a) History
Documentation on early activity at Arrastre Spring is practically nonexistent. A swift perusal

of the Index to Land, Water and Mining Claims of Inyo County turned up notice of a filing
on an "Erastra Spgs." involving a mill site of five acres, by Messrs. William Bradley, James
Bradley, A.F. Brown, and W. Morrison on 25 January 1883, but the subject property was said
to be located "near head of Cane Canon." [129] Since no canyon by this name appears in the
vicinity of Gold Hill, it would be premature to say that the two sites were the same.
By the 1890s, however, Arrastre Spring was the scene of some activity, for Indians working
in the gold mines at Gold Hill were reportedly carrying the ore by burros the 2-1/2 to 3 miles
to the arrastra at the spring for reduction. [130] When Louise Grantham and associates took
over ownership of the Taylor, Treasure, and Gold Hill mining claims on Gold Hill, included
was the patented Taylor Mill site at Arrastre Spring.
(b) Present Status

The spring is reached via a steep, rough road branching to the northwest one-quarter of a
mile north of the junction of the Gold Hill and Butte Valley roads. This road ends on a slope
below the spring, necessitating a walk of about one-half mile in order to reach the willow
grove in which the spring is located. One of the notable aspects of this site is the vast number
of prehistoric petroglyphs, numbering in the hundreds, on boulders around the spring. Many
of these abstract designs are only about 2-1/2 to 3 inches high.
The remains of the arrastra are located northwest of the spring above a clump of dead
willows and behind a large willow thicket that covers many of the remaining rocks. One
dragstone and a portion of the arrastra walls are visible. Two holes have been drilled in the
dragstone, eighteen inches apart., and fragments of wood are still visible in both of them. The
diameter of the arrastra is about six feet. Nine feet southwest of the arrastra remains is a small
depression possibly associated with the ore processing in some way. Somewhere in the
general vicinity of the spring is the patented Taylor Mill site, although there is evidently some
confusion as to its exact location. According to Mineral Survey 3097B, the mill site is
located on the monument boundary as shown on the NPS Land Status Map 44 and not at
Arrastre Spring. According to the owners, Ralph Harris and Louise Grantham, however, it is
definitely at the spring site.
Other than the remains of the arrastra, no artifactual remnants were found in the vicinity
except for one metal kerosene can. In the wash below the spring and arrastra are some pieces
of timber and metal debris.
Illustration 22. Petroglyphs along trail on way to Arrastre Spring. Photo by


Illustration 23. Petroglyphs on rock wall near Arrastre Spring. Photo by

Illustration 24. Remaining wall of arrastra and dragstone, rapidly being

overgrown by thicket surrounding Arrastre Spring. Photo by Linda W.
Greene, 1978.

Illustration 25. Close-up view of arrastra wall. Note floor has completely
gone to seed. Photo by Linda W. Greene, 1978.
The historical interest generated by Arrastre Spring hinges mainly on its relationship to the
mining activity performed at Gold Hill. It is probable that during the early years of
exploration work there, local Indians were employed to help at the mines, and in the process
transported the free-milling ore to Arrastre Spring for reduction. The Treasure, Taylor, Gold
Hilt, Grand View, and Anaconda mines were all reputed to be free milling in 1897. [131]
Exactly how long a period of activity might have been involved here is unknown, although
newspaper reports tend to indicate that by the early 1900s enough mining was being pursued
that one arrastra simply would not suffice to process all the ore being found. On the other
hand, no other mill or reduction plant is mentioned in the area until Mrs. Grantham built the
ore-processing plant at Warm Spring around 1937 to treat ore from her Gold Hillmine.
Whether any Gold Hill ore was treated at the Butte Valley Stamp Mill around 1917 or in the
mill near Willow Spring is conjectural.
The arrastra at Arrastre Spring should be left to benign neglect; it will undoubtedly soon be
covered by the surrounding undergrowth. For interpretive purposes, other arrastras can be
found within the monument (notably at Warm Spring) that are in better shape and more
readily available for viewing by the public. No effort need be made to stabilize or restore this
particular example.

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION III:
THE WEST SIDE
3. Butte Valley Mining District
a) History
Butte Valley is a beautifully-secluded spot in the southwest corner of Death Valley National
Monument. It descends in elevation from about 4,500 feet on its west edge to around 3,800
feet on the eastern side. From near the middle of its brush-covered floor rises the geologic
phenomenon that inspired the area's name--a sandstone peak distinguished by striated bands
of deep browns, yellow, orange, blue, and gray that rises to an elevation of about 4,770 feet.
Several canyons pierce the mountain ranges that surround the valley on all sides, while a
variety of dirt roads radiate from near Anvil Spring, a small oasis toward the southern end of
the valley, leading to various operating or abandoned mines in the area.
Access to the valley is gained either from Death Valley to the east or from Panamint Valley
to the west. Entrance is probably easiest via Warm Spring Canyon, the road here being well
maintained because it services active talc mines. It joins the West Side Road about four miles
west and north of its junction with the Badwater Road that parallels the east side of Death
Valley. From the junction of the Warm Spring-Butte Valley roads the seven or so miles into
the heart of Butte Valley are rugged and washed. This area has been inhabited mainly by
weekend prospectors during the past few years, and these homes now are deserted most of the
time. Anvil Canyon (to the east, but now impassable), Goler Wash (to the south), and
Redlands Canyon (to the west) also enter Butte Valley, but weather conditions and lack of
maintenance on these roads make them definite four-wheel-drive routes.

Illustration 11. Map of Gold Hill and Butte Valley mining districts.
The region was first entered for serious mining activity as early as the 1870s, when several
mines were located and claimed in the vicinity of Gold Hill, a rich mining deposit in the
mountains at the north end of Butte Valley. The Gold Hill District was mined through the
1930s. Butte Valley was also combed in connection with early exploration and development
in the South Park, Redlands, Coyote, and Goler canyon areas west of Butte Valley and
southeast of Ballarat about fifteen miles. Goler Canyon deposits were supposedly located in
1860 by a German prospector by that name. [132] By 1889 the Butte Valley Mining
Company had been incorporated, with its principal place of business in Santa Ana,
California. The capital stock of $300,000 was divided into an equal number of shares with a
par value of $1.00 each. John G. Kimball, D.M. Tomblin, George L. Morgan, and O.R.
Scholl were directors of the company. They must have very quickly established a mill in the
Goler Canyon area, because a water location notice for the Mysic Millsite, recorded in the
Butte Valley Mining District on 7 June 1889 stated that the site, located by Morton,
Beckerton, and Taylor, was in "Goller Canyon" 2-1/2 miles east of the Butte Valley Mining
Company mill. [133]
A report on the "Goller" Canyon area appeared in the Engineering and Mining Journal in
1892. It stated that two prospectors, J.A. Mack and D.R. Kimball, had just returned from
performing assessment work on their group of mines "known in former times as the Goller
mines." Gold, silver, and tellurium were said to abound in the area. The two most promising
locations were the Queen of Sheba and the Belmont, both found on the south side of Goler
Canyon and up a hill at whose base a Mesquite Springs provided a steady water supply. By
1894 this area was yielding good placers, with gold running as high as $10 and sometimes
$20 an eighty-pound sack of ore., Men named Hay and Canfield were the principal locators
of these deposits. [134]
The promising quartz veins of the Butte Valley area were being singled out for comment as
early as 1898 by the Los Angeles Review, which at the same time noted that lack of
communication and transportation facilities had so far prevented Butte Valley from becoming

"one of the most productive mining regions in the southwest." [135]
A report on the mineral formation of certain areas in the Panamint Range published in the
Independent in 1900 mentioned the Anvil Spring area. The ore veins here, it was stated, were
not as large as at Gold Hill but could be profitably worked if undertaken by someone in an
intelligent manner; water and pinyon pine were abundant for mining and milling purposes.
Probing the mining situation further, the article continued:
The section has had a slow but healthy growth. Two obstacles have greatly
retarded its progress; one being lack of capital, the owners being unable to
develop their properties sufficiently to enable cheap extraction and placing plants
for reduction of the ores. The other, lack of cheap transportation, the ores as a
general thing not being of sufficient grade to admit of shipping to distant
reduction works, in some cases as far as 70 miles, producing difficulties in
successful working of the properties which only capital could overcome. But
capital is now taking hold, and with the advent of a railroad the whole section
will have new life infused into it and become one of the busiest sections of the
State and a large producer of the precious metals. [136]
In the late 1800s there was a large amount of activity in the Anvil Spring area centering
around gold and silver veins, with as many as thirty men at work at the camp there at one
time. A Randsburg, California, man who visited the Butte Valley camp in 1899 was full of
optimism as to its future. In addition to extolling the camp's obvious advantages, he noted the
recent name change:
The new mining camp, Striped Butte, formerly known as Anvil Springs, is
destined to add a comfortable percentage to California's gold output in the near
future. The geological conditions are such as to show, with what has already
developed, that it will undoubtedly be a permanent camp. . .
Several sales have recently been made and reduction works will soon be
installed.
Two routes were suggested for reaching the area, one via Redlands mill seven miles by pack
train; the other over Wingate Pass. The Randsburg gentleman further stated that within a
month a good wagon road was to be constructed through a canyon (probably Goler)
providing almost direct access to Randsburg. He ends his report on the area by noting that
The natural facilities and climatic conditions make this a mot enviable location
for a desert mining camp there being a great quantity of water and the mountains
are covered with an abundance of pine timber . . . . There are several parties
running arrastras on these mines at present. [137]
By the early 1900s the new Anvil Spring District supported at least two full-fledged mining
companies. By the 1920s most of the producing mines in the southern Panamint Range were
on the western slope, although the gold claims around Anvil Spring were still being worked.
[138] In the 1930s the Western Talc Company held two small claims in Anvil Spring
Canyon, employing three men in driving a tunnel. [139]
The precise boundaries of the "Butte Valley Mining District" are hard to pinpoint, a certain
overlapping of districts having eventually developed in the area. The mines in the region
around South Park were considered part of the South Park Mining District, which often
extended into the vicinity of Anvil Spring. The Gold Hill mines north of the valley were first
recorded as being in the Cleaveland Mining District and later in the Panamint District, the
latter often reaching further south into the Anvil Spring area. Mines in Goler Canyon were

recorded a being in the Butte Valley Mining District, as was the lush water supply at Warm
Spring. An Anvil Spring District was being referred to by the early 1900s.
The following are some of the early locations filed, all of which are in the Butte Valley area,
but some of which were listed as being in other mining districts. No further detailed
descriptions of them were found. As in the Panamint District, their similarity in name to later
claims in neighboring areas can be a source of some confusion.
(1) Warm Springs (Butte Valley Mining District
The locators of this water source, Frank Winters and Stephen Arnold, stated in May 1889 that
the spring would be used for milling and mining purposes and was to be developed by
ditches, pipes, and flumes. [140]
(2) Mysic Mill Site (Butte Valley Mining District
Located in "Goller" Canyon by Morton, Beckerton, and Taylor, water on this mill site,
situated 21/2 miles east of the Butte Valley Mining Co. mill, was to be used for mining,
milling, and domestic purposes. It was recorded on 7 June 1889. [141]
(3) Queen of Sheba Quartz Mining Claim
This claim, not to be confused with the later Queen of Sheba Lead Mine near the mouth of
Galena Canyon, was located one-half mile south of Mesquite Springs or Pages (Payes) Mill
in Goler Canyon. The site of the former abandoned Eclipse Mine, it was located by D.R.
Kimball on 2 January 1891. A later Notice of Intention to hold and work this claim was filed
in December 1893. A second location notice for the Queen of Sheba was filed by Kimball
and J.A. Mack on 23 January 1896 in which it was further stated that the claim was on the
south side of Goler Canyon and adjoining a Trinity Mine on its east end. [142]
(4) Golden Eagle Claim (Butte Valley Mining District
This property, similar in name to the Gold Eagle Claim at Skidoo, was recorded as being 1-
3/4 miles south of Pages Mill and located on 22 October 1892 by D.R. Kimball and J.A.
Mack. [143]
(5) Emigrant Mining Claim
The questionable description of this particular property, situated about 3-1/2 miles west of
Anvil Springs in Butte Valley and on North side of Emigrant Canyon, leaves its actual
location open to conjecture. Although it would seem to be located in the Redlands Canyon
area, the reference to Emigrant Canyon adds a certain element of doubt. The claim was
located by D.R. Kimball and J.A. Mack on 9 January 1893. [144]
(6) Hidden Treasure Golden Treasure and Bunker Hill Claims (South Park Mining District
These three claims, located around 1896, were placed about one mile west- southwest of
Anvil Spring in Butte Valley, but were recorded as being in the South Park Mining District.
[145]
(7) Nutmeg Mine (Panamint Mining District
Registered in the Panamint Mining District, this claim, described as 'running 750 feet in a
North Westerly direction 750 feet in a SE direction about 1-1/2 miles from Anvil Spring on
east side of Butte Valley and on east slope of Panamint Range about 300 yards north of

spring," would appear to be in the Butte Valley area. James Davis, T.H. Heneby, and others
filed on the site on 3 July 1896. [146]
Several sites exist in or near Butte Valley of both historical and archeological interest. These
include the stone cabin lived in by Carl Mengel at Greater View Spring; the remains of a
three-stamp gold mill, a nearby rock shelter, and some cabin sites northwest of Anvil Spring;
stone mill ruins at Willow Spring; and many prehistoric sites, including open campsites, rock
shelters, and quarries.
b) Sites
(1) Anvil Spring
(a) History
Anvil Spring and Anvil Canyon both acquired their name after Sergeant Neal, a member of
the Bendire expedition of 1867, found an anvil, wagon rims, and some old iron scraps near
the spring site in Butte Valley. Although it has been postulated by some that these were
remains of a blacksmith outfit brought into Death Valley by Asabel Bennett in 1849, it
appears that actually they were a later addition to the spring.
Milo Page, writing about some of the first mining locations in Inyo County, explains that in
the fall of 1858, as a discharged government teamster, he and some other fellows in the same
situation purchased a team and some supplies at Salt Lake City and headed for San
Bernardino along an old Mormon route. Shortly after leaving the Kingston Mountain Range
the group met a party of four or five Mormons with a six-mule team pulling a wagon heavily
loaded with silver-lead bullion that they were transporting to Salt Lake for refining.
When queried as to the location of their find they said that under instructions from Church
leaders they had gone out "to see what they could find," and had succeeded in locating a
mine of carbonate ore, near which they had erected a crude furnace for smelting. (Page states
that in 1874 he saw the remains of the old furnace near Anvil Spring.)
Eight years after the Mormons worked this mine, several men who had heard of their find left
San Bernardino under the leadership of one Joseph Clews. Included in their outfit was a large
anvil. Near the carbonate mine, "on the west side of a small valley," was a large spring where
they camped; upon their departure from the area a few months later, they threw the anvil into
the spring, where it was evidently later seen by the Bendire expedition and from which it was
retrieved for use by a Judge Hanson in 1880. [147]
The cycle of mining in the Anvil Spring area was characterized by a continuous note of
optimism on the extent and richness of veins, regret over the country's inaccessibility, which
made the mines unprofitable, and recurring calls for the custom mill that would quickly turn
the Anvil Spring District into the new bonanza area of southwest Inyo County.
The first detailed account found specifically mentioning the deposits at Anvil Spring appeared
in 1889. It mentioned promising gold and silver discoveries and the fact that further
exploration was needed, but admitted that there was no way to profitably handle the ore.
Freight charges to the nearest railhead were $60 per ton, plus $8 on to San Francisco. An
additional $15 charge for reduction meant that each ton shipped cost $83 total. [148]
By 1899 prospects for the area still seemed promising, for it was reported in the Mining and
Scientific Press that certain Los Angeles parties who had just bought some property at Anvil
Spring for $4,000 were planning to erect a mill there within a month. By April of that year at
least twenty-five men lived at a chlorider's camp near the spring. This number had risen to

thirty by May. [149]
No reduction facilities had been erected in the area by 1900, although a mill was still
contemplated and the mines were still producing well. [150] Two months later a letter
appeared in the Inyo Independent from a gentleman who had just "struck it rich" at an Anvil
Spring mine. Its overwhelming enthusiasm and probably overly-optimistic predictions are
typical of the type of information that must be weighed carefully by modern researchers in
order to ascertain a true picture of the actual conditions in a mining district. The miner
involved is Dick Chilson, who located a claim at Anvil Spring that was owned co-equally
with a J.B. Bushard of Ocean View, California. Chilson sent the following letter to his
partner, painting a vivid picture of their new-found bonanza:
ANVIL SPRINGS,
Ballarat, Inyo County, 3-18-'00
John Bushard, Esq. Dear Sir--I have just put off a blast and took out 800 pounds
of ore. It is worth fifty cents a pound. We took out two nuggets this morning,
weighing about 200 pounds apiece, and George and I can't get them out of the
shaft. You can see the gold and silver in them. They are pure metal. We have
taken out about 3000 worth of ore this week. We have a carload of pure metal.
You can send a team out; we can keep it hauling ore all the time. We have
enough in sight to keep us at work for a year. The ledge is eight feet wide and
God knows how much wider, and there is lots of good ore at the bottom of the
shaft.
The boys think the ledge is 25 feet wide, and some think the whole hilt is metal.
We can't go down any deeper till you come out and get some lumber to put up a
hoist, for the richest gold is at the bottom of the shaft and I am anxious to sink
down. [151]
A stamp mill is again mentioned as a possibility for the area's future the next month: "Messrs.
Bowshard & Son, owners of the Anvil Springs mines, have gone 'inside' to get a stamp mill"
for their lead property. [152] What held up acquisition of a mill is unknown, but there seems
to have suddenly been a hiatus in mining activity here. A 1903 account reports that no work
had been done in the area, which was still only accessible by trail, until recently, and now the
Anvil Springs Mining Company had eight claims staked and was preparing to erect a mill.
The report hints at formation of another Los Angeles-backed company to work the district.
Most of the exploration mentioned is still referred to as preliminary. [153]
Evidently no mill had yet been erected by 1904, or if it had, it was not being run, for in that
year both an Under-Sheriff and Sheriff had journeyed from Independence to Anvil Spring to
serve some attachment papers on business connected with a suit against the Anvil Springs
Mining Company. They reported that George Montgomery's mill at the Worldbeater Mine
(located in Pleasant Canyon) was the only operative mill in the district, although five had
been erected in this general vicinity and near Ballarat. [154] In 1905 a group of mines lying
fifteen miles southeast of Ballarat (which could place them in the Anvil Springs District)
were bonded to eastern parties for $250,000, and other properties were also changing hands
as new richer strikes were made. [155]
A couple of months later a more detailed description of the Anvil Spring camp appeared. It
mentioned that the spring was situated only about six miles from the Redlands mill, so it is
possible that ore from the camp was processed there during those years that the area was
without a means of reduction. The strength of the district lay in the presence of many
medium-sized veins from one to six feet wide, which, despite their size, were long and

appeared permanent. Amalgamation could not be used on the ores (ruling out use of the
arrastra at Arrastre Spring), which had to be roasted and then subjected to a cyanide process.
Isolation was still a problem at this time, reducing the profitability of mining efforts.
Nevertheless, more than a half dozen mines are mentioned as being in operation. These
included the Ducummon, owned by Joe Goseline, having a forty-foot shaft containing ore
averaging over $50 per ton; the. Midnight Belle, with a hundred-foot shaft and $60 ore; and
the Ferris, Goseline, Grey, and Thurman claims, all showing good veins and all with shafts,
which were necessary because "the mines are located in a rolling country." This would
suggest that the mines had been dug among the foothills to the west of the flat plateau area
around Anvil Spring.
The article states that the average assay of ores from the district was between $40 to $50 a
ton, with some samples assaying slightly higher, into the hundreds of dollars. These values,
although they would be considered high-grade in a district near milling facilities, were too
low-grade to mine economically here because they had to be shipped such a distance.
Another cry went out for a large custom mill that "could undoubtedly be kept running
continuously from a half dozen of the principal mines of the camp." Ending on a note of
optimism, the author prophesied that "with abundant wood and water, high grade milling ore,
and a delightful climate, Anvil Springs is destined to attract attention in time." [156]
By the next month two of the companies in the district, the Concord and Anvil, were
preparing to start work on their respective claims. Once again the properties had "good
showings of ore that warrant the erection of reduction plants, and it is predicted that these
properties will develop into large producers." [157]
Anvil Spring was also turning into a camping spot for those prospectors, many from the
Ballarat area and some from as far away as Cripple Creek, Colorado, who were headed for
the porphyry country south of Goler Canyon and east of Anvil Spring on the Death Valley
slopes. It had recently been discovered that this southern section of the Panamints contained
volcanic formations similar to those in which Tonopah, Bullfrog, and Goldfield were located.
These porphyry veins appeared richer, than those occurring in the more common granite,
slate, quartzite, or limestone formations. As a result, much location work was being done at
this time south and east of Anvil Spring. [158]
Optimism over the deposits in the Panamint Range region near the head of Goler Canyon
continued into the next year, prompted primarily by the investment of Eastern capital in the
region, forecasting continuing and substantial development work. In 1908 activity still
centered around Anvil Spring, drawing miners from as far away as Rhyolite. Two men from
there, Charles Shepherd and Joe Murphy, reported a total of forty-two gold and silver claims
in the vicinity of the spring. [159]
The grand visions of the future never materialized, and by the 1920s activity in the area was
only sporadic during the revival of mining that was taking place throughout the rest of the
Panamints. Most producing mines at this time were on the western slope of the Panamints,
with only the Carbonate silver-lead mine and minor gold operations at Anvil Spring
producing on the Death Valley side. [160] Some new mining locations were being made, but
only on a small scale. The Mah Jongg Nos. 1-6 and Topah Nos. 1-4, for example, were
originally located in October 1924 by Carl Mengel. These and several other claims in the area
managed by the Topah Mining Company, Limited, were offered for sale in 1931 by the Inyo
County Sheriff. They were all stated to be in the South Park Mining District, and all went
through later relocation and resale proceedings from the 1940s to the 1970s. [161]
A story relating what was probably a typical mining experience appeared in Desert Magazine

in 1968. It concerned two prospectors, Ernie Huhn (later connected with mining activities in
Warm Spring and Anvil canyons) and Asa M. Russell, who came to Butte Valley in 1925 to
see what the area had to offer. They entered via Anvil Spring Canyon and set up camp at
Carl Mengel's old stone cabin at Greater View Spring. From this central point they scouted
the surrounding hills, eventually searching over Manly Peak to the west. On the southwest
slope of this mountain they discovered a rich vein of free-milling gold ore, panning, they
estimated, $15,000 a ton, which of course would have made them rich men. Neglecting to
mark the site of the discovery, however, they were unable to relocate it by the time they were
ready to work the lode three weeks later. [162] The perennial advice to all antique hunters
seems applicable here in a somewhat revised form: the time to work a mine is when you find
it. How many disappointments in Death Valley might have been avoided if men had not
attempted to rely solely on their memories.
The Anvil Springs Mining Company, in the 1920s, owned the Golden Star-Apex Group of
lode mining claims, registered in the South Park Mining District, on the east slope of the
Panamints. It consisted of five full mining claims: the Golden Star #1-#3, Apex, and Lucky
Strike. Adjacent to these was the Ready Cash-Sunrise Group, consisting of nine full mining
claims and a fraction: the Summit, California Gold and California Gold #1, Lone Pine,
Sunrise, Sunrise #1-#2, Ready Cash, Ready Cash #1, and Nipper (fraction). This latter group
was evidently owned by private individuals, F.W. Gray of Los Angeles being one of the early
owners of the Nipper fraction.
The overall outlook on mines in this area was still slightly hopeful, for according to Archie
Burnett, a mining engineer retained by the Anvil Springs Mining Company, "pannings of the
vein on the surface [of the Nipper fraction] show gold in an amount to be easily made
commercial." [163] Burnett pointed out that the ore could be treated by simple amalgamation,
and that the building of a five-stamp mill was certainly justified by the extent and amount of
gold-bearing ore exposed. The mill could also perform custom work for leasers on outlying
claims, with provision being made to add another five stamps as the full extent of ore
reserves was established. Amalgamation plates and concentrating tables could also be
constructed as required. Transportation facilities were certainly not ideal, but no particular
difficulties existed other than distance --fifty miles to the Tonopah & Tidewater Railroad at
Shoshone. Another important asset of the valley was that the ground was easily mined,
making power drilling unnecessary and thus reducing the amount of investment capital
needed.
Margaret Long, who made several trips into the Death Valley country, reports visiting the
mine and cabin of someone named "Earnest" (Ernie Huh,,?) in the late 1920s, "just across
Butte Valley from Telescope Peak." The gentleman, a graduate of the University of
Washington, alternately lived there and at Shoshone. [164]
The same Asa Russell mentioned earlier evidently found that rich ledge he and Huhn lost, or
else another one just as good, for he returned to Butte Valley around 1930, built a stone cabin
at the foot of Manly Peak, and started to tunnel by hand into the Good Faith Mine on the
slope of the mountain, performing assessment work on his various claims only two weeks out
of every year. [165] This was probably the last serious mining done in the area, for by the
1960s only remains were left of the several mining claims in the Anvil Spring vicinity. The
only work performed was annual assessment duties, carried out mostly by absentee owners
on weekends. The most current workings at Anvil Spring are those encompassed in the Anvil
Spring #1-#3 unpatented claims, covering the hills and open stretches bordering the spring.
(b) Present Status
(1) Anvil Spring and "Geologists Cabin

The Anvil Springs Claim includes the spring itself, the stone cabin immediately north of it,
and an old three-stamp mill located in the northwest corner of the claim area.
The stone cabin, known familiarly over the years as the "Geologist's Cabin," is a distinctive
landmark in the Butte Valley area. It is not particularly old, however, having been built by
Asa Russell (Panamint Russ) when he first started work on his nearby claim. In his article
cited earlier concerning his mining ventures in the region, he makes the statement that "my
cabins are [at] the base of 7200-foot Manly Peak in the Panamint Mountains, Death Valley,
California. I started building them in 1930, the same year I found the gold high up the side of
old Manly and began my mining operation. . . ." [166] A picture accompanying the article
shows him leaning against a wall near the front entrance of what is, unmistakably, the
"Geologist's Cabin." What other structures he refers to is unknown, for no other foundations
are visible in the immediate vicinity. (Perhaps he is referring to cabins at his Big Blue #1
Mine also, mentioned later in this section.)
Russell himself has somewhat clouded the early history of this cabin by stating in his article
on his prospecting activities in Butte Valley in 1925 that "at Anvil Springs there was a stone
house and plenty of water." He further remarks that Carl Mengel, an early German prospector
in the vicinity, had also stayed in the cabin at one time. Later he states: "We located the
spring and the stone house and set up camp. We were never able to find out who built the
house, but it was built to last. It dated back to the early 1880s and was as good as ever."
[167]
Because of Russell's later statement that he built the cabin at Anvil Spring in 1930, and
because, in a 1929 photo of Anvil Spring by Margaret Long, the "Geologist's Cabin" does not
appear, the obvious conclusion is that Russell was simply confusing Anvil Spring with
Greater View Spring one-half mile further south, where indeed there is a spring and also an
old stone structure possibly built as early as the 1860s or 1870s. This would seem to be
proved by the picture of the cabin in which Russell and Huhn camped, which accompanies
the article, which definitely is the Mengel cabin at Greater View Spring. Further confusion is
provided by the map in the article, which shows Huhn and Russell's location at what is today
known as "Russell Camp," another one-quarter mile or so south of Greater View Spring. This
particular complex, however, was also built by Russell when he returned to mine in Butte
Valley in the 1930s.
Russell developed Anvil Spring by containing it within a rock-lined cistern and covering it
with a wooden trap door. An overflow pipe attracts the ever-present burro population, as
attested to by the number of tracks visible. Russell had planted concord grapes near the
spring and reportedly experienced good success with them.

Illustration 26. North and east elevations of "Geologist's Cabin" at Anvil

Spring in Butte Valley. Photo by Linda W. Greene, 1978.
Illustration 27. West and south elevations of "Geologist's Cabin." Note

remains of small stone oven on terraced area. Photo by Linda W. Greene,
1978.

Illustration 28. Interior along north wall of "Geologist's Cabin" in Butte

Valley. Photo by Linda W. Greene, 1978.
Illustration 29. Interior view toward south wall of

"Geologist's Cabin." Photo by Linda W. Greene, 1978.
The stone cabin has most recently been lived in by a group of six retirees working the Anvil
Spring claims. The one-room stone and masonry structure is solidly built with a green
composition-paper roof that has been partially ripped off by vandals within the past year. The
floor is cement and the wooden roof framing allows for storage space underneath the roof on

the interior. Inside the cabin are a gas stove, an empty refrigerator, and shelves stocked with
canned goods, some appearing to have been recently added. Two tables (one for eating and
one for working) and some chairs are found inside. On the south wall is a built-in fireplace
with a round mirror positioned on the mantel. A wooden door (covered by kitchen shelves on
the interior) is situated at the north end of the east elevation, and a large window has been
placed on the south end. There are also a window on the north elevation, two windows (one
on either side of the fireplace) on the south elevation, and two doors (the southernmost one
boarded up) on the west elevation.
A small stone oven on the outside terraced area west of the cabin has been vandalized and
broken up. This may or may not have been part of the original complex. An outhouse and
trash dump lie several yards north of the cabin. The house is wired for electricity, but no
signs of a generator were found.
(ii) Butte Valley Stamp Mill and Environs
In the northwest corner of the Anvil Springs Claim are the ruins of a three-stamp mill
backing against a small cliff. In front (north) of the stamps are some concrete machinery
pilings and foundations, while the wooden framework of the mill itself climbs up the cliff
immediately south. The stamp casing is still intact and bears the words "Baker Iron Works--
Los Angeles." Metal flashing remains in the chute leading to the stamps from the hill above.
Some timbers of the mill were originally painted boxcar-red, and some are green--obviously
having been cannibalized from elsewhere. On top of the hill behind the wooden framework
are some stone foundations and a concrete platform area.
Illustration 30. Butte Valley Stamp Mill. Wooden ore

bin is to left of picture. Photo by Linda W. Greene,
1978.

Illustration 31. Concrete foundations of Butte Valley Stamp Mill. Photo by

John A. Latschar, 1978.
Illustration 32. Stamp casing, Butte Valley Mill. Photo

by Linda W. Greene, 1978.

Illustration 33. Cement-lined water reservoir, Butte Valley. Photo by John

A. Latschar, 1978.
Illustration 34. Big Blue #1 Mine of Asa M. Russell in Butte Valley one
mile west of Anvil Spring, 1962. Photo by Park Ranger Warren H. Hill,
courtesy of DEVA NM.

Illustration 35. House or tent site in vicinity of Butte Valley Stamp Mill.
This mill probably serviced the vertical shaft located just south of the concrete platform area.
This untimbered excavation with gently sloping sides is at least 100 feet deep. Between the
stamp mill and a reservoir several yards southwest of it, a road leads on southwest up a small
arroyo to an adit and what appear to be the foundations of two structures or tent sites. A door
stoop still remains in front of one of them. This is the location of the Big Blue #1 Mine of
Asa Russell, about one mile west of Anvil Spring.
Approximately 200 yards southwest of the mill ruin is a shallow, cement-lined water
reservoir with stone reinforcing along the walls. The area has recently been fenced with
barbed wire connected to pipe fence posts in an effort to keep burros from walking on the
concrete pad. Pipes lead northwest from the reservoir to a small 3 x 2-1/2-foot stone-lined
holding pond alongside the road leading west toward "Robber's Roost" and other mine sites.
About fifty yards due north of the large reservoir, and just north of the road, are at least three
leveled house or tent sites supported by shallow stone retaining walls. This road leading west
from the stamp mill and reservoir ends in a sort of cul-de-sac containing a rock shelter and
several mines and prospects. It passes, on the south, a claim marker in the form of a large
rock with the words "NW/SE Corner" painted on it. A nearby claim post identifies this as the
Majong #6, one claim of twenty acres, owners John Matarazzo and John Persico of Downey,
California. Nearby to the west is a filled-in prospect hole.
Remnants of at least five other mining ventures are found on down this road to the west and
on trails taking off from the loop the road forms. Two of the undertakings are simply
prospect holes, one only about thirty feet deep and the other one having caved in so that no
estimate of its actual length is possible. It did, however, have a stone wall built partially
across the entrance. These two excavations are located on a road taking off to the southwest
from the cave house, which dominates the center of this small valley. Referred to variously
as "Robber's Roost" or "Outlaw Cave," this shelter is formed by the overhang of a huge
boulder resting on other large rocks and on the hillside itself. The eastern entrance once was
protected by a dry-laid masonry wall with a doorway. Although this wall has crumbled
somewhat, in earlier times it completely closed in the east facade, effectively sheltering the
occupants from the elements. Early views of the site show a high, sturdy dry-stone wall and a
stove outside the entrance. [168] At the present time a campfire exists to the southeast in
front of the stone wall, and another is found to the north just inside the front entrance.

Although tales circulate about such caves being the hideout of robbers or highwaymen, it is
more likely that this refuge harbored a desert prospector working nearby claims.
West and up the slope from the rock house is an adit with a cement door frame and wooden
door. The tunnel inside connects with a partially caved-in shaft coming down about fifty feet
vertically from the hillside above. This tunnel, used as living quarters for a miner in fairly
recent times, contained an old iron stove, a rug, bunk, table, shelves, assorted implements,
and pyrex dishes. According to the monument photo file this is an old lead mine that in 1962,
when its picture was taken, had been inactive for years. According to a 1978 mineral report
in the monument files, this is the Mah Jongg No. 6 mining claim. [169]
Further north of this tunnel and shaft are another connecting pair of excavations on the
hillside. The sides of the untimbered adit are very crumbly and the collapsed shaft above is
only about twenty feet deep.
i) Anvil Spring and "Geologist's Cabin
The stone cabin at Anvil Spring, because of its prominent location on the hillside, has long
been a familiar landmark to prospectors and tourists alike who venture into Butte Valley in
search of fortune or merely a day's adventure. The lone tree at the spring and the inviting
shade of the cabin have attracted picnickers for years, many of whom abused the privilege
offered by this oasis, necessitating a padlock on the cabin door.
Illustration 36. Cave house west of Butte Valley Stamp Mill. Photo by

Illustration 37. Old lead mine, 3/4 mile WNW of Anvil Spring, Butte
Valley, 1962. Inactive for many years. Photo by Park Ranger Warren H.
Hill, courtesy of DEVA NM.
Although the structure is aesthetically appealing, it is not historically significant in Death

Valley mining history. Built in the 1930s, it provided a home base for Asa Russell while he
conducted periodic mining work on the slope of Manly Peak. Russell is one of the familiar
names associated with mining in Butte Valley, but he evidently did not venture much outside
that area. His association with the cabin is not important enough to warrant its nomination to
the National Register. Possibly the cabin could be utilized as a backcountry shelter for
monument rangers patrolling Butte Valley.
The three-stamp mill situated about 3/8 of a mile northwest of Anvil Spring is of definite
historical interest and significance. Current popular guidebooks to the area prolong the story
that this gold mill was built by Carl Mengel around 1898, after he had purchased the
construction materials in Los Angeles (reportedly salvaging timbers from construction of the
old Third Street tunnel) and hauled them through Goler Wash by mule team. [170] This
writer has not yet seen any primary documentation to support this statement.
As mentioned earlier, several statements have been found referring to the fact that various
mining concerns operating in Butte Valley were contemplating erection of some sort of
reduction works as early as 1899. By 1900 Messrs. Bowshard & Son, owners of the Anvil
Spring mines, were reported to "have gone 'inside" to get a stamp mill. The Anvil Springs
Mining Company, which operated some lode claims in Butte Valley in the 1920s, hired a
mining engineer, Archie Burnett, to examine the Golden Star-Apex and Ready Cash-Sunrise
Group of mining claims near Anvil Spring. In speaking of the Ready Cash Group, whose
principal workings were on the Nipper Claim, 1-1/2 miles west of Anvil Spring, the engineer
said that they had been worked considerably in 1896, and the ore shipped to the nearest
custom mill at Garlock, 150 miles west, for processing. In that year one shipment of five tons
to that distant point netted $120 per ton. In 1912, Burnett says, about twelve tons off the
dump were milled and produced $380 in gold bullion. In order to determine projected values,
he inspected current tailings "produced from ore from the property which was milled in a
small 3 stamp mill nearby. . . . The mill referred to is a small 3 stamp mill erected some 15
years ago [ca. 19131, and whatever the plans of its sponsors may have been, it is quite
obvious that little, if any, intelligent effort was made to develop the property itself. [171]

This statement that the mill was built around the first decade of the twentieth century (though
it is doubtful that it was the Anvil Springs Mining Company that built it because the report
indicates that the Nipper Claim was not owned by them but was merely adjacent to their
holdings) is much more plausible than the more romantic explanation that Mengel hauled the
materials in from Los Angeles via Goler Wash on muleback prior to 1900. Puzzling,
however, are the initials and date "REW Feb 1937" scratched on one of the concrete
foundations. Possibly the original mill was added on to by miners or other interested parties
in the late 1930s, during which time there was still mining activity in the area, or this may
just be graffiti.
The mill itself is unusual in that it held three stamps instead of the usual two or five.
Remaining vestiges consist of concrete foundations and machinery pilings and the heavy cast
steel housing for the stamps, none of which remain. (As will be mentioned again later, some
old mining relics are exhibited at Russell Camp near the front entrance of the house. One of
the items is a stamp. Whether or not it came from this mill is uncertain, but the possibility
exists.) Although the mill is not sufficiently outstanding in Death Valley mining history to
meet the criteria of eligibility for the National Register, and in addition lacks some integrity
of design due to the loss of its stamps and other miscellaneous machinery, it should not be
destroyed. No stabilization measures appear necessary. The deep vertical shaft on the level
above should be capped in some manner to prevent accidents--the current situation is very
dangerous for people and animals. Dumps and ground refuse in the general vicinity of the
mill offer potential for historical archeology fieldwork. Examination of objects here might
help determine more conclusively the time span during which the mill operated.
The reservoir southwest of the mill appears to be a 1930s or 1940s addition, built to
implement the mining activity going on in the adits and prospects further west and south. No
mention of its construction was found. Neither the reservoir nor the small holding tank (?)
west of it are historically significant. The construction period of the stone house or tent
foundations north of the reservoir is unknown. Possibly they date from mining activity
around the turn of the century; further exploratory work by archeologists might reveal
artifacts that would more precisely establish their age. They do not intrude on the visual scene
and should be left to benign neglect.
The rock shelter further west is an item of historical, architectural, and archeological interest.
Seeking shelter or work space in natural cavities found in the rock cliffs and hillsides in
Death Valley has been a custom of the native peoples since prehistoric times. This practice
was also followed by prospectors, for rock and cave shelters provided a convenient and
instant haven that could be made relatively airtight simply by the addition of a stone entrance
wall with a door. [172] The Butte Valley cave house is a particularly good example of latter-
day use of such a natural shelter, though through recent camping and recreational use it has
lost some of its integrity--the front wall has crumbled and the old stove that used to be
located by the front door has been appropriated. Its large size and picturesque setting, in
addition to its probably apocryphal reputation as a robber's hideout, make it an interesting
resource.
The adits and prospect holes in the surrounding area are not viewed as historically
significant. Although some of them were probably originally worked in connection with the
earliest mining activity in the area, they have been so thoroughly tested and explored
throughout the past forty or fifty years that their original associated artifacts have been
removed and even their original appearance has undergone alteration. (Some of these adits
might have provided ore for the three-stamp mill if it performed custom work.) The possible
tent or house sites located along the road leading off southwest from the stamp mill toward
the Big Blue #1 Mine could be examined further by historical archeologists to determine if
any estimate can be made of the site's earliest occupation period. Many archeological sites

exist in Butte Valley, and it is the writer's understanding that the entire area is being
nominated to the National Register of Historic Places as an archeological district. Before any
measures are taken to remove any historical structures or to restore the land to its natural
state, archeologists should be consulted to make sure no important sites are disturbed.
(2) Greater View Spring
(a) History
Not much data on early settlement at Greater View Spring was found prior to its mention in
connection with Carl Mengel, an early prospector in the Butte Valley area and contemporary
and friend of such well-known Death Valley personalities as Shorty Harris and Pete
Aguereberry. The site is located about one-half mile south of Anvil Spring and commands a
grand view over Butte Valley toward the Amargosa Range on the east side of the salt pan.
Carl Mengel was born in San Bernardino, California, in 1868, and after various attempts at
mining, farming, and fishing for a living, by at least the early 1900s had entered the Butte
Valley region of Death Valley, presumably by way of Goler Wash. He is said to have
purchased the Oro Fino Claim in Goler Wash in 1912, and later found even richer deposits
there. [173]
In October 1924 Mengel filed on several claims south and west of Anvil Spring: Topah Nos.
1-4, Topah Extension, and Mah Jongg Nos. 1-6. He died in 1944 and his ashes were put in a
stone cairn atop Mengel Pass approximately fifty feet outside the boundary of Death Valley
National Monument.
After his death the claims located by Mengel in Butte Valley underwent numerous resales
through the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. The Topaz (Topah) Extension, Topaz (Topah) No. 1,
and part of the Topaz (Topah) Extension claims were later amended and located as the
Greater View Springs, Greater View Springs No. 1, and Greater View Springs Millsite,
respectively, in 1962 when Clinton and Stella Anderson were granted the property by Asa
Russell. Work carried out by the couple on these gold, silver, lead, and mercury claims has
consisted mainly of small pits, open cuts, and a small adit, mostly on the Greater View
Springs Claim. [174]
Stella and Clinton Anderson lived on the homestead, prospecting in the surrounding hills
together until Clinton died in 1973. According to a newspaper article featuring Mrs.
Anderson's unique lifestyle, she continued to live there, and was later joined by her young
grandson Bobby. With no electricity, plumbing, car, or telephone, their contact with the
outside world was limited to an occasional ride into town, hitched with a nearby miner, to
stock up on provisions. A windmill was once employed to furnish electricity, but it broke
down. Mrs. Anderson obviously enjoyed most of her days spent here, feeling that the natural
advantages of the Butte Valley area, "the fresh, clean air, the good water, the peace of mind
of being out of the hubbub of the city--all these things make you forget the other things you
don't have." [175] Although appearing to be over seventy years of age in 1976, Mrs.
Anderson spent most of her time in prospecting forays into the neighboring hills, tracing
promising veins. Hers was the universal attitude of all miners toward their lot in life--"My
claim's not too productive right now, but you never can tell. . ." [176] Mrs. Anderson was not
living at Greater View Spring when this writer conducted a site survey of the area, although
she reportedly did visit there occasionally from her home in Trona.
(b) Present Status
The Greater View Spring complex consists of a stone cabin (main living quarters), an
adjacent frame and tin structure and a trailer also utilized as housing, a workshop, a privy, a

garden area, and some miscellaneous foundations. The stone cabin that both Carl Mengel and
Stella Anderson lived in has a corrugated-metal roof and a small tin-covered addition
(somewhat modified from the original) on the west elevation. The east wall above the eave
line is constructed of vertical wood planking, whereas on the west side the corresponding area
is covered with corrugated metal. The structure's north elevation abuts the hillside so that the
roof edge drains into a ditch dug east-west along the hillside. The interior of the cabin
contains a bed, an old chair, a table, canned goods, a sink, a combination oven-fireplace
fashioned from a tin drum, a four-burner gas stove, and a refrigerator. The cement floor is
covered by a rug, and the rough rock walls on the north are plastered.
Illustration 38. Carl Mengel with dog "Whitey at his home in Butte Valley,
April 1940. Photo courtesy of DEVA NM.
Illustration 39. East elevation of Mengel cabin at Anderson Camp in Butte

Valley. Photo by Linda W. Greene, 1978.
West of the cabin is a corrugated-metal equipment shelter, some miscellaneous lumber and
appliances, and what appear to be some stone foundations. A spring is also located here. East
of this main cabin is another structure used as living quarters that is sided with corrugated

metal except again between the eave line and gables, where vertical wood planking is used.
Inside are a stove and a closet still containing men's shirts. East of this cabin is a cement
foundation on which a clothesline has been erected. East beyond this, near the entrance gate
to the complex, is what seems to be a fenced-in garden area where some attempt at terracing
has been made and a small arrastra-like fountain or watering system added. According to one
writer, Mengel grew fruit trees on the site and also cultivated a rose garden. [177] On the
south side of the road leading into the property are a two-room rectangular wooden house
trailer used as living quarters, and containing a bed, stove, and sink; a wooden cabin with a
metal roof and siding used as a workshop; and a wood privy. The generating system for the
complex is further up on a hill northwest of the residences.
The main importance of Greater View Spring lies in its association with Carl Mengel, one of
the lesser-known names in the Death Valley region. Mengel was not strikingly different from
other miners except that he was a quiet, dignified individual and stayed longer in one place
than most people in that profession. Because of this he left his imprint on Butte Valley. The
oldest structure at Greater View Spring appears to be the main stone house. Its exact date of
construction and the name of its builder are not known. According to Stella Anderson, the
sturdy stone cabin was built by Mormon settlers in 1869. L. Burr Belden states that Mengel
"built a rock house and then a second cabin alongside just so he could be hospitable and
accommodate visitors." [178]
Although it is difficult to determine who might be correct on this question, a remark of Asa
Russell in his article describing his stay at Greater View Spring tends to support Mrs.
Anderson's statement. Here Russell quotes his partner Ernie Huhn, who, in speaking of the
cabin where they intended to stay in Butte Valley (and which was confirmed earlier in this
report as Mengel's stone house), said that "Carl Mengel, who has only one leg, says he came
through there with his burros--stayed at the stone house and says the area looks like good
gold country to him." [179] This tends to suggest that Mengel did not build the cabin himself
but found it there by the early 1900s.
Illustration 40. Panoramic view of Anderson Camp at Greater View Spring, former
home of Carl Mengel in Butte Valley. Photos taken by Linda W. Greene, 1978.
The exact dates of erection of the other outbuildings are also conjectural. Possibly Belden
was correct in saying that Mengel added the guest cabin east of the stone house, for the
corner of a structure in this location appears in a 1940 picture of Mengel and his dog (Illus.
38). The other items (trailers, workshop, etc.) were added in more recent years either by Asa
Russell or the Andersons. Unfortunately no important information was gleaned from perusal
of the location descriptions found of the mining claims covering Greater View Spring. No
statement was found of any structures standing on the property when Mengel first filed on it
in 1924. Data on existing buildings is scanty up to 1961 when it is mentioned that the Topaz

Extension included three springs, a stone house, and a cabin. By April 1962 the Topaz
Extension (renamed Greater View Springs) supported a stone house, a guest house, fourteen
trees, three springs above the houses, and one spring below. The Greater View Springs
Millsite contained a stone house in the center of the claim, a small wooden guest house, a
garage, four springs, fifteen trees, a wire fence, and a gate. [180]
If Stella Anderson's mining claims are determined to be invalid, the main stone residence at
least should be kept. The additional guest cabin east of the stone house, the trailer,
workshop/garage, and privy are all later additions that have no historical significance. The
possibility exists that the main stone cabin was built long before Carl Mengel entered the
Butte Valley area. Whether Mormons had anything to do with its construction has not yet
been confirmed, although there is information to the effect that some of these people had
visited the Anvil Spring area by at least 1858 and had worked a mine and operated a smelting
furnace there. [181]
The uncertainty of the cabin's origin, but the possibility of its erection prior to 1900, and its
use as a home by Carl Mengel, are enough to warrant its protection. On the basis of
documentary data on the structure found to date, the building does not meet the criteria for
eligibility to the National Register. Its connection with Mengel is not significant, its
appearance is not architecturally outstanding, and in addition it has undergone loss of
integrity through minor structural changes even since its occupation by Mengel--the small
screened porch on the west elevation, for instance, has been slightly enlarged and sided with
metal, probably to keep out intruders and vandals. The interior construction of the cabin is
interesting because the house abuts the hillside on its north elevation, the interior wall here
being rock roughly plastered over. In this respect the structure is almost a partial dugout.
(Inquiries should be made of the present owner as to whether any of Mengel's personal
possessions or any interesting artifacts related to him are still in the area that could be used
for interpretive purposes.) An adaptive use might be made of this building as a backcountry
camping facility for monument rangers on patrol.
(3) Russell Camp
(a) History
The site appearing on the 1950 Manly Peak quadrangle as Russell Camp is located about
one-quarter mile south of Greater View Spring. Asa Merton Russell, a prospector in the
Butte Valley area for several years first established the camp in the early 1930s. After retiring
from the Los Angeles Water and Power Company in May 1960 he took up permanent
residence in the valley in the fall. This was after he had constructed the stone house at Anvil
Spring, and was probably an attempt to establish a more permanent location in the valley in a
more protected spot.
The cabin, shed, and burro corral complex are located on the Ten Spot Millsite, originally
called the Last Chance Claim when it was filed in 1930. A location certificate covering the
five-acre Ten Spot Millsite, encompassing a spring, the cabins, and all the miscellaneous
equipment on site, was formally filed on 1 July 1940. The mill site was said to be 1-1/2 miles
south of Anvil Spring, with its northerly side lines joining the southerly side lines of the
Greater View Springs Claim. [182]
One of the first claims Russell filed on was the Lucky Strike Quartz Mining Claim on 11
March 1931. Part of the Butte Valley road toward Russell Camp intersects the northwest
corner of this claim, which is about mile northeast of the Ten Spot Millsite. This property
was relocated on 9 July 1933. [183]

Illustration 41. Complex of structures at Russell Camp in Butte Valley. Note some
mining-related structures back on hillside at east end. Photos by Linda W. Greene,
1978.
Asa Russell also registered several other claims in the area: the Nipper Quartz Mining Claim,
located 9 July 1933; the Nipper No. 1 Quartz Mining Claim, located 9 July 1933; the Ready
Cash Lode Mining Claim, located 20 July 1947 and relocated 11 March 1974; the Big Blue
Quartz Mining Claim, located 9 July 1933 and relocated 11 March 1974; and the Ten Spot
Lode Mining Claim, located 1 July 1940. [184]
(b) Present Status
The Ten Spot Millsite, originally used as a residence by Asa Russell, has been lived in most
recently by a Steven Penner, one of the claimants of the unpatented Lucky Strike Lode Claim
and the Ten Spot Millsite Claim. During the on-site survey made by this writer in September
1978 no one appeared to be living at the complex, which consists of two cabins, some sheds,
a burro pen and barn, and some mining-related structures.

Illustration 42. Display of old mining equipment at Russell Camp

in Butte Valley. Photo by Linda W. Greene, 1978.
Some primitive mining equipment is on display at the entrance gate near the main house.
This cabin is built of vertical wood planking and is covered with a metal roof. The cabin
adjacent on the east is also of wood planking with metal siding. A metal shed east of this
second cabin showed evidence of having been used as a workshop to test ore samples as well
as being used to store mining equipment, such as a sluice box. Bird and snake cages are
attached to the north exterior shed wall.
Sporadic mining activity has been carried on in the area by both Russell and Penner, the latter
most recently working on the Lucky Strike Claim. In January 1978 an ore bin of corrugated
sheet metal on wooden supports, containing some ore, was found on the property. No
equipment for the crushing, grinding, or separating commonly associated with active milling
sites was found. [185] The Lucky Strike workings consist of several prospect pits, the
deepest about ten to fifteen feet and four to five feet in diameter. Production from this site
has evidently been low, for no records of any have been found. [186]
None of the structures located on the Ten Spot Millsite claim are historically significant.
They have been built since the 1930s, and some as recently as 1958. The spring supplying the
cabin and trees was developed in 1929 by Russell, and the 500-gallon water tank connected
with the extensive water system from the spring to the cabins and elsewhere around camp
was added in either the late 1950s or early 1960s. [187] An attempt should be made to
acquire the mining relics on exhibit at the camp for the monument's visitor center.
The camp here has always posed a problem, for other people have been encouraged to move

into the area by Russell's presence there. Most unsettling to monument authorities, for
example, was a notice that appeared in the classified advertising section of the July 1960
issue of Desert Magazine
Prospector retired, with 10 partly developed gold and silver claims and millsite in
Panamint Mountains, wants contact with someone interested in prospecting,
writing or painting. Should be free and self sustaining. Scenic spot, ideal for
health condition. Elevation 4500 ft. good water and cabins.
A.M. Russell
Shoshone, Calif.
The tendency of more and more retirees to establish homes in the Death Valley area under
the pretext of mining has been a major problem in the past that hopefully will be resolved by
the validity tests conducted by the National Park Service.
(4) Willow Spring
(a) History
Several watering spots known as "Willow Springs" exist in Death Valley arid the surrounding
area, several of which are mentioned in connection with early mining activity. Two that were
west of Death Valley should be noted: a "Willow Spring" on which water rights were filed
around 1874 was located "1-1/4 mites down in canon from Town of Panamint"; [188]
another "Willow Springs," the scene of a fair bit of mining work by 1898, was located in the
southern end of Panamint Valley and was projected as a possible new townsite when the
Utah and Pacific Railroad was extended through to the coast from Utah. The latter, because
of its proximity to the Goode Springs District lead ores and to the high-grade Argus Range
hematite iron ores, seemed the natural place for a smelter. Among the several mines in the
area only one is specifically mentioned by name--the Bowman. This spring is possibly the
one known as "Lone Willow Spring" on the east slope of the Slate Range just north of the
narrow pass at the south end of Panamint Valley, within a mile or two of Early Spring. [189]
The Willow Spring near Gold Valley in the Black Mountains was the scene of some mining
enterprises during the Greenwater era, and is discussed in a later section.
No information prior to 1934 was found by this writer relative to the location of claims or
construction of buildings at or near the Willow Spring site in the southeast corner of Butte
Valley. In 1934 a "Cabin and pipe line and the mining claim [on] which the cabin stands or
[is] built on," located at the head of Anvil Canyon in the Panamint Mountains, was sold by
Charles Brown, Attorney for Ruth Nellan, to Wallace Todd. The property formerly belonged
to M.E. (Bud) Nellan, deceased. [190]
In 1961a quitclaim deed was filed between Wallace Todd and James H. Barker concerning
"That placer mining claim (containing twenty acres more or less) known as the Willow
Spring Claim, which surrounds Willow-Spring at the head of Anvil Canyon adjoining Butte
Valley, in the South Park Mining District . . . . at the center of which claim is a stone cabin.
The said claim is the one bought by Wallace Todd in 1934 from Senator Charles Brown,
Administrator of the Estate of Bud Nellans [sic], the original locator. . . ." [191] The
assumption would be that "Bud" Nellan originally located this claim sometime in the 1920s.
The placer mining claim at Willow Spring was quitclaimed to the Public Domain by Mrs.
Barker following this transaction, according to another miner, Ralph Pray. The Death Valley
mining office, however, states that Arlene Barker held the ground through another mill site
location under the name of Willow Spring for several years. Eventually she and the Keystone
Canyon Mining Company, Inc., on 4 August 1973, in order to secure water and site rights for

the Silver Butte Lode Mining Claim, filed as co-locators on five acres of nonmineral land to
be known as the Willow Spring Millsite and located "in the southwest portion of Death
Valley National Monument, at the western terminus of Anvil Spring Canyon. . . ." [192]
190. Bill of Sate, Chas. Brown, Attorney for Ruth Nellan, to Wallace Todd. Dated 25
September 1934, recorded 22 September 1941, Deed Books, Inyo Co., Vol. 53, pp. 363-64.
By 1975, according to correspondence between the monument and the Keystone Canyon
Mining Company, the latter had determined that the copper, lead, silver, and gold veins of its
Silver Butte Claim in Butte Valley were too sporadic and too low in concentration to warrant
further development of the property. They did want to retain the Willow Spring Millsite as a
water source. In this same letter the company requested a permit allowing them to burn and
dismantle the structures at Willow Spring. [193] A Special Use Permit was granted from 10
April 1975 through 1 October 1976 for "burning and dismantling the cabin and debris. . ."
[194] By June of that year the Willow Spring cabin had been razed. All timber was burned,
leaving only the masonry walls and sheet metal from the roof. [195] By November 1976 the
Keystone Canyon Mining Company reported that a three-man crew had demolished the
standing rock walls on the site, all metallic remains (beds, doors, screens, barrels, etc.) had
been removed from the area, and the Willow Spring Millsite had been remonumented. [196]
(b) Present Status
Two areas showing historic ruins exist in the Willow Spring area, only one of which was
visited by this writer in September 1978 due to limitations of time and fuel. The second site
was visited during the Cultural Resources Survey of Death Valley National Monument
performed in 1975 by Western Regional Office personnel.
A cement wellhead currently surrounds the Willow Spring source, and on a hill immediately
to the west is a modern burro corral. A dismanteled water pipe system leads east from the
spring about 200 yards to a masonry water-tank platform located on the hillside above a
house site. The structure here was the one the Keystone Canyon Mining Company
demolished in 1976. The house was still partially standing when the LCS survey was made,
but had already been razed by fire. The walls were solid stone masonry with cement mortar.
The house appeared to have had two levels with wood framing. Miscellaneous metal debris,
such as bedsprings, drums, screens, etc., twisted by the fire, were still on site near the cabin.
These were later removed and the standing rock walls demolished by NPS request at the end
of 1976. Much glass, metal (nails and hinges), china, and other household debris remains
scattered around the area. A few hundred yards east of the house site and at the edge of the
wash bordering the site on the south, a masonry-lined two-compartment cistern was built
under a rock overhang.

Illustration 43. Cabin ruins at Willow Spring, 1975. Photo courtesy of

William Tweed.
Illustration 44. Cabin ruins at Willow Spring, 1978. Water pipe in

foreground leads to high rock on which a water tank once stood. Photo by
Linda W. Greene.

Illustration 45. Masonry-lined cistern built under rock overhang between

cabin and mill sites, Willow Spring. Photo by Linda W. Greene, 1978.
Illustration 46. Mill foundations east of Willow Spring and east of cabin
ruins. Photo by Linda W. Greene, 1978.
What appear to be the ruins of a small stamp mill are located about 1/4 mile east of the house
site. All that remains are three foundation levels of dry-masonry walling, each level
measuring about twenty feet by eight feet. Some metal debris is scattered around, and
immediately in front of the lowest foundation wall some pipes stick up through the ground.
No purple glass was seen on the site.
About 1/4 mile further east from the mill ruins and on the north side of the road are two
building sites not visited by this writer. According to the 1975 LCS survey there are two
building sites here, one with a concrete floor and an adjacent site consisting only of a small
leveled spot. At the prospect site shown on the USGS Manly Peak quadrangle about 1/4 mile
southeast of these building sites, and 1-2 mile east of Willow Spring, no structures remain. A
building site along the road leading south from the Anvil Spring Canyon Road contained
much 1920s period and later debris. The road to the mine (the Silver Butte?) ends at a

masonry retaining wall, possibly the foundations of a loading area, in the canyon below two
mine tunnels and a dump a short walk up the hill. The adit mouth is braced with wooden
timbers. Several 1920s-1930s car wrecks were also found in the area.
The exact age of the various mill ruins and house sites in the Willow Spring vicinity and
further east is hard to determine. The earliest document found pertaining to the Willow
Spring Millsite is a 1934 bill of sale, but it suggests that the site might originally have been
worked in the 1920s. No information could be found on who built the house or lived in it,
although possibly it was the fellow referred to in the early bill of sale as the "original locator"
of the claim, Bud Nellan. According to Bill Tweed and Henry Law, who visited the other
sites in the area during the LCS survey, assorted garbage on the site of the two building
foundations northeast of the mill ruin suggests a 1930s or later occupancy period. At the mine
site southeast of this location, various parts of 1920s autos were found. The stamp mill is
probably the most significant ruin and raises the most intriguing questions. It is unfortunate
that more information has not come to light on this structure. No mention of a mill in this
vicinity was found, although as previously cited, references exist to a Butte Valley Mining
Company mill in "Goller Canyon" in 1889 and to a Pages (or Payes) Mill in Goler Canyon
around the early 1890s. These mill ruins might date from at least the early 1900s or late
1890s, since there is no mention of a mill being constructed later during mining activities in
the area from the 1930s on, which time period is fairly well documented, or having any
connection with the claimants of the Willow Spring Millsite from the mid-1930s on (the bill
of sale in 1934 mentions only a cabin and pipeline on the property). It is recommended that
the stamp mill foundations not be disturbed, but be treated with a policy of benign neglect.
Stabilization is not necessary, nor is reconstruction feasible primarily because of lack of data.
None of the Willow Spring ruins meet the criteria for eligibility to the National Register. The
paucity of data found on them to date would seem to indicate a lack of importance in the
area. The LCS crew determined that the Willow Spring remains did not hold potential for
further historical or archeological investigation or evaluation. It is suggested by the available
documentary evidence and from on-site observations that this part of Butte Valley was mined
most actively during the 1920s and 1930s, although initial discoveries might have been made
during the early 1900s when the Anvil Spring Mining District was at its peak.
(5) Squaw Spring
(a) History
No early historical data was found on the shanty located at Squaw Spring. The area has not
been mentioned in connection with any early mining activity.
Illustration 47. Squaw Spring cabin. Photo courtesy of William Tweed,

1975.
(b) Present Status
Squaw Spring, last visited by NPS esearch personnel in December 1975, is reached via a
rough jeep trail 6-1/2 to 7 miles east and south from the building sites in the Willow Spring
area. The difficulty posed by condition of the road, whose surface has been even further
deteriorated by rains since 1975, and limitations of time and fuel precluded this writer's
reaching the cabin site. In 1975 remains consisted of a two-room wood frame house of poor
quality and light construction, fashioned mainly of panels from wooden orange crates
covered with tarpaper and having chickenwire screens. The cabin stands very near Squaw
Spring in a cottonwood grove also harboring exotic plant species such as oleanders and
watercress. On the edge of the grove and on a hill above the cabin and spring is a windmill
made out of a Studebaker frame. No well is visible beneath it, so it is surmised that it drove
an electric generator.
No documentary data was found on this structure. The LCS crew referred to it as a
"HoovervilIe Shanty," and suggested that it was lived in by a squatter during the Great
Depression. The site contains some items of historical interest and possible interpretive value.
Its isolated situation and the unfavorable condition of its access road suggest that there has
been little vandalism to the site through the years. Lack of data on the cabin precludes
according it any associative significance with either people or mining events in Death Valley.
As a possible exemplification of a 1920s Depression-era lifestyle in an isolated desert region,
the cabin should be left to benign neglect.

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION III:
THE WEST SIDE
4. Anvil Spring Canyon
a) History
Ernest Huhn first located a single claim here in the late 1930s at an elevation of about 2,100
feet. The property was then acquired by the Western Talc Company in the late 1930s or early
1940s, which commenced driving an exploratory adit trending north and then east in an
attempt to reach the talc vein. The only other works consist of several pits and trenches.
Three men were employed at the mine, living in a tent and carrying on their work by means
of a portable compressor. As of 1961 the deposit was still unproductive and generally
unexplored. [197]
b) Present Status
Anvil Spring Canyon was not traveled by the writer because there is no longer an established
road through it. The route, therefore, has not been explored for evidences of mining activity,
but it is known that no active mining is currently taking place there. The area has not been
subject to either historical or historical archeological survey.

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION III:
THE WEST SIDE
5. Wingate Wash
a) History
(1) Location and Derivation of Name
Wingate Wash flows from the Amargosa River across the southwest corner of Death Valley
National Monument southeast of Butte Valley. The pass itself is a break in the mountain
range that forms the western wall of Death Valley, the Panamints stretching northward and
the Brown and Quail mountains veering to the southeast. From the west the road into Death
Valley through Wingate Wash turns east about two miles north of Layton Canyon. A low-
gear, short, and relatively abrupt slope leads to the broad pass, which is about five miles
wide, ten miles long, and about eleven miles outside the present monument boundary. Since
World War II the west side of Wingate Pass, located on the Naval Ordnance Test Station
Range, has been open to travel only by special permission. [198] Today the road leading into
Death Valley over Wingate Pass intersects the Warm Spring Canyon road from the south
near the Panamint Mine site at the mouth of Warm Spring Canyon.
It has been surmised that either Lieutenant Bendire, when crossing the Panamint Mountains
through this pass on his 1867 expedition, named it to honor Major Benjamin Wingate, who
died in 1862 of wounds received during the Battle of Valverde, New Mexico, or that it is a
modification of "Wind Gate" or "Windy Gap," names bestowed by twenty-mule-team drivers
to characterize the strong gusts they had to battle as they came through the pass. [199]

Illustration 48. Map of Wingate Wash Area.
Illustration 49. Devil's Golf Course Road, pre-1930s. Photo courtesy of DEVA NM.
(2) Chloride Cliff Trail
After the discovery of silver at Chloride Cliff circa 1873 and the start of limited mining
operations there, a road was needed to carry the ore south to a transportation center. As a
consequence, a road used for only a few years was built heading south, across the salt flats,
and along the west side of the valley into the area of present-day Barstow via Wingate Pass,
a route that became one of Death Valley's first major connections with "civilization."
By the early 1880s the Harmony Borax Works, located about two miles above the mouth of

Furnace Creek Wash, needed a new borax freight line from their deposits in the valley to the
Southern Pacific railhead at Mojave. A dependable low-cost route was needed, and luckily
William T. Coleman was able to utilize part of the old Chloride City trail over Wingate Pass-
-all that was needed was a good connection from the east side of the valley to the west and a
general overhaul of the whole road.
The general 165-mile course followed by the twenty-mule teams was from Mojave northeast
past Castle Butte and Cuddeback Dry Lake to Blackwater Well, a water stop. At or near
present-day Granite Wells, about seven miles northeast of Blackwater, the route joined the
old San Bernardino & Daggett to Postoffice Springs & Panamint City freight road. This was
followed twenty-six miles to Lone Willow Spring, another water hole. Six miles north of
Lone Willow, the road took off east from the old freight road through Wingate Pass, up Long
Valley along Wingate Wash to the lower end of Death Valley, and then up the west side of
the salt pan to the Devil's Golf Course road, which cut east to the borax works below the
mouth of Furnace Creek. [200]
Illustration 50. Borax routes in the Death Valley region:
heavy solid line--Harmony Borax Works to Mojave

broken line--Amargosa-Daggett route
square dots--Searles Lake-Mojave route
light dots--oldest route, between Eagle Borax Works and Daggett
light solid line--Borate-Daggett run
Taken from 100 Years of U.S Borax, p. 40.
Numerous obstacles were involved in building and traversing this route. The major problem
involved construction of that part of the road connecting the west side of the valley to the
east side where the borax works were located. Because drinkable water could not be found
east of the salt pan below Furnace Creek, it was necessary to cross over and travel down the

west side toward Mesquite Wells. None of the options available for the route of this
connecting road were very promising. Most of the acrid slushy marsh was too soft and wet to
support the weight of the borax wagons, which would sink hopelessly into the mire. Of
necessity, then, the road had to be constructed across the jagged salt crust which had formed
over part of the marsh and where, as described as early as 1892,
there was scarce a level square inch on the whole bed, for the salt crust had,
probably through the influences of heat and moisture from below, been torn and
twisted and thrown up into the most jagged peaks, pyramids, and cris-crossed
ridges imaginable. They were not high--none, perhaps, more than four feet--but
there was not even level space for a man's foot between them. [201]
By means of sledgehammers a graded path six feet wide was constructed across an eight-
mile-wide bridge of solid salt. [202]
Once the road was completely built, however, many hazards stilt existed. The name "Windy
Gap" reportedly was given by the borax mule-team drivers to the pass because of the breezes
that seemed to be constantly circulating. (Gudde's less colorful suggestion is that the name
"Windy Gap" was recorded by Wheeler on his atlas sheet 65 due to a misreading of Lt.
Bendire's notes.) [203]
In addition to wind problems, the gap was known as
the bed of torrents that come pouring down after a cloud-burst on the mountain
top. Volumes of water, in foaming waves twenty feet high, are said to be
common enough, and others much higher are told about by the white Arabs.
When a wave has passed, boulders are found scattered in all directions, gullies
are cut out, and at the best only a bed of yielding sand is found for the wheels to
roll over. Worse yet, this bed of sand rises on an average grade of one hundred
feet to the mile for forty miles, while the grade for short distances is four times
as much. [204]
Although use of the road was discontinued by the borax teams around 1888, it was still
frequented by miners and prospectors and some monument visitors, most of the latter
preferring the easier Saratoga Spring route. The pass came into more and more disuse as
modern highways penetrated the new national monument in the 1930s. In 1936 a twenty-
mule team that had been used in the "pageant of transportation" that crossed the new San
Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge was shipped by train to Mojave, harnessed to freight wagons,
and driven north to the site of Harmony Borax Works over the old road and Wingate Pass,
which had been newly reconditioned for the occasion by CCC personnel. [205]
(4) Mining Activity
Even after the end of the freight route through Wingate Pass, interest in the area did not
lessen. During the early 1900s the enthusiasm that was' raging anew for the prospects of the
Panamint Range region was reaching here also, for a "Ballarat Letter" of 1905 mentioned that
many well-known prospectors had left Ballarat for "Wind Gate Pass" and a several weeks
prospecting jaunt, the party containing Shorty Harris among others. [206] There evidently
was gold to be found there, for in 1907 word reached Rhyolite that a very rich strike had just
been made in the vicinity of the pass, and men were flocking to the area. [207]
In 1908 mention was made of several prospecting outfits in the valley, both from neighboring
towns such as Rhyolite and from "outside." According to Clarence E. Eddy, referred to as the
"poet-prospector," and a well-known personality of the region who had located several
placer claims in the vicinity of Bennett's Well, a group from California was planning to

relocate some quartz claims in Wingate Wash. [208] Some ore from the Prize Group in
Wingate Pass, assayed at this time, showed a gold content of $37.03. The mine was owned by
Mike Lane, Tom McNulty, Shorty Harris, and Roy Newton. Some earlier samples from this
group had assayed $157.40 and $58.70. [209] Another group of claims must have been
staked by the same men, for in the next month they were reported as owning the Gold Links
Group. Average results from the bottom of the twenty-five-foot shaft on the property
returned $10 in gold, 4 ozs. in silver, and 64% lead. Some samples had assayed as high as
$500. [210]
In June of 1908 an article appeared on discoveries made by Shorty Harris in the Hidden
Springs area, ten miles southeast of Wingate Pass. Although Harris was displaying great
optimism for the future of the area, others were skeptical of the find's potential, stating that
the samples seen were not unlike those that could be found at several points within Death
Valley. Due to a lack of water, little development had been carried out so far. The site was
pronounced accessible by wagon road from Panamint or Goldfield or by way of Daggett or
Barstow. [211] Although the showing of these claims appeared good, the values discovered at
depth were not as high as surface showings. A week after the Rhyolite Herald's optimistic
article on the location, Harris and Lane had returned to Rhyolite, disappointed in their
prospects in Wingate Pass. [212] Their bad luck discouraged neither other prospectors, a
couple of whom (Ernest Mattison [Death Valley Slim] and Bill Keys) mined for lead ore in
the pass, nor themselves, for by 1910 Shorty was sinking a shaft on a thirty-foot gold-bearing
dyke there. Tom McNulty, Roy Newton, and Mike Lane had an interest in this mine, also,
which by the next month was down fifty feet and exposing $20 ore. [213]
But the big bonanza for the Wingate Pass area was yet to be discovered, and was actually
going to revolve around the discovery of new mineral types that had never before been
considered valuable by miners in Death Valley. It was only fitting that Shorty Harris should
be the one to inaugurate this new era of mining activity. While on a two-month prospecting
trip near his gold claims in the Wingate Pass section, Shorty spied some likely-looking rock
and chipped out some samples of what everyone in the party declared to be tungsten. The
spot was located twelve miles from Hidden Springs, the only water source around. [214]
Despite Shorty's firm belief that because of his find his financial worries would soon be at an
end, the future of this part of the valley (and of Shorty) did not lie in the development of this
discovery.
By 1918 deposits of mineral salts of commercial value (Epsom salts or magnesium sulphate,
used chiefly in medicine) were being explored by Thomas Wright and some interested
investors in the hills to the south of Long Valley. A temporary mining camp to work the
deposits was established in Crystal Hills Wash in the Brown Mountain area, the drawback
being that the camp could only be supplied by truck over a sixty-three-mile tortuously-rough
road. During the postwar depression, while mining activity here stopped, Wright and his
associates attempted to figure out another method of access to the site. The major factor to
consider in the mining of these salts was that a cheap form of transportation was needed in
order to make it economically feasible to extract the ore. The prospective operators decided
that construction work (mainly grading operations) for a narrow-gauge railroad would be
impractical and prohibitively expensive. The only answer seemed to be a twenty-eight-mile-
long monorail system connecting with the Trona Railroad and the Southern Pacific at
Searles, making a direct connection with Los Angeles. [215]
On the west side of Searles Lake, about six miles south of Trona, a new station named
Magnesium Siding (Magnesia) was erected by the Trona Railroad. The American Magnesium
Company of Los Angeles, with Thomas Wright as president, began construction of its

monorail from this point. It then crossed eight miles of the salt lake, entered Layton Canyon
up a 7.5% grade to Layton Pass, whose summit is 3,500 feet above sea level and about 200
yards' wide. The track then proceeded through Wingate Pass up the wash to a fork about 7-
1/2 miles east. Here the monorail route turned south to the low Crystal Hilts, among which,
about four miles from the road fork, are the Epsom salt deposits. Reportedly, grades of up to
ten and twelve percent had to be overcome.
The estimated cost of the entire system was around $7,000 a mile in the mountain passes and
$5,000 per mite on the flat stretches. The Douglas fir construction consisted of
A central "riding beam," six inches by eight inches in size, . . . supported on a

series of A-frames or bents spaced eight feet apart, the central posts of which
carried most of the load. The running rail, of standard T-section design and
variously reported as being of 50-, 65-, 70- and 80-pounds to the yard, was
centered on top of the "riding beam." To the diagonal legs of the A-frames,
horizontal crosspieces were affixed extending several inches beyond the legs on
either side to enable two-inch by eight-inch side rails to be attached to their ends,
parallel to the running rail, to serve as sway stabilizers. Each A-frame was spiked
to a broad wooden sill for a base, and the sills were sunk into the ground several
inches wherever practical for additional stability. Above ground the structure was
laced with supplemental diagonal bracing wherever necessary as a stiffener.
[216]
Illustration 51. Route of Epson salts monorail.
From Desert Magazine (January 1963), p. 13.
The machinery used on this unique system was of great interest in itself. The basic unit was a
rectangular steel frame mounted on two double-flanged wheels, one at either end. Steel
supports angling downward parallel to the slope of the A frames were affixed on either side
to balance the unit on the rail atop the riding beam. Platforms were added to these steel
supports on a horizontal plane just above ground level and loads were stacked on these,
balancing each other like saddlebags. [217] The train carriages glided along the single rail
attached to a heavy timber running along the top of a series of four-foot-high A frames set
ten or twelve feet apart, maintaining their equilibrium by pressing with roller bearings against
the guiding rails. The first engine used, which utilized a battery-powered electric motor, was
unable to produce sufficient power to haul up grades. The construction of the basic engine
was similar to that for the cars:

The homemade, double-flanged, two-wheel-in-line locomotives were powered

with rebuilt Dodge engines and kept in an upright position by rollers running to 2
x 6 guides spiked to the sides of the 'A' frames a foot or so above the ground.
The balanced load was carried in saddle-bag-like compartments on either side of
the locomotive or in similarly designed two-wheel-in-line cars. [218]
To provide more power, Fordson-motored tractor/engines built into a steel frame were
introduced, averaging seven miles to the gallon of distillate. They were supposedly capable of
pulling fifteen to twenty-five tons at eight miles per hour on the upgrade and ten to fifteen
miles per hour on the flat stretches. According to Thompson the engines developed only
enough power to pull three loaded cars. Myrick says each locomotive could handle only one
or two trailers, depending on their load. Lee says the cars only carried three tons a trip. [219]
Permissive maximum speed for the monorail was set at thirty-five miles per hour, though
most trains held to thirty on the flatlands (which was still harmful to the track). Each
locomotive was restricted to a maximum payload of approximately 3,400 pounds; trailer
carloads were permitted up to 8,500 pounds. [220]
Illustration 52. Epsom salts monorail. Train is just east of Layton

Pass in Slate Range. Photo taken in 1924 or 1925. Photo by James
Boyles, courtesy of DEVA NM.
By the fall of 1923, only about sixteen miles of the system had been built, but work on the
last twelve miles was fast progressing. Hopes were that a ton of ore could be hauled to the
railroad for less than $1.00. [221] The system was finally finished in 1924. Immediately after
its inauguration the project had appeared successful for several reasons: no bridges were

necessary over rivers or roads; little grading was required because the trestle height could be
varied to conform to dips and hills; the equipment, because of its design, ran well despite the
varying grades and curves; costs of construction, equipment, and operation were low; and the
open trestlework seemed at first to eliminate drainage problems. The American Magnesium
Corporation was now one of the two companies producing magnesium in the United States
after the war. Germany, which had previously controlled the trade, was expected to try and
recover her former position in this regard. [222] This system was also heralded as the
godsend that would resolve the problems that had afflicted mining operations along the
Panamint and Argus ranges for many years, namely isolation and the need for a cheap form
of transportation that would make further prospecting and thorough development of the big
lead-silver deposits in the region economically profitable in the future. [223]
The Epsom salts in these deposits south of Death Valley had, according to some, originally
"blanketed the surface in a layer from two feet to twelve feet in depth, and portions of it . . .
were 100 per cent pure . . . ." According to others the purity of the deposit was low, only
around fifteen percent. [224] The purer material was scraped off the surface and the less pure
material dug out of the ground. The ore was sacked, sent by monorail to Magnesium Siding,
and then via Trona and the Southern Pacific Railroad to a small refinery in Wilmington,
California, for processing. It turned out that the high-quality ore was limited in quantity; most
of the material could not be scraped up in the large quantities needed without the inclusion of
much sand, debris, and other salts. This situation was a serious drawback to the economics of
the operation, and it was soon determined that cheaper and purer salts could be found
elsewhere.

Illustration 53. Monorail in Wingate Pass, 1935. Photo

Illustration 54. Supports of old monorail line near top of Wingate Pass. Photo
In addition, the desert heat was having detrimental effects on the flimsy trestle construction.
Despite efforts to improve the system by adding a heavier locomotive with a Buda engine
(whose weight caused the Searles Lake trestle to break and tip), and before the introduction
of a new more powerful gas-electric engine permitting longer trains and enabling bigger
payloads, sun and heat had splintered and warped the green timbers and loosened nails,
screws, and bolts. Occasional flooding on portions of the route, the tack of sufficient ore to
keep the refinery running at capacity, and a complicated legal situation hampered operations
so much that the salt mine was shut down in 1926. In the late 1930s the single rail was
scrapped and the riding beam and other horizontal timbers were removed, leaving only a line
of A-frames across the countryside. [225]
When Bourke Lee visited the old Epsom salts camp at Crystal Springs, probably in the
1930s, there were still five frame buildings and one stone house grouped near the monorail
terminal, complete with cookstoves and pinups on the bunkhouse walls. An interesting
sidelight on this whole venture is that Death Valley Scotty, true to form, took entire credit for
the enterprise. "Thar's the monorail," he remarked.
I told a feller in Los Angeles thirty years or more ago about an epsom salts
deposit. He raised thousands to build this monorail over the mountains to Trona.
When they opened it they nearly mobbed me when I told them they would lose it
all. Theda Bara and Griffith lost their wads. [226]
(6) Development of Manganese and Lead Silver Deposits
The Wingate Wash area has also contributed in a small way to the national supply of
manganese, a hard and brittle grayish-white metallic element resembling iron, although the
ore bodies found there on the average are small and low grade. Because of this they are only

profitably mined during those times when other sources are cut off, such as during wartime.
The following illustration is presented to demonstrate the contribution of Death Valley in this
field: in 1954 the total U.S. consumption of manganese was 1,740,648 tons. California's total
production from 170 mines during a sixty-seven-year period, from 1887 to 1954, was only
about 240,000 tons. The southeastern desert area of the state produced about 80,000 tons of
this total, and the New Deal mine specifically, in the southern Owlshead Mountains, five
miles west of the southwestern corner of the monument, produced about 15,000 tons of this,
mainly during World Wars I and 11. [227]
Information found indicates that a small amount of manganese ore was shipped from one
property in Wingate Wash in 1943. (A plat of a group of mining claims near Wingate Pass,
owned by Frank W. Orr, Roy Huntley Chapin, and Arthur R. Cassidy, dated 12 November
1940, was found by the writer in the Inyo County Courthouse records. The group consisted of
the Manganite Nos. 1-3 claims, and might be the ones referred to here. [228] But it is the
Manganite Group in the southern end of Death Valley that has been responsible for most of
the manganese production from within the monument. In 1951 the group consisted of six
unpatented claims (Reward Nos. 1-3, Good Hope Nos. 1-2, and Reward) in T21N, R2E,
SBM, Secs. 28 and 33; Reserves were then estimated at about 40,000 tons of ore with a
manganese content of 6.18 to 11.1%. Development work consisted only of a few surface
cuts, and activity was sporadic. Total production is estimated at around 1,000 tons. [229] As
will be noted later, this group underwent several relocations as a lead-silver mine. The
Wingate Wash (Black Dream) Manganese Deposit, whose location is given as about seven
miles west of West Side Road in Death Valley alongside the Wingate Wash road in T20N,
R1 or 2E, SBM, was idle in 1951. It consisted of eleven unpatented claims owned by Roy C.
Troeger. Development comprised a series of open cuts; production by lessees had not
exceeded forty tons. [230]
Lead-silver deposits also were discovered in the Wingate Wash area. In 1923 a lead mine
owned by Messrs. Gray, Warnock, and Wicht, six miles north of Wingate Pass, was
mentioned as having a carload of good grade ore ready to ship, and the extent of the deposit
looked promising. [231] In 1960 a Death Valley lead mine, located two miles east of the
Wingate Wash Manganese Deposit, was mentioned on a list of mining claims within the
monument. [232] The Manganite Group reported on earlier evidently was later referred to as
the Canam Mine. Although small deposits of manganese had been mined here during World
War II, in 1964 the operators, Canam Mines, Inc., discovered lead and silver ore. [233] By
the time several pits were opened in 1969 this property was referred to as the DV Group,
encompassing some former Pymco lode claims, and consisted of thirty-three lode mining
claims in T21N, R2E, SBM, Secs. 28, 29, and 33. Development through the 1970s resulted in
excavation of a pit 150 feet long, 70 feet wide, and 15 feet deep dug on one of the claims.
The claimant, Charles Sweet, indicated that in May 1969 about 15 tons of rock from this
large pit were shipped to a smelter at Selby, California; the total return was $726.81. In the
mid- to late-1970s several shallow holes were drilled and claimants hand-sorted several tons
of high-grade rock that was stockpiled awaiting shipment. By 1978 about 9,000 tons of
material had been removed from the large pit. [234]
(7) "Battle" of Wingate Pass
Probably the most publicized event in the Wingate Pass area concerns one of Death Valley
Scotty's most infamous hoaxes, referred to as the "Battle" of Wingate Pass. Conceived as a
last-ditch effort to discourage further investigations by a mining engineer who was insisting
on actually seeing Scotty's bonanza gold mine before recommending that his employers invest
any money in it, the attack turned out to have almost fatal consequences for one of Scotty's
brothers, put Scott himself in and out of jail several times during the ensuing months, and
ultimately, six years after the incident, resulted in his confessing in a Los Angeles courtroom

to long-term and full-scale fraud and deceit. (The most concise version of this tale appears in
Hank Johnston, Death Valley Scotty: "Fastest Con in the West" and serves as the basis for the
following account.)
The escapade had its beginnings in February 1906 when a New England mining promoter,
A.Y. Pearl, whom Scott had met in New York, interested some bankers and businessmen in
investing in Scott's supposedly rich mining properties in Death Valley. Before committing
any money, however, the Easterners insisted that Daniel E. Owen, a respected Boston mining
engineer who happened to be in Nevada at this time, personally inspect the property and give
his opinion of its worth.
Arrangements were accordingly made with all the parties involved, and by February 1906
Owen, Pearl, and Scott were in Daggett preparing for the journey into Death Valley. Other
members of the expedition were: Albert M. Johnson, president of the National Life Insurance
Company of Chicago (soon to become Scotty's long-term benefactor), who had recently
arrived from the East and, intrigued by the stories of Scotty's untold wealth, asked to
accompany the party; Bill and Warner Scott, brothers of Death Valley Scotty; Bill Keys, a
half-breed Cherokee Indian who had prospected with Scott in the Death Valley region for
several years, who had found the Desert Hound Mine in the southern Black Mountains, and
who several years later, after the "ambush" incident, moved to a ranch in what is now Joshua
Tree National Monument; A.W. DeLyle St. Clair, a Los Angeles miner; and Jack Brody, a
local desert character.
The entire trip, if carried out as planned, had the potential of proving extremely embarrassing
for Scott, who, after all, did not have a mine to show in order to consummate this lucrative
transaction. Desperate for a solution, he turned to his friend Billy Keys and persuaded him to
let him show Owen the Desert Hound instead. Although not as large as Scott had reported his
bonanza to be, at least the Hound was there on the ground for Owen to see. Papers of
agreement were drawn up to the effect that Scott and Keys would split the proceeds from the
mine sale.
Later, fearful that Owen would reject this mine as being too small a producer to warrant
investment by his employers, Scott devised a scheme that he hoped might succeed in scaring
Owen away from the area and dampening his enthusiasm for penetrating into the Death
Valley region as far as the mine. A shootout would be staged and hopefully be authentic
enough to disrupt Owen's intended mission.
Starting out on 23 February 1906 with two wagons fully loaded with provisions, extra animal
feed and fresh water, and a string of extra mules and horses, plus a liberal supply of whiskey,
the party journeyed on to camp the next evening at Granite Wells. On Sunday, 25 February,
the caravan pushed on twenty-six miles toward Lone Willow Spring, site of their next camp.
In the morning Scott directed his brother Bill to stay at the spring with the extra animals and
told Bill Keys and Jack Brody to proceed on ahead and look for any danger. After giving
these two a reasonable head start, the rest of the party began the trek toward Wingate Pass
and, surmounting that obstacle, proceeded on down the wash into the south end of Death
Valley. Toward dusk that evening, as the party was trying to decide where to camp, shots
were heard and a lone rider appeared from the north. He turned out to be an ex-deputy
sheriff from Goldfield, Nevada, who excitedly reported that he had just been fired on from
ambush and his pack train stampeded.
Receiving Scott's assurances that he could fight off any outlaws, the party warily resumed its
journey. A little further up the road beyond Dry Lake, near the site of the earlier shooting,
Scotty suddenly drew his rifle and fired two shots. Startled, the mules pulling Warner Scott
and Daniel Owen in the lead wagon began to buck, the force tipping Owen over backwards;

a sudden shot from behind a stone breastwork on a cliff to the south hit Warner in the groin.
It was at this point that Scotty made the fatal blunder that, in the recalling, forced Owen to
doubt the authenticity of the ambush. Upon realizing that his brother had been seriously
wounded, Scotty, nonplussed, galloped away toward the "ambushers" yelling at them to stop
shooting.
Establishing camp quickly, an attempt was made to close Warner's wounds. In the morning
the party headed the wagons quickly back toward Bill Scott and Lone Willow Spring, and
eventually toward Daggett, leaving their provisions behind by the side of the road. Keys and
Brody never did rejoin the group. Reaching Daggett on 1 March, the group put Warner on a
train for Los Angeles; Scotty hurriedly took off for Seattle where he was about to star in a
play, "Scotty, King of the Desert Mine." Johnson left immediately for Chicago and, due to
some fast legal work by his lawyer, was not involved in any of the ensuing litigations.
The incident struck the fancy of Los Angeles newspapermen, who, however, were hard put to
locate the principals involved or determine the true facts of the case. Pearl circulated a good
story of fighting off four outlaws, but Owen, disaffirming this tale, and evidently convinced
that Scott had meant to kill him, reported the true facts to the San Bernardino County sheriff
and later to the press. Two weeks later warrants were issued for the arrest of Walter Scott,
Bill Keys, and Jack Brody on charges of assault with a deadly weapon. In an attempt to
determine the identify of the party's attackers, the San Bernardino County sheriff, John
Ralphs, and an undersheriff entered the Death Valley country to find Keys and Brody.
Although these two managed to elude the law this time, the provisions that had been
hurriedly left at the scene of the attack by the Scott party were found at Scotty's Camp
Holdout; other incriminating evidence took the form of a statement by Jack Hartigan, the
Nevada lawman who had also been shot at, that he had backtracked and seen Keys running
from the scene after Scott's plea to stop shooting.
Publicity given to Scotty and the incident was becoming unfavorable, many people now
deciding it was time to show Scotty up for the fraud and liar he was believed to be Scotty,
working in his play out of town while loudly condemning these attacks on his character and
reputation, continued to propogate the story of a bona fide attack by outlaws who were after
his life and his valuable claims. Sarcastic poems and invective cartoons began to appear in
the Los Angeles Evening News his primary accuser, which had earlier asked in an editorial,
"What is the truth about this desert freak? He has ceased to be a joke. People are getting shot
and action must be taken. . . . " [235]
In the midst of all this attendant publicity that for a while brought full houses to his play,
Scotty was arrested around 24 March by order of the San Bernardino sheriff; he was released
later that night on a writ of habeas corpus, his bail of $500 having been raised by Walter
Campbell of the Grand Opera House. Seemingly true to the profile presented in the News
commenting that "He [Scott] occupies the cheapest room in the Hotel Portland, drinks nickel
beer, and leaves no tips!," [236] after release from jail this time Scotty asked the crowd in
attendance "to have a drink. Every body had visions of wine and popping of corks, but Scotty
announced it was a case of steam beer or nothing." [237]
Scotty was arrested again two days later and again released on bail, and then on 7 April 1906
Scott pleaded not guilty to two counts of assault with a deadly weapon. Out again on $2,000
bail, more bad luck was awaiting him in the form of a $152,000 damage suit filed by his
brother Warner, now out of the hospital, in Los Angeles Superior Court against Walter and
Bill Scott, Bill Keys, A.Y. Pearl, and a "John Doe." Three days later Keys was arrested at
Ballarat, and, also pleading not guilty to the two charges against him, was summarily slapped
in jail. Luckily for Scotty, Keys kept silent on the whole matter.

On 13 April, for the fourth time in under three weeks, Scotty was arrested; this time A.Y.
Pearl and Bill Scott were also taken into custody. All ended up in the San Bernardino County
jail. Out again through habeas corpus proceedings the next day, Scott rejoined his acting
troupe. Then, on 27 April, only four days before the preliminary hearing on the case was to
start, all charges were dismissed by the San Bernardino County Justice at the request of the
District Attorney. To the disappointment of many of Scott's detractors, but true to the luck
that seemed to always rescue him from tight places, a jurisdictional problem had arisen over
the fact that the scene of the shooting was actually in Inyo County, which alone had
jurisdiction to prosecute the case. Because Inyo County authorities seemed loathe to proceed,
all prisoners were released from custody and the final act of the long, drawn-out affair
seemed over.
One newspaper article published soon after Scotty's death (besides stating erroneously that
one of the "outlaws" in the fracas had been Bill Scott) charged that Scotty himself moved the
surveyor's post marking the Inyo-San Bernardino County line. [238] This seems to be borne
out by Scotty's own version of the whole affair, which of course pursues the theory that
outlaws were trying to get title to his "claims" by permanently removing him from the scene.
After several supposed attempts on his life (this most recent encounter not the only one that
had taken place in Wingate Pass) from which he always recovered.
Our gang, including my brother Warner, who was working for me and spying for
the other crowd, came into Death Valley through San Bernardino County. The
two 'frictions' met in Wingate Pass. They thought we was the Apache gang.
Somebody began to shoot.
I said to Johnson, 'Get back where the bullets are thickest.' That was in the
ammunition wagon.
I knew something was wrong. When I hollered, 'Quit shooting!' things quieted
down. The other gang disappeared. We look around and find Warner has been
shot in the leg. The same bullet has gone around and lodged in his shoulder.
Johnson took eighteen stitches in it. We hauled Warner a hundred miles to a
doctor. Had him in a buckboard. Made it in ten hours.
At this time I had a show troop. While it's playing in San Francisco, I am
arrested. I get out on a two-thousand-dollar bond.
Later I was re-arrested, and this time the bond is five thousand, but between the
two arrests, I've had time to get things fixed. You remember, the fight took place
in San Bernardino County, and i don't want to be tried there.
I decide I'll move the county boundary monument. When I was a boy, I'd been
roustabout for the crew. that surveyed that part of the country, so I know it like a
book. I go back and move the pile of rock six miles over into San Bernardino
County. That puts the shooting into Inyo County.
The trial starts in San Bernardino. I say, 'If you investigate, I think you'll find this
affair occurred in Inyo and that this court has no jurisdiction.' The trial stopped.
They investigated. Sure enough, they found the boundary marker. According to
the way the line ran, the battle occurred over the line in Inyo County.
Inyo County wasn't interested. The case was dismissed. [239]
The true nature of the whole affair was later revealed by Bill Keys who admitted before his
death that he and a companion (possibly the teamster Jack Brody, although according to Keys

it was an Indian named Bob Belt) had faked the ambush at Scotty's behest. The shooting of
Warner had been accidental, his partner being too drunk to aim his gun properly.[240]
Warner Scott dropped his damage suit against his brother on condition that he assume the
medical bill of over $1,000 owed to a Dr. C.W. Lawton of Los Angeles. Scott agreed and
then promptly left the city. Lawton obtained a judgement against Scotty, but the latter
proceeded to ignore it, having no tangible assets anyway.
During the next few years, Scott still had some associations with Wingate Pass, a notice
being found that in 1908 he interested Al D. Meyers of Goldfield and a couple of associates
in a strike made there. Notwithstanding Scott's earlier famous experience, the men outfitted in
Barstow and accompanied him to inspect the property. There is no evidence that they
encountered any difficulties, though nothing further was heard of the outcome of the
proposition. Bill Keys was also mining for lead ore in Wingate Pass in 1908, in partnership
with Death Valley Slim. [241]
Six years after the Wingate Pass incident, however, on 20 June 1912, the past caught up with
Walter Scott, and in a rather spectacular trial in a Los Angeles courtroom, Scotty was forced
to acknowledge a multitude of sins. In order to secure his release from jail where he had
been confined for contempt of court for not paying the doctor's bill for his brother Warner's
medical care, Scotty was forced to confess to the shams involved in the ambush in Wingate
Pass, in the big rolls of money he always carried (which he confessed were "upholstered with
$1 bills"), and in the reports concerning the vast amounts of money he was reputed to have
received from the Death Valley Scotty Gold Mining and Development Company. He had, he
continued, never located a mine or owned one, and was completely at the mercy of mining
promoters and schemers who profited from the advertising his various stunts provided for
them. Exposed as a fraud and a cheat, Scott was returned to jail pending further investigation
by the District Attorney's office--a long-awaited and seemingly conclusive finale to the
strange affair known as the "Battle" of Wingate Pass. [242]
b) Present Status
The Wingate Wash road was not traveled nor was the Wingate Pass summit scaled either
during the List of Classified Structures Survey in 1975 or by this writer during field work in
1978. The distances involved were too great and time too limited for such an excursion.
Observations on physical remains in these areas, then, are based on secondhand information.
According to Bourke Lee, by about 1930 al that remained at the Epsom salts camp terminal
in the Crystal Hills Wash were five frame buildings and one stone house, with iron cots and
cookstoves still to be found in some of the buildings. [243] A picture in the monument files
(Illus. 54), unfortunately bearing no date but certainly taken after the late 1930s and after the
single rail and other horizontal timbers had been taken up for scrap, shows a few A-frame
supports left near the top of Wingate Pass, most of which had toppled over and resembled
small piles of kindling marking the route. Whether many of these timbers still remain is
conjectural, for some have probably been carried off to fuel desert campfires.
(2) DV Group of Silver-Lead Lode Mining Claims
According to the mineral report for this group of claims, the only improvement on site is a
six-foot by eight-foot lean-to open on three sides. [244]

The only physical evidence marking this spot was in the form of five stone breastworks
erected by Bill Keys and his fellow "outlaw" to give credence to Walter Scott's story that
several men were involved in this attempt on his life. In 1910 Shorty Harris, returning from a
long prospecting trip to his claims in the Wingate Pass area, and no doubt seeing these
mounds, spoke of the "row of counterfeit graves--mounds of rocks arranged as grave
coverings where no graves exist." [245]
In 1941 Walter Scott and a New York Sun reporter journeyed over the Wingate Wash road.
One of the sights they mentioned seeing twelve miles up in the Wingate Pass saddle was the
rock breastworks from behind which Scotty's brother had been shot thirty-five years earlier.
Hank Johnston, during the research for his book on Walter Scott, visited the "battle" site
about one mile inside the present monument boundary and just north of Dry Lake. Much to
his surprise the five stone "forts" were still standing on top of the escarpment south of the
road. The chances are good that these structures still remain.
It is unfortunate that no section of the route of this historical transportation system extended
into the monument boundaries so that some protection could have been afforded it over the
years. Although its construction was loosely based on that of a similar railway erected on the
north shore of San Francisco Bay in 1876, the idea of building such a system from Searles
Lake over Layton and Wingate passes to Crystal Spring was a novel and inventive (although
ultimately unsuccessful) approach for the times to the problems faced in getting food,
supplies, and ore bags between a railhead and a remote desert mining camp.
It is doubtful that many of the wooden A-frame supports for the track are still extant. In the
writer's opinion, however, the route of the Epsom salts monorail (and any ruins associated
with it) would be eligible for nomination to the National Register of Historic Places as being
of the Second Order of Significance because of its impact on the technological and industrial
history of the area. Numerous improvements to the system in regard to engine and car
designs and the size and form of the attached bins used to haul the supplies were made over
its short lifetime of approximately three years. These revisions provide interesting insights
into the peculiar technological problems involved in running the line over desert terrain. Such
a nomination, could not be made, however, until a close survey was made of the entire route
to ascertain what if anything remains of the railroad.
(2) DV Group of Silver-Lead Lode Mining Claims
From information available there do not appear to be any structures of historical significance
on this site, which is of fairly modern vintage.
The Wingate Pass Battle" Site, actually located quite a ways north of the pass itself, is
eligible for nomination to the National Register of Historic Places as being of local
significance. The "battle" itself was simply another farce perpetrated by Death Valley Scotty,
who nevertheless, by means of such antics, probably did more to publicize the Death Valley
region than any other man in its history. Although the purpose of the whole escapade on
Scotty's part was to save face and protect his reputation for owning a valuable mine, the
ultimate consequences turned out to be much more far-reaching than anyone could have
thought at the time. The caustic and unfavorable publicity engendered by the affair on the
West Coast showed clearly that some people were becoming offended by Scotty's heavy-
handed jokes and publicity-grabbing pranks and were beginning to see through to the basic

deceit inherent in many of his schemes. It seems people ultimately do tire of being
hoodwinked. The culmination of the event in 1912, which Scotty survived and which he
ignored by continuing to insist later that he had been ambushed by outlaws, resulted in his
public unveiling as a fraud and continual liar. The site of the ambush should be designated by
an interpretive marker that briefly outlines the story of the "battle" and indicates the rock
"forts" (if still extant) on the cliffside above the road.
The route followed west out of Death Valley by freighters from Chloride Cliff and later by
the twenty-mule-team borax wagons hauling ore from the Harmony Borax Works to the
railhead at Mojave is eligible for inclusion on the National Register. It is considered by the
writer to be of national level of significance both because it was one of the earliest
transportation routes in the region and because of its association with the famous twenty-
mule teams of Death Valley, which later came to be considered part of our national heritage.
The 165-mile stretch between the Harmony Borax Works and Mojave began at the plant,
crossed the salt pan via the Devil's Golf Course south of Greenland (Furnace Creek Ranch) to
the west side of the valley, proceeded down past the site of the deserted Eagle Borax Works,
skirting the eastern edge of the Panamints, to Bennetts Well, the first potable water, twenty-
six miles away. Mesquite Well (now Gravel Well) lay five miles further south. It was then
fifty-three miles to Lone Willow Spring, twenty-six to Granite Wells, six to Blackwater, and
a final fifty waterless miles to Mojave. Ten days (averaging seventeen miles per day) were
required to make this journey, necessitating ten overnight stops, half of them dry. Water
needs were filled by caches of large (500- or 1,200-gallon) iron tanks on wheels that were
towed by the teams to the camps from nearby springs and back again for refilling. Stores of
hay and grain were also left at these stops. Teams returning north filled the feed boxes and
emptied them on the haul south. Sometimes ten outfits at a time maneuvered along the road.
Although this comprises the most famous use of the Wingate Pass road, it was traversed
earlier by a man named Ed Stiles who hauled borax from the Eagle Borax Works to Daggett
with a twelve-mule team. When this outfit was sold to the Amargosa Works he accompanied
it, and along with Superintendent W.S. Perry subsequently formed the twenty-mule teams
pulling the enormous handbuilt wagons with seven-foot-high rear wheels. A complete outfit
consisted of two wagons carrying ten tons each and dragging a water tank wagon behind.
Stiles probably also drove the first caravan between Harmony and Mojave.
For six years (1883-88) the Harmony-Mojave run was made without a breakdown, resulting
in about fifteen million pounds of borax being hauled out of the Death Valley region. It was
only the discovery of colemanite at Borate nearer the railroad at Daggett, coupled with the
collapse of Coleman's financial empire, that ended this operation. The twenty-mule team
became the nationally-known romantic trademark of the Death Valley borax industry, and is
still used on U.S. Borax products today. It symbolized one of the most ingenious, colorful,
and courageous experiments ever attempted in the history of early western transportation.
Despite often overpowering heat, lack of adequate water and food, and over 100 miles of
grueling desert terrain, the mule teams introduced American borax to the world market and
made its production in the Death Valley region the important industry it still is today and its
use in American homes an every-day event. A vigorous public relations campaign that
captured the public imagination kept the teams in the public eye long after their practical use
was over. From 1904 to 1950 they made a series of promotional and ceremonial appearances
beginning with the St. Louis World's Fair and including participation in Woodrow Wilson's
inaugural in 1917 and several grand tours of the country. [246]


Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION III:
THE WEST SIDE
6. Panamint Mine
a) History
The Panamint Mine, about one-half mile south of the mouth of Warm Spring Canyon, is
located a short distance west among a group of ridges between Warm Spring and Anvil
canyons. The majority of the five claims comprising the property were located in 1935 by
Ernest Huhn, probably around the same time he and Louise Grantham were staking the
claims that later became the Grantham Mine in Warm Spring Canyon. Southern California
Minerals Company of Los Angeles later acquired the property, concentrating most of its
sporadic activity in the years between 1952 and 1957. Talc output of the property to 1968 has
been around 4,700 tons. [247] It is now owned by Pfizer, Inc.
Illustration 55. Map of Warm Spring Canyon mining area.
b) Present Status

Today the Panamint Talc Group consists of ten unpatented claims: Panamint #3-5 claim,
Panamint Millsite, Panamint Millsite No. 1, Panamint Talc Nos. 1-2 lode mining claims, and
Panamint Talc Nos. 6-8. The mining area is reached via a dirt road jutting off to the south at
the mouth of Warm Spring Canyon. (This route continues on south through Wingate Wash.)
About one-quarter mile south on this road are two structures of recent origin. One is a large,
two-room, corrugated-metal residence building with a poured concrete floor and plywood
walls covered with graffiti, containing two metal bunks. The other empty structure is a small
wood and composition-paper shack.
The road turns west from here for about one-half mile, becoming a four-wheel-drive route,
and leads to an abandoned ore bin and adit. Evidence of exploratory activity is evident for a
half mile along the south wall of the canyon. At its upper end is a large three-chute ore bin
positioned on a truck-loading level with the remains of a single ore chute hanging from the
hillside above. Ore cars evidently trammed the ore to the surface of the mine and outside,
proceeding up an inclined set of tracks and dumping their load into the single chute, which
emptied into cars on the second level; these cars then dumped the ore into the lower three-
chute bin, from which it was guided into trucks for transport. The workings in this area
consist of an inclined shaft about sixty feet long with a twenty-foot drift extending west from
the bottom of the shaft. Above the mine portal on the hillside is a frame equipment shelter.
These are the oldest workings on the Panamint property, dating from the early 1950s; they
produced only a small amount of talc. Most of the talc shipped from this group has come
from a deposit about 1,000 feet south-southwest of this shaft--an area mined by an open cut
in the mid-1950s. [248]
Illustration 56. Ore bin and workings at Panamint Talc Mine.


Illustration 57. Modern buildings east of Panamint Talc Mine.

The ore bin, ore chute, and tramway ruins of the Panamint Talc Group are of recent (1950s)
vintage. Neither they nor the two ruined buildings near the Warm Spring Road junction are
historically significant.

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION III:
THE WEST SIDE
7. Warm Spring Canyon Talc Mines
a) Growth of Talc Mining in the Region
Most modern large-scale mining activity in the Death Valley region has centered around
borate and talc, the latter operations being conducted mainly in the southeastern Panamint
Range where large deposits of commercial-grade ore have been found. The first major talc
bodies to be opened in the region were developed in the Mojave Desert area in the early
1900s; these became the Talc City Mine near Darwin, the Western Mine in southern Inyo
County, and the Silver Lake Mine in northern San Bernardino County. Serving as the
principal talc sources in California from about 1916 through the mid-1930s, their product was
extensively used for paint extenders, cosmetics, and insulators.
From 1933 to 1943 talc became important in the making of wall tile: A higher-grade talc,
steatite, also became a major ingredient in the manufacture of the high-frequency electrical
insulators used in some types of electronic equipment, and because of threatened shortages,
became a critically-needed material for several months during World War II, with rigid
restrictions placed on its use for non-strategic purposes. Wartime uses and the expansion of
industry and population on the Pacific Coast were spurs to the greater production of talc,
which was mainly acquired now from mines in the southern Death Valley-Kingston Range
belt. After the war the Talc City, Western, and Silver Lake mines continued as primary
domestic sources of talc, while other mines concurrently underwent further development,
including the Death Valley, Grantham, Monarch, and Superior mines in the Death Valley
region. The postwar building construction boom and resultant higher demands for paint and
wall tile imposed a great strain on the talc reserves in California. As some became depleted
or as it became too costly to operate small underground mines, fewer companies stayed in
production, and more dependence was put on the Death Valley mines for the talc that was
now being used in a variety of products: cosmetics, insecticides, roofing, rubber, asphalt
filler, paper, and textiles. Preliminary data for California talc production in 1975 indicates
that over 90% of the total statewide production that year came from Galena and Warm Spring
canyons. [249]

Illustration 58. Site map, Warm Spring Canyon talc mines.
b) Growth of Talc Mining in Death Valley
The talc deposits in Warm Spring Canyon, together with those located in Galena Canyon to
the north, are the most westerly group of talc claims within Death Valley National
Monument. These deposits are located on the east slope of the southernmost part of the
Panamint Range along the steep sides of mountain ranges trending northwest-southeast.
Warm Spring Canyon connects with Butte Valley on the west and the Death Valley basin to
the east. The mines here are reached via a well-graded gravel access road that is constantly
traveled by large ore-bearing trucks heading from the mines to mills at Dunn Siding, Los
Angeles, and Victorville, California. The Warm Spring road leads west off of the West Side
Road about five miles north of the latter's junction with the Badwater Road just north of the
Ashford Mill site.
These Warm Spring Canyon talc deposits are located on the west end of a belt that stretches
for approximately seventy to seventy-five miles from the southeast slope of the Panamints
across southern Death Valley eastward into the Ibex Spring and Kingston Range region. The
part of the belt included in Inyo County contains four talc properties yielding more than a
few hundred tons (Warm Spring Group in Warm Spring Canyon; Ibex-Monarch Group in the
Ibex Hills; Western Mine in the Alexander Hills; Excelsior Mine in the eastern Kingston
Range) but only one of these (Warm Spring) has been worked continuously since the 1940s.
[250]
c) Sites
(1) Grantham, Warm Springs, Warm Springs West, Warm Springs Nos. 2 and 3, and White
Point Mines
(a) History
The original eleven claims filed on the most obvious ore exposures that now are covered by
the main mine workings in Warm Spring Canyon were located from 1931 to 1935 by Louise
Grantham and Ernest Huhn. Seven of these claims (Big Talc, Warm Spring No. 5, High

Grade, Warm Spring, and Warm Spring Nos. 2 to 4) extend from east to west for about two
miles along the south wall of Warm Spring Canyon; across the road on the north canyon wall
are found the Warm Spring Nos. 6 to 9. The Warm Springs Talc property now consists of
fourteen unpatented lode claims: Warm Springs Talc, High Grade Talc, Warm Springs Talc
#7-8; G.M. #2, 24-30, 43; and G.M. Fraction No. 2, all located during the period from 1932
to 1955. The Warm Springs Talc Claim was located on 22 April 1932, prior to establishment
of Death Valley National Monument, whereas the others in the claim group were located
after the proclamation, giving the federal government the right to regulate surface
disturbance.
Three of the early properties--the Big Talc, Warm Spring Talc No. 5, and Gold Hill Mill Site,
located on 9 June 1932, 24 August 1932, and 5 (or 11) February 1933, respectively--were
located prior to establishment of the national monument but during a period when the area
was closed to mineral entry by temporary withdrawal. These claims were amended on 28
June, 29 June, and 3 July 1974, respectively. In 1938 the Warm Springs Canyon Talc Deposit
was said to consist of five claims on the south side of the canyon owned by Miss Louise
Grantham of Los Angeles. Development work was reported as slight, consisting only of two
tunnels and several open cuts. The deposits seemed large and of good quality, but activity
was only sporadic. The first development of the Warm Springs Talc underground deposit
possibly began in the late 1930s, the workings consisting of a forty-foot shaft and an eighty-
foot drift. In the 1950s work stopped when Louise Grantham acquired all the Warm Spring
Canyon claims. From 1942 on, the Big Talc Mine was worked, yielding about 310,000 tons
of commercial talc through 1959, producing more of the substance than any other mine in the
western United States. [251]
The product of the Warm Spring mines became increasingly important during World War II,
as evidenced by a letter in the monument files from Kennedy Minerals Co., Inc., to then
Regional Director O.A. Tomlinson requesting him to investigate conditions of the road
leading west from the state highway in the south end of Death Valley into Warm Springs
Canyon. The road was so rutted that it was difficult to drive trucks over it, making it almost
impossible to operate his mine. Kennedy states in this communication that the talc from his
Warm Spring property on the south side of the canyon had been approved by the Maritime
Commission for use in paint; as a result the War Production Board had asked the company to
increase their production. [252]
Another letter, this time from the vice-president of Sierra Talc Company, repeated this
complaint on the road, and stated that his company held a Navy contract to supply all the talc
used by the Navy paint factory at Mare Island in the manufacture of paint for all naval vessels
built and reconditioned In that yard. It also indirectly supplied the Maritime Commission
through major paint manufacturers on the Pacific Coast. The material it supplied blended the
products of three of its mines, including the one in Warm Spring Canyon, in order to meet
rigid Navy specifications. A monthly production rate of 600 tons was needed from the Warm
Spring mine, and they could not approach this unless the roads were in better condition for
hauling. [253]
Another question in regard to roads arose in 1968 when a newspaper article announced that
Grantham Mines and United Sierra Division of Cyprus Mining Corporation in Warm Spring
Canyon were desirous of changing the current truck route they used for shipping their
product to market by obtaining Park Service permission to improve and use the existing road
through Butte Valley and Goler Wash into and across Panamint Valley via Manly Pass to
Trona. This would result in shortening their trip to the railway from the current 142 miles (to
the Union Pacific RR at Dunn, Ca.) to a much shorter 37 miles west (to the Trona RR).
Considering not only the amount of industrial traffic this would have brought into another
area of the monument, but also the encouragement it would provide to residents of Trona,

China Lake, and Ridgecrest to use this new access to cut their mileage to Shoshone, Death
Valley's superintendent, John Stratton, must have shuddered at the idea. Wisely refraining
from giving any encouragement to the request, he reiterated the Park Service policy of
preserving the monument grounds in as primitive a state as possible. [254]
Johns-Manville Corporation acquired all of Miss Grantham's Warm Spring Canyon claims in
1973 and undertook heading and pillar operations in the Big Talc and No. 5 and in the nearby
Warm Springs Mine properties. Development work in the Big Talc was unable to keep ahead
of the extraction rate, and only a few headings were made in commercial-grade talc. These
were considered uneconomical to process because of the long hauling distances involved in
reaching market, the stiff ventilation requirements that were being enforced, and an uncertain
ore zone. Operations in the Big Talc were continued until July 1973 when the California
Division of Industrial Safety shut down the lower Big Talc for lack of an adequate ventilation
system. In December 1973 underground mining was completely stopped, after which time
ventilation surveys were conducted.
In order to keep the company's mills going after the shutdown of the lower Big Talc, a
program was started to open pit No. 3, but this proved unsatisfactory when the talc became
stained and contaminated by dozer scraping. More satisfactory in September 1973 was open-
pit mining of the Warm Springs Talc Deposit, although customers soon objected to the poorer
quality of open-pit talc compared to that of underground material. Open pit mining continued
for twenty-one months, or until June 1975, to a depth of eighty feet and stopped there
because of the steepness of the deposit and the low quality of the talc. The Warm Springs
stockpile supplied Johns-Manville's market until July 1976 when the Big Talc Mine was
reentered to rob pillars for high-quality talc to blend with the stockpiled talc in order to
maintain an acceptable product. Poor methods employed in this contract underground mining
job, however, resulted in a lower quality material.
Another blow was dealt when Johns-Manville's environmental control group decreed that
since the talc in this deposit contained tremolite it had to be packed in sacks marked as
hazardous, which definitely influenced customer attitudes and buying habits. Business was
further jeopardized when the company's Canadian asbestos dust control team surveyed the
mills and shut the operation down because it felt the plants could not economically comply
with new proposed asbestos (tremolite) standards. When a new president took over Johns-
Manville, the mills and mine were shut down in August 1976. Prior to the shutdown, mine
production had reached 60,000 tons per year. [255] At this point, the company decided to sell
its talc properties in Warm Spring Canyon.
In August 1976 the company offered all its properties in the monument for sale, plus its
grinding plant in Dunn, California. Johns-Manville considered donating its talc claims to the
National Park Service in the summer of 1976, but on 1 September 1977, Desert Minerals,
Inc., a Kentucky-based company, purchased them. Before operations began, in May 1978, the
claims and the company plants in Dunn and Los Angeles were acquired by Continental
Minerals Corporation of Las Vegas, Nevada, by lease and option sales agreements. The new
owners expressed their intention to resume production at the Big Talc, and hoped to supply
talc competitively by late 1978. Mining beyond the near future depends on implementing
major exploration and development. In addition to supplying the developing Japanese market
for Second Layer talc, which is used as a paper filler, Continental is also attempting to
reassert its mines' former position in the domestic market. [256]
The Warm Spring Canyon mine complex now consists of about eight-seven contiguous
unpatented mining claims (eighty-four lode and three millsites) controlled by Continental
Minerals Corporation and located between about 1,800 and 2,400 feet in elevation along the
south canyon walls in Warm Spring Canyon. The Big Talc property consists of fifteen of the

lode claims and two of the millsites (located at Warm Springs Camp) of the Continental
Minerals claim group: The Big Talc, Warm Springs Talc No. 5, G.M. Nos. 20 to 23, G.M.
Nos. 200 to 201, L.G. Nos. 302 to 308, Gold Hill Mill Site, and Gold Hill Mill Site #2. The
Big Talc and Warm Springs Talc No. 5 are interconnecting works and the most easterly of
the mines within the larger claim group. Warm Spring, on the west end of the chain of
claims, is also owned by Grantham Mines and, besides providing water, serves as a camp and
equipment storage area for the nearby mines. [257] It will be discussed later in a separate
section.
The Grantham Mine (Big Talc-No. 5) workings are the most easterly in the canyon and the
most extensive, consisting of a complex system of drifts, winzes, stopes, and levels driven off
the main haulageways. Most work has been concentrated in the lower of three talc layers
where the zone is of uniform thickness and composition. "Room-and-pillar" mining methods
in a checkerboard pattern have been used because the caving characteristics of the talc zone
here make ground support a major problem. Although initially this makes for less talc
recovery, in the end the pillars can be removed and reduced also, and the percentage of
recovery thus increased. Originally mucking machines loaded the ore into mine cars, which
were then hoisted up the winzes and trammed to the surface. Fifteen-ton-capacity, rubber-
tired diesel haulers and diesel, rubber-tired, four-ton-bucket-capacity front-end loaders
maneuver on inclined haulageways, and have been used since the mid-1950s. The full extent
of the deposits here are unknown, but reserves are known to be high. Total production up to
June 1978 has been 830,000 tons. [258]
Before 1974 all mining in Warm Spring Canyon was done underground, principally in the
Big Talc-No. 5 workings. The Warm Springs Mine, about 4,000 feet west, also supported
some underground activity, as previously stated, but since January 1974 surface mining has
been carried on in an open pit on the site, about 80 feet deep, 400 feet wide, and 800 feet
long. The total area disturbed by the pit, waste dump, equipment storage area, and flood
control dike is twenty-four acres on the Warm Springs Talc and High Grade Talc claims.
Production here was discontinued because of excessive overburden and contamination of the
talc beds. Continental Minerals proposes to remove the existing 13,000-ton stockpile,
accumulated between 1973 and 1975, to points outside the monument within eighteen months
after their Plan of Operations is approved. The Warm Spring West deposit, located between
the Warm Spring and the 442 deposit, has not been fully explored, but there appear to be
resources underground. It will be developed by the room-and-pillar method. The Warm
Spring Nos. 2 and 3 workings west of the Big Talc-No 5 are small bodies that have been
exposed through recent dozing exploration and will be developed by open pits, at least
initially. Measureable reserves are present. The westernmost talc exposures in this canyon,
found in the No. 4 or White Point area, about 9,200 feet west of the main workings, have
evidently had no production but have been explored and show rich deposits of commercial
value. [259]
The Plan of Operations for the Big Talc-No. 5 workings, submitted in February 1978 and
supplemented in December to include Second Layer talc mining, involves three separate
phases:
1. Removing 3,000 tons of ore stockpiled underground
2. Developing new areas beyond the present mine faces, adding possibly another 379,000
tons to reserves
3. Mining pillars by drilling and blasting. (These measured reserves are estimated, at 1.3
million tons.) This involves development in both the First and Second talc layers.

According to the plans, ore would be crushed at the surface in a 20" x 36" jaw crusher
capable of a 50- to 90-ton per hour capacity. Crushed ore would then be sent by conveyor
belt to a steel 250-ton ore bin for loading onto 25-ton-capacity gondola trucks that would
haul six loads a day seven days a week to plants at Dunn Siding or Los Angeles. Production
of 36,000 tons a year was anticipated by the middle or latter part of 1978. Attaining the
previous production level of 60,000 tons per year depended on recapturing lost markets. Mine
life is estimated at ten to fifteen years, but additional reserves will probably be found.
Reclamation will follow closing of the mine, consisting of removing manmade structures and
debris, masking of dumps with dark gravel, and blocking portals with waste rock. [260]
(b) Present Status
Much of Warm Spring Canyon's primitive character has been obscured due to the impact of
environmental disruptions resulting from the last fifty years or so of mining activity.
Currently there are two open pits, a huge underground complex at the Big Talc, and camp
development at Warm Spring, with threats of increased usage hanging over the latter area.
The reclamation encompassed in the various Plans of Operation can be only cosmetic at best.
On first entering Warm Spring Canyon, an old adit is visible about one mile east of the Big
Talc Mine and on the north side of the road. The adit is timbered, but the framing has fallen
over partially on its side and now resembles an A-frame. About one-half mile further west,
on the south side of the road, is another old timbered adit whose entrance timbers have been
shored up with loosely-piled rocks. The history of these particular exploratory efforts is
unknown.
Illustration 59. Timbered adit (#1 on site map) north of Warm

Spring Canyon Road. Photo by Linda W. Greene, 1978.

Illustration 60. Timbered adit (#2 on site map) south of Warm

Spring Canyon Road. Photo by Linda W. Greene, 1978.
Approximately three-quarters of a mile further west, on the south side of the road, is a large
metal ore bin and conveyor-belt system marking the site of the Grantham (Big Talc-No. 5)
Mine. An extensive system of access, turnaround, and loading roads has been added. The
entire complex consists of two 500-gallon diesel tanks, three 750-gallon and one 3,000-gallon
diesel tanks, two diesel electric plants, two diesel air compressors, a jaw crusher, two ore bins
and conveyors, a 500-gallon water tank, and a sump and drainage system. [261] Terraced
cuts and levels have completely scarred the areas along the hillside in the vicinity of the main
portals; no historical structures are visible.
Across the road from this operation is the site of the Warm Springs No. 6 Mine--older works
consisting of a wooden one-chute ore bin serving two timbered adits, one of which has caved
in. Remains of a tramway are still visible entering the second tunnel.
Approximately one and one-half miles further west on the main road, and alongside it on the
south, is a timbered adit closed off with a framework X, located at the foot of a huge waste
dump. This is the site of the Warm Spring Mine. On top of this great mound of earth is the
large open pit that was begun in 1974.

Illustration 61. Grantham Mine (Big Talc-No. 5) south of Warm Spring Canyon
Road. Big Talc Portal to left, Riley Portal in center, and #5 Portal to right.
Illustration 62. Warm Spring No. 6 Mine (#4 on site map) across
road from Grantham Mine. Photo by Linda W. Greene, 1978.
Illustration 63. Warm Spring Mine (#5 on site map), view from
west. Photo by Linda W. Greene, 1978.
Proceeding west again, much terracing and scraping is visible south of the road a distance off
along the hillside. This activity surrounds the operations of the Warm Spring West and No. 2
and No. 3 mines.

At the curve about one mile east of the Warm Spring camp, and south of the road, is a mine
operation with two entrances and associated dumps. The area is posted NO TRESPASSING,
and both tunnels are closed off. This is the site of the No. 4 and White Point workings.
Between this site and the Warm Spring community is another mine on the hillside, south of
the road. Its workings consist of an adit with a generator at its mouth, some tram rails
descending into the tunnel, and an old car frame used as a winch. Some chute remains are
also present. This may be the site of either the Old Quartz Millsite Claim or the Old Mill
Stream Mining Claim. [262]
The hillsides in Warm Spring Canyon have been so completely scarred and defaced by the
formation of large open pits and by dozing and scraping and waste dump operations that,
although there might have been some earlier gold and silver prospecting activity here
contemporaneous with mining in the Butte Valley-Gold Hill areas, any evidence of it has
probably been completely obliterated. No documentary data on any early gold or silver
discoveries in this area has been found.
Illustration 64. Activity around Warm Spring West and No. 2 and
No. 3 Mines (#6 on site map) south of Warm Spring Canyon
Road. Photo by Linda W. Greene, 1978.

Illustration 65. Site of No. 4 and White Point workings (#7 on site
map) along curve of road just east of Warm Spring (Indian
Ranch). Photo by Linda W. Greene, 1978.
Illustration 66. Claim immediately east of Warm Spring Camp in

Warm Spring Canyon (#8 on site map). Possibly Old Quartz
Millsite Claim or Old Mill Stream Claim? Photo by Linda W.
Greene, 1978.
Illustration 67. View east down Warm Spring Canyon of talc-

mining activity. Photo by Linda W. Greene, 1978.
The Grantham Mine (Big Talc-No. 5) in Warm Spring Canyon is considered eligible for
inclusion on the National Register as being of regional significance. Since the location of its
first claims in the early 1930s, it has developed into probably the most extensive underground
talc-mining operation in the state and from 1942 to 1959 produced more commercial talc
than any other mine in the western United States. It is considered of exceptional importance
in modern Death Valley mining history.
NOTE: Since approval of the Plan of operations for the Big Talc, mineral examinations of
the fifteen mining claims and two millsites of the property have found only two of the claims,
the Big Talc and No. 5, and one millsite, the Gold Hill, to be valid. The rest are being

contested. Of the fourteen Warm Springs Talc Group claims, only the Warm Springs Talc
Deposit has been determined valid. [263]

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION III:
THE WEST SIDE
8. Warm Spring Camp (Gold Hill Mill Site)
a) History
In the early 1930s when the Gold Hill Mine was under lease to Louise Grantham, it was
rumored that she intended to build a mill at Warm Spring, about four airline miles southwest
of Gold Hill. [264] This was not the first attempt at utilizing the waters of this desert oasis for
mining purposes. A Notice of Appropriation of Water, recorded 27 May 1889 stated the
intention of the claimants (Frank Winters and Stephen Arnold) to take water from the spring,
develop it by ditches, pipes, and flumes, and use it for mining and milling purposes
connected with their claims in the Butte Valley Mining District. [265] By at least the 1880s
and 1890s the spring area, with its dependable water supply and lush vegetation, was
undoubtedly considered a comfortable home base from which to conduct mining exploration
in the surrounding hills. The Gold Hill Mill Site was located on 5 February 1933, immediately
prior to establishment of Death Valley National Monument. The Gold Hill Mill itself was
evidently built in the late 1930s, although no information has been located on the structure or
the machinery that was put to work processing the gold ore brought down from nearby Gold
Hill. By the time the mill was a going concern, Mrs. Grantham was becoming involved in talc
mining in the vicinity.
As a result, she proceeded to establish a camp on the Gold Hill Mill Site Claim to serve her
Grantham Mine. It is included within the boundaries of what appears on the USGS Wingate
Wash quadrangle map as Indian Ranch (Bob Thompson Indian Allotment). The
superintendent of Death Valley National Monument reported in 1955 that
Mrs. Grantham has undoubtedly the finest mining camp of any in the Monument.
Her residence, the mess hail, shop, and generator building are all of substantial
cement block construction and there are four frame buildings including a
dormitory and two small houses. There are eight employees at present and this
number may be increased to twelve or fifteen. The buildings are equipped with
flush toilets, estimated at six, and shower baths. There is a community mess. . . .
[266]
One confusing remark in this letter states that
Mrs. Grantham does not have a mill at present but it is understood that she plans
to install a small mill for processing gold ore on the millsite across the road from
the camp At present she is mining only talc. [Underlining added] [267]

Illustration 68. CCC spike camp at Warm Spring, 1934. Photo

Illustration 69. Grantham mining camp at Warm Spring, view to

south. Photo by Linda W. Greene, 1978.
b) Present Status
The profuse waters of Warm Spring have created a very pleasant environment in Warm
Spring Canyon. For a number of years an irrigation system has fostered the growth of wild
grape, giant reeds, oleander bushes, and fig trees planted just above the camp. There is also
plenty of water for domestic purposes and for leisure activities such as swimming. The
mining camp located today on the Gold Hill Mill Site consists of two houses, a mess hall and
office, and a powder house and garage across the entrance road. Further north are the gold-
processing mill ruins. The Gold Hill Mill Site No. 2, contiguous to the No. 1 on the south and
incorporating the spring site, also supports a water entrapment system serving the mining
camp and the mines. [268]
A plastic pipeline transports the spring water to the mines where it aids in dust control and
will be used for drilling purposes as outlined in the proposed Plan of Operations. The only
residents of the Warm Spring camp at this time are a watchman and his family. Under current
proposals the majority of miners employed at the Big Talc would live at Shoshone or in other
areas outside the monument; only two watchmen and their families would actually reside at
Warm Spring. The millsites will continue to house the mine office and provide facilities for

vehicle storage and maintenance. [269]
The old mill ruins are located adjacent to the Warm Spring Canyon road on the south side as
it continues west toward the Montgomery (Panamint) Mine. A date imprinted in a cement
slab at the mill site would seem to indicate that the complex, or at least part of it, was built in
November 1939.
The mill setup contains a power-driven arrastra; an oil-burning hot-shot engine that drove an
elaborate arrangement of flywheels, a belt and pulley system, and drive shafts that operated
the mill machinery; a Blake jaw crusher; a cone crusher; bumping and concentrating tables; a
cylindrical ball mill; an ore bin and chute; an unloading platform; a conveyor system; and
other related mining paraphernalia. Immediately west of the mill are the concrete foundations
of a mill house.
This mill and arrastra supposedly served the Gold Hill Mine from the mid- or late 1930s on,
although neither its exact construction date nor the duration of its activity is known. The
proposed Plan of Operations for the Big Talc Mine states that within six months after
termination of mining operations the company "will remove all man-made structures from
THE (GOLD HILL MILL SITE) and GOLD HILL NO. 2 MILL SITE Claims . . . . la Later
in that report, however, it was pointed out that historical studies had not yet been completed
and that the Plan of Operations could not be approved or cultural clearance granted before
this was accomplished. [270] It is strongly recommended by the writer that Recommendation
No. 21 as set forth in the "Environmental Review and Analysis, Big Talc Mine" be adopted,
namely
That the stone arrastre and other remnant [sic] of the old mill located on THE
(GOLD HILL MILL SITE) claim be specifically excepted from the requirement
for removal of structures under the approved plan, and its physical integrity
preserved until a determination of its historical value is made by the National
Park Service. [271]
The mill ruin is considered to be of regional significance and warrants nomination to the
National Register of Historic Places. It is important because of the combination of old and
newer technological processes displayed, and is a prime example of an early ore-processing
plant. As such it possesses both historical and technological significance. Although
specimens of individual components of the unit may be found in other areas of the National
Park System, so far as is known this is the only complete example of a large-scale gold-
processing operation.
None of the other structures on the Warm Spring campsite are historically significant.

Illustration 70. Warm Spring Canyon mine camp. Note gold ore-
processing mill in foreground. Mill house foundations are seen to
right of machinery. Photo by Linda W. Greene, 1978.
Illustration 71. Hot-shot diesel engine and ore bin, Gold

Hill Mill site. Photo by Linda W. Greene, 1978.

Illustration 72. View west of arrastra, Gold Hill Mill site, Warm
Spring Canyon. Photo by John A. Latschar, 1978.
Illustration 73. Blake jaw crusher, Gold Hill Mill site. Photo by
John A. Latschar, 1978.
Illustration 74. Cylindrical ball-mill, Gold Hill Mill site. Photo by


Illustration 75. Cone crusher, Gold Hill Mill site. Photo by John
A. Latschar, 1978.

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION III:
THE WEST SIDE
9. Pink Elephant Fluorite Claim
a) History
Fluorite, a mineral used as a flux and in the manufacture of opalescent and opaque glasses,
has been found in association with lead and silver deposits in several mining districts in the
area west of Death Valley National Monument. The deposit in Warm Spring Canyon is the
only outcropping of this mineral that has been worked in the Panamint Range, but the site is
so isolated and the ore bodies so scanty and irregular that mining here has not been
economically profitable. [272]
The Pink Elephant claims are contiguous to the Indian Allotment, Survey No. 330 (Indian
Ranch at Warm Spring). The Pink Elephant Nos. 1 and 2 were located on 25 August 1937,
and the Pink Elephant No. 3 on 28 June 1937; the Pink Elephant Nos. 4, 5, and 6 on 19 June
1939; and the Teena Lode on 24 April 1942. No notice of location was found for the Pink
Elephant Millsite Claim, but it was located sometime before March 1946 when all these
claims were patented, in the South Park Mining District, by General Chemical Company.
[273] No records appear to exist of any fluorite production during the years since.
b) Present Status
This claim group today consists of five patented lode mining claims--the Pink Elephant Nos.
1 to 3, Pink Elephant No. 5, and the Teena Lode, although as of March 1978 the Inyo County
assessor's office carried all the original eight claims on their tax rolls. These claims were
assessed at $950, according to information from the tax office in October 1974, but they had
not been re-appraised since 1967. [274] The claims cover 101.180 acres and are owned by
the General Chemical Division of Allied Chemical Corporation of Morristown, New Jersey.
The principal adits are located on a steep hillside about one-half mile north of the northeast
corner of the Indian Allotment (Warm Spring). Evidence exists of a mine road that once led
north from the Warm Spring Canyon road to the lower level of the mine workings this can be
followed on foot today, but is too washed out for anything but four-wheel-drive vehicular
passage. The workings cover an area of about 300 feet down the hillside and are just east of a
gully at an elevation of approximately 2,700 feet. On the lowest level (there are three) of the
workings is a timbered adit with a roughly-made work table outside; several yards south of
the entrance and around the ridge is the foundation of a compressor building. [275] The
concrete half of the platform is framed with heavy wooden timbers; timbers are also inset in
the cement, possibly as a base for machinery. Another section of the building, delineated by

boards to the north of this concrete platform, is dirt floored, about ten feet square, and also
framed with buried timbers. A triangular-shaped, wooden cable-tramway support, with cable
extant, stands just east of the concrete foundation.
On the second level of workings are two more adits, one above the other, and evidently
connected. These are slightly north of the adits on the first and third levels. On the ground in
front of the openings are the remains of another wooden cable support, indicating that the
system probably extended over to this area. A large, wood-framed, screened sieve (? ),
measuring six feet by two feet, lies half buried in the ground in front of the adits. Remains of
a rail tramway are visible leading out of the uppermost adit on the third level. Ore was
trammed from the tunnel several yards south around the ridge to the cableway (another
wooden cable support, with cable, stands on this level) and then sent down to the bottom of
the hill. Ties and rail fragments from the mine railway are scattered all over the upper
hillside.
The adits comprising these workings were purely exploratory in nature; hence their erratic
turns and twists. According to the mineral appraisal of the property performed in 1978, the
lower adit makes ten changes in direction during its 700-foot length. No stoping of the
tunnels, which total about 1,005 linear feet, was found, indicating little serious mining
activity or production. [276]
Illustration 76. Pink Elephant Mine on north slope of

Warm Spring Canyon. Photo by Linda W. Greene, 1978.

Illustration 77. Compressor house foundations, cable tramway in

background, Pink Elephant Mine. Photo by Linda W. Greene,
1978.
The Pink Elephant Group has been considered uneconomic to mine due to the high cost of
labor, the low selling price of fluorite, and the sparse occurrence of the mineral at this
particular site. [277] The only physical evidence of activity remaining on site are the
compressor house foundation, the aerial tramway supports with attached cable, some tramway
rails in the upper adit, and miscellaneous debris scattered over the site.
The Pink Elephant Claim is not historically significant, is of recent age and not of
exceptional importance in the history of Death Valley mining, and contains no notable
structures on site. Interest lies only in its being the single fluorite deposit mined within the
monument lands. Attempts should be made to salvage a number of good examples of mining-
related artifacts (cable support, wooden sieve, etc.) that might prove useful in interpretive
programs. These should be documented on site, collected, catalogued, and stored in the
monument collections.

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION III:
THE WEST SIDE
10. Other Mineral Deposits in Warm Spring Canyon
a) Barite
A Warm Springs Canyon Barite Deposit, comprising six claims on the eastern Panamint slope
in Warm Spring Canyon, is listed as being active in 1938. The deposit was located at an
elevation of 3,000 feet and was owned by Harry P. Gower and Owen Montgomery of Death
Valley Junction. This discovery had been made in 1937 and was being developed by three
men by means of open cuts along the surface. [278]
b) Fluorite
A Warm Springs Canyon Deposit of four claims in Warm Spring Canyon, owned by Owen
Montgomery, was idle except for assessment work in 1938. Open cuts along the surface had
traced the deposit, and about 100 feet of tunnel work had been done. This probably refers to
the Pink Elephant Group. [279]
c) Wollastonite Feldspar and Mercury
Four claims located for these minerals along Warm Spring Canyon are held by Ralph Harris
of the Victor Material Co. of Victorville, California. They are the Contact #l and #2
(wollastonite), the Spar #1 (feldspar), and the Louricha (mercury). No economic showing has
been evidenced on any of these claims.

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION III:
THE WEST SIDE
a) History
This one-half-mile-square mining area is located about sixteen miles west of West Side Road
and about 4.3 miles northwest of Warm Spring (Indian Ranch). The two main sets of
workings lie between about 3,700 and 4,450 feet in elevation and are reached via an access
road trending for about two miles uphill north from the Butte Valley intersection. The works
cover the ridge between the Warm Spring and Galena canyon drainages and are the most
westerly of the talc sites within Death Valley National Monument. The Galena and Warm
Spring canyon areas have been the source of all talc produced from the monument since
1974. The fourteen claims comprising the first discoveries here were filed by Owen
Montgomery and Harrison P. Gower around 1940. The Sierra Talc Company later leased the
property, which is now owned by Cyprus Industrial Minerals Company and consists of
nineteen contiguous unpatented lode mining claims: Amargosa #1-2, Amargosa No. 3,
Amargosa #4, Amargosa Nos. 5-10, Sunrise, Sunrise Nos. 1-3, Panamint, Panamint No. 2,
Frances Nos. 1-2, and Snow Flake. Location of these claims spanned a period of thirty-eight
years, from March 1936 to September 1974.
In the three years during World War II when high-quality talc, was restricted to use in
electrical insulators, the mine was worked steadily because its product could be used as a
substitute for steatite-grade talc in non-strategic areas. This has been the only period of
sustained underground production. After 1946 operations were intermittent and mainly
assessment oriented in nature. Through 1959 only about 6,000 tons of commercial talc had
been produced. Production now is estimated to average 25,000 tons per year, meaning a total
production of 175,000 tons since pit mining was initiated. The deposit is considered to be
nearly half mined out at this time. [280]
Because of the instability of the talc-containing bodies in the area, work underground proved
extremely inefficient, requiring extensive timbering and resulting in only a small recovery
rate. In 1971, therefore, a decision was made to turn to surface mining, which seemed
warranted by indications of heavy reserves found through exploratory drilling. Since 1972
Cyprus Industrial Minerals Company, a division of Cyprus Mines Corporation, has been
developing a pit with a projected depth of 300 feet on its southeast side and measuring 850
feet square in perimeter. Access will be at the northwest end. The total area disrupted so far
by mining operations totals about 64.5 acres.
The Panamint Mine today is active and producing about 2,000 tons per month. Because it was

in full production before passage of the 28 September 1976 act repealing the mineral entry
provision for certain National Park Service areas, the present operators have been authorized
to continue operations temporarily pending approval of their proposed Plan of Operations.
The proposal is to continue open-pit mining until mid-1985 when the remaining 200,000 tons
of recoverable ore will be mined out. [281]
b) Present Status
The older section of workings (Montgomery Mine), about 200 feet square in area, probably
dates from the early 1940s. Visible from the entrance are one adit trending south and an
inclined shaft to the east. The underground workings consist of an east- trending 250-foot-
long drift connected to the surface at its west end by a south-trending adit and also joined to
a 150-foot-long crosscut and winze east of this adit. Most of the salable talc is thought to
have been removed from these areas, although the entire extent of the deposit is uncertain.
The tendency of the ground to fracture and the resultant hazardous underground working
conditions have precluded further work here. [282]
Remnants of a tramway remain leading southwest around the ridge from this early mine to a
four-chute wooden ore bin with metal flashing still in place. Immediately north of this bin on
the hillside is some wooden debris--possibly the ruins of an earlier tramway and chute
system. A front-dumping swivel ore car was found overturned near the chute remains. The
more recent open-pit work with large terrace cuts visible on top of the ridge east of the
Montgomery works, at an altitude of about 4,400 feet, involves blasting work and benching
into the ridge. Currently the pit measures about 700 feet by 800 feet. Downslope and
southwest of the chute remains and west of the pit in a saddle of the same ridge is the
stockpile area for talc removed from the latter operation. The ore is transported by truck to
mills at Los Angeles ,and Keeler, or to Dunn Siding, California, for shipment to mills in
Grand Island, Nebraska, and Mexico City, Mexico. [283]

Illustration 78. View east toward Montgomery

(Panamint) Mine from burro trail heading west toward
Panamint Treasure Mine on Gold Hill. Photo by Linda
W. Greene, 1978.
Illustration 79. Early talc miner's shack on road to Montgomery

(Panamint) Mine. Note small broken table in front fashioned from
dynamite box. Photo by Linda W. Greene, 1978.
On either side of the road leading up to the Panamint mining area, about 1-1/4 miles north of
the Butte Valley cutoff, are two wood-framed cabins with red asbestos-covered gable
roofing. The larger cabin, north of the bend in the road, has six-paned windows; plyboard

walls on the interior; a linoleum floor in a red, black, and green pattern; and some furniture
consisting of bedsprings, a table, benches, built-in shelves, and a small table on legs
fashioned from an Atlas powder box. The smaller shack has unfinished walls and ceiling.
Dumps up the hillside north of these cabins indicate that there may have been more such
structures in the vicinity at some time--it was probably a residential area for men working the
Montgomery Mine during World War II.
The older Montgomery Mine does not meet the criteria of evaluation for the National
Register. Because it is surrounded by active strip mining, the site retains little historical
integrity; none of the newer pit workings has any historical significance. The ore car near the
old chute could be utilized by the park museum in interpretive programs. The shacks down
the road toward Warm Spring probably date from the World War II period and are not
outstanding type specimens. They were undoubtedly contemporaneous with settlements at
Goldbelt and Ibex springs, which are better examples of talc-mining communities of that era
because they contain more residences and related structures on site. The small Atlas powder
box stool found in the northernmost of the two cabins should be acquired for use in park
interpretive programs as typifying the sort of homemade furniture found at a remote desert
mine.
Illustration 80. Earliest openings at Montgomery (Panamint) Mine.

Photo by John A. Latschar, 1978.

Illustration 81. Ore bin probably associated with the above adits.
Photo by John A. Latschar, 1978.

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION III:
THE WEST SIDE
12. Carbonate (Carbonite) and Queen of Sheba Mines
a) History
(1) Clarence E Eddy Locates Original Outcrop
The Carbonate Mine is situated on an east-trending ridge of the Panamint Range on the west
side of Death Valley at an elevation of about 1,200 feet. Its workings are about 1/4 of a mile
north of the Queen of Sheba Lead Mine tunnel and mill ruins. The area, about thirty-two
miles south of Furnace Creek Ranch and thirty-seven miles west of Shoshone, is reached via
a four-mile-long dirt road veering off southwest from Salt Well about 1/8 mile south of the
Galena Canyon-West Side Road intersection. The track is now seldom used and extremely
rutted from water and wind erosion.
The Carbonate Mine is the earlier of the two discoveries on this site. In the summer of 1907,
when Clarence E. Eddy was exploring the southwest slopes of Death Valley, he and some
associates began to develop a certain large galena outcrop about one mile from what later
became the townsite of Carbonite. News of the strike attracted other prospectors to the scene;
among these were Frank Stockton and a mining engineer named Chester A. Pray, who
located the "Carbonite" Mine in 1908. The property was probably named for the type of ore
found there--lead carbonate with silver. [284]
(2) Jack Salsberry Tackles a Multitude of Problems
The town and camp of Carbonite sprang up as a result of the interest manifested in the
Carbonite Mine by Ed Chafey and Jack Salsberry (variously spelled Salisbury, Saisbury,
Salisberry, and Salsburry), who formed the Carbonate Lead Mines Company of Death Valley
with general offices in Manhattan, Nevada. [285] The problem that had hindered
development of the area in the early 1900s--lack of transportation to a railhead--was
immediately approached and just as quickly solved by the enterprising Salsberry. The mine
was located about forty miles from the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad station at Zabriskie,
so Salsberry proceeded to build a wagon road from Salt Well, four miles east of the mine,
over the Black Mountains to the railroad, enabling the ore to be hauled by freight teams
about thirty miles across Death Valley to the Amargosa Range where a gasoline tractor
hauled it the last sixteen miles to town. (This is the same route followed by today's Salsbury
Pass road.)
Salsberry's company next negotiated for 150 head of stock to transport the ore to the spot

where it could be taken over by the tractor. It was anticipated that with this system ten
carloads of ore a week could be sent to Salt Lake City smelters. [286] Forty to fifty head of
horses and mules were acquired at first, working as four ten-animal teams, with plans made
to utilize 200 more, each animal hauling half a ton. The capacity of the tractor was about ten
tons, which would be increased as the road improved and was packed down with use. Intense
heat was a serious problem for the mine workers, the thermometer often reaching 130°F. in
the shade and at least once as high as 164°F. To protect themselves, the men lived and slept
in the mine tunnels, which also contained the kitchen and boarding house.
By late fall of 1913 only two carloads of ore from the mine had left the Zabriskie station, but
further development work was to be carried on throughout the winter months by an increased
force of men. Because the ore body appeared extensive and rich in minerals, a loading chute
for the large amount of ore expected to arrive soon from the mine was erected at Zabriskie by
the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad. [287] By 1914 the camp was being referred to as the
"latest sensation of the western mining world." [288] and the presence of extensive nearby
deposits of lead, silver, gold, and copper seemed to promise another desert bonanza. The
Carbonite Mine had now been developed to a depth of 300 feet, with lead and silver ore
values reputedly running as high as two million dollars. The transportation force now
comprised sixty mules and a twenty- or twenty-five-ton traction engine. (It was rumored at
this time in the newspapers that the Southern Pacific Railroad was in the process of
constructing a branch within fifteen miles of the town. Such a project never materialized.)
The nearby camp was said to be "a typical desert metropolis, constructed with tents, rocks,
tincans, dry goods boxes, whiskey bottles and anything that comes handy." [289] Water for
domestic use was hauled in from Zabriskie.
As was the case with most desert boom towns of the time there were those who urged
restraint and moderation in the assessment of future production:
A pretty story about the starting [of] a boom town in the heart of Death Valley is
going the rounds. Diamondfield Jack Davis is mentioned as hiking to the new
Eldorado, and it is not difficult to trace his fine Italian hand in the invention
which has so much foundation as the beautiful mirages that are found in that
section of the universe . . . . The truth about Carbonate Camp is good enough, but
it will require time before the properties of that section are on a highly profitable
basis. The question of transportation remains to be solved, and nothing short of
the construction of a railroad can answer the purpose of hauling the ores to
market. The traction engine that was supposed to work such wonders has not
delivered the tonnage which was relied upon to make the investment more than
fairly profitable and no substitute has yet been found for the humble horse and
mule in negotiating the sands of the desert. A proposition to build a railroad is
under contemplation by a combination of salt interests and the men behind
Carbonate and, until this line is constructed, there will be no rush to Death
Valley. [290]
Evidently the failure of the traction engine to transport a satisfactory amount of ore resulted
in the addition of two motor trucks to the route. [291]
Four months later Salsberry's transportation fleet had been increased to sixteen large trucks
that carried ore daily from the Carbonate Mine to Zabriskie, which, incidentally, was now
teeming with activity occasioned by incoming men and freight and outgoing ore shipments.
Fifteen mines were operating in the vicinity and utilizing the little railroad station as their
supply point. Currently shipping one carload of ore per day, the Carbonate Mine was
considered profitable since lead was bringing from $57.50 to $75.00 per ton. Salsberry had
even constructed a small hotel for his workmen at a midpoint between his mine and Zabriskie

(its exact location could not be determined by the writer), where two cooks were required to
serve just the sixty truckers employed by the company. Twelve more trucks were being
ordered around this time. [292]
(3) Progress of the Carbonate Lead Mines Company
In August another in a continuing series of reports on the progress of the Carbonate Lead
Mines Company appeared. Only three miners were required to keep full the ten trucks, of 6-
1/2-ton capacity each, that were currently hauling from the property. Ore from the mine,
which had now undergone about 900 feet of development work and which showed a vein
from 2-1/2 to 15 feet wide, was averaging about 37% lead, 20 ozs. in silver, and $5 in gold,
resulting in a value of about $40 per ton of ore. Since transportation averaged only about $12
per ton, the company was realizing a nice profit from this mine. [293]
In 1917 the workings at the Carbonate Mine were described by the California state
mineralogist: development consisted of three tunnels (upper, 100 feet long, 60 feet below
apex; second, 150 feet long, 30 feet below first; lower [main], 300 feet long, 100 feet below
second); the ore recovered was dumped into a bin outside the lower tunnel, from which it
was loaded into four-ton motor trucks. Because these shipments were now costing about $15
a ton, the trucks were being replaced by caterpillar-type tractors--a move that would
hopefully lower transportation costs. About forty tons of ore a week, averaging 35 percent to
40 percent lead, were being shipped to the U.S. Smelting and Refining Company in Salt Lake
City. Only four men were employed by the mining company, whose home office was now
evidently in San Francisco. [294]
From 1915 to 1918 the Carbonate Mine produced about 11,000 tons of ore averaging 15
percent lead and S oz. of silver per ton. [295] By 1920 the operation was reported to be idle,
although one reference during this time period mentions the "caterpilar" road to the
Carbonate Mine as being a good one, which tends to indicate that the mine was active
sporadically. The Carbonate Mine was again mentioned in 1923, with the implication that it
was still producing. [296]
(4) New Sutherland Divide Mining Company Takes Over
In that year notices were appearing on the transfer of ownership of several mining locations
in the general area of the Carbonate Mine. On 1 June a quitclaim deed was granted by
R.(oger) H. Downer, A. I. D'Arcy, and Nettie H. D'Arcy of Goldfield to the New Sutherland
Divide Mining Company, the Nevada corporation that superseded the Carbonate Lead Mines
Company in ownership of the Carbonate property, for the July 1, 2, and 3 lode mining claims
"situated 10 miles south of Bennett Hole, on the east slope of the Panamint Mountains, in an
unknown mining district; also July 4, 5, 6 and 7 lode mining claims, situated 4 miles west of
Salisbury Wells, on the east slope of Panamint Mountains, in an unknown mining district."
[297]
In November 1923 an M. (?) H. Downer of Goldfield deeded to the New Sutherland Divide
Mining Company the Ajax Nos. 1-3 lode mining claims five miles southwest of "Salisbury's
Well." [298] The following month the U.S. Smelting, Refining. & Mining Company
contracted with the New Sutherland Divide Mining Company to take over operation of their
lead mine, the smelting company realizing 51% of the profits. The wartime production of the
mine had been 1,950 tons of lead and 97,000 ozs. of silver, and a profitable amount of ore
still existed on its dumps. [299]
It appears that the Queen of Sheba workings, about 1,500 feet southwest of the Carbonate
Mine, were a further extension of exploratory work on the latter and were in the same ore
zone, so that the two actually comprised one extensive mining operation. When exactly this

later lode was opened up is uncertain, but definite mention of it by name appears in 1924,
describing it as consisting of nine claims owned by the New "Southerland" Divide Mining
Company of San Francisco, but recently leased to the U.S. Smelting, Refining & Mining
Company of Boston. The ore on these claims was said to be rich: 6,500 tons of sorted ore that
had been shipped to the Salt Lake City smelter averaged 40% lead and 20 ozs. silver per ton.
At the prices later reached for lead in 1926, this amount of ore could have grossed over
$500,000. [300]
U. S. Smelting and Refining originally planned on spending a vast amount of money to

develop the Queen of Sheba, which was regarded as the largest body of proved commercial-
grade ore in the Death Valley region; when its connection with the mine began to be used for
stock-jobbing purposes, however, the company surrendered its lease. [301] By 1925 D'Arcy
and his Victory Divide Mining Company had reached an agreement with the Sutherland
Company and initiated a twenty-five-year lease beginning 27 August 1924 on the Carbonate-
Queen of Sheba. By this agreement Victory Divide would undertake exploration, mining,
development, and treatment of the ore and the owners would receive royalties of 12-1/2% of
the ore value after a deduction for smelting costs. From 1917 to 1925 the mine produced
about 200 tons of crude ore. [302]
In 1926 the Victory Divide Company was concentrating on the Queen of Sheba group of
claims, which, it had recently been determined, were not in the main ore body, although
twenty-two feet of mill-grade ore had been found. The primary vein was determined to be in
a tunnel on up the mountainside, which the company hoped to intersect by pushing forward
in the main Queen of Sheba tunnel. Lead was now selling at the highest peacetime price ever,
which was expected to soon equal that for copper. Because silver was found in conjunction
with the lead ore at the Queen of Sheba, the company expected to realize large profits after
erection of a mill. [303]
In March 1926 the Victory Divide Company was concentrating on the twenty-two-foot-wide
vein of ore struck earlier, which by this time had been proven to extend at least several
thousand feet and which measured from twenty to twenty-five feet wide. Thirty to fifty
thousand tons of ore were expected from the vein, which was assaying 15% lead and 10 ozs.
silver (worth about $35 a ton)--an excellent showing and better than that ore being mined in
the principal camps of Utah and Idaho, whose best ore averaged about $15 a ton. R. H.
Downer, the well-known mining engineer from Goldfield, who was also a director and
consulting engineer for the Victory Divide Company, was instructed to make intensive
studies of the company's development operations and of the surface and underground geology
of the mine in order to ascertain the areas of ore occurrence and thus facilitate the
development work. His studies were expected to show that the Queen of Sheba silver-lead
deposit was one of the most extensive in the United States:
The work to date has demonstrated [sic] the orebody to be about 25 feet in
width, proved at numerous places along the course of the vein, both by surface
and underground workings, for a length of between 1,500 and 2,000 feet. This
undoubtedly constitutes one of the most continuous bodies of highgrade silver-
lead ore in the west, and in view of the favorable conditions in connection with
the occurrence, it only remains for the management to open up the mine in an
aggressive way to enable it to commence production on a large scale. [304]
Downer's findings seemed to support the opinion voiced by the company and the newspapers
that the Carbonate-Queen of $heba Mine was "destined to be one of the biggest silver-lead
producers of the United States." The reserves already blocked out were estimated at between
1 and 1-1/2 million dollars in value. [305] A month later lead-silver ore assaying $30 to $90
a ton in lead and silver and containing appreciable amounts of gold was uncovered in the

Queen of Sheba south drift--"the greatest lead discovery made in recent years in the
Southwest." [306] This strike encompassed the Ajax Claim southwest of the Queen of Sheba
tunnel where work was still continuing in an effort to intersect the rich orebody showing on
the surface. The situation in the Queen tunnel seemed to be constantly improving:
In one place in the tunnel the ore body has been found to be twenty-two feet in
width. A drift on the ore to the north for a distance of seventy feet showed
average values of from $15 to $20 to the ton; while to the south twelve feet of
ore is said to have been uncovered assaying $35 to the ton. Six feet further on,
according to the mine superintendent, the face measured eighteen feet, the ore
returning assay values of $88 per ton, with improvements being noted as work
progresses.
The company has under consideration the construction of a large concentrating

plant, as water is easily available [Salt Well]. [307]
Although work was now focusing primarily on the Queen of Sheba, in June samples were
taken from an old 100-foot tunnel on the Carbonate Claim. It was found the ore averaged
better than 8% lead and 4 ozs. silver for the entire length of the tunnel. [308] In its main
workings at this time the company reported it had 50,000 tons of ore blocked out, averaging
15% lead and 7 to 10 ozs. in silver, assaying $30 to $35 a ton. The vein had been followed at
least 3,000 feet and the main tunnel was still being advanced. Victory Divide Mining
Company shares were listed on the exchange and its stock continued active. [309]
The state mineralogist reported in the fall of 1926 that six men were pushing development
work at the Carbonate Mine, now known as the Queen of Sheba Group of Mines, in three
tunnels that had been driven on the ore body, and that another lower excavation was still
being advanced to intersect ore bodies worked in the upper tunnels. [310] By December, in
an attempt to garner enough funds to carry on development work until a milling plant could
be financed, the Victory Divide Company issued Assessment No. 6 of one cent per share to
its stockholders (proceeds from Assessment No. 5 had supported the mine for over a year).
[311] From 1930 to 1931 around 3,300 tons of ore were mined from the Carbonate, but from
1932 to 1935 production dropped significantly to less than 1,000 tons. [312]
(5) Waning Years
In 1932 the Carbonate, or Queen of Sheba, was again described as having only three tunnels:
the upper, 60 feet below the outcrop, was 100 feet long; 30 feet below that was the second,
300 feet long. Although the report said that the lower tunnel intended to tap the ore bodies
worked in the upper tunnels was the fourth one, it was probably only the third tunnel.
Operations had been suspended by this time. [313] By 1936 the Queen of Sheba Group was
listed as the only important property at "Carbonate," and was said to have been sporadically
active since 1918, with a total production of about $200,000. [314]
In 1938 the Carbonate Mine was still owned by the New Sutherland Divide Mining
Company, but was now under lease to a John P. Madison and H. L. Hellwig, who had
evidently been shipping from there for the last seven years. In May their equipment consisted
of trucks, a compressor, air drills, and cars; ten men were employed. The ore was still hauled
by truck to Zabriskie for shipment to the Salt Lake City smelters. Development on the
Carbonate Claim consisted of a series of stoped tunnels to a vertical depth of 150 feet and a
long crosscut tunnel below which no ore had been encountered. The Queen of Sheba had a
tunnel 1,000 feet long with a few crosscuts--no ore had been developed here. By October
Madison had crosscut west about 40 feet 200 feet above the old tunnel and had stoped some
ore from 2 to 8 feet wide in drifts from the crosscut. The ore now being found was generally

of a higher grade than in the past. The property was being only sporadically worked,
however. [315]
The next few years are scanty in information on the mine, which remained mostly inactive. A
letter from the Death Valley National Monument superintendent to a Mr. D. C. Wray of Las
Vegas concerning the possibilities of improvement of the road into the Carbonate Mine
indicates that some mining activity was continuing here during World War II. [316] The New
Sutherland Divide Company resumed work in 1944, and after extensive sampling, the mine
was reopened by means of three 100-foot crosscut adits with many drifts; rises totaling 2,500
feet were driven at 50-foot vertical intervals. [317] A year later the Mining Journal reported
that the New Sutherland Divide Company had suspended operations for the summer, but that
about sixty tons of ore had been shipped daily from the Queen of Sheba prior to that, the
material being trucked to Manix, California, for rail shipment to the smelter. [318]
In 1948 the Queen of Sheba ore assayed 7% lead and 5 to 10 ozs. of silver per ton, but
shipments were small. The Carbonate Mine was reopened in 1948 and ore concentrates
assayed 35 to 40% lead. [319] During 1947-48 a long-awaited flotation mill was built,
intended to treat 100 tons of ore a day. The plant included a 10- by 20-inch jaw crusher, a 5-
by 7-1/2-foot Marcy ball mill, a Bendelari jig, a classifier, agitators, flotation cells,
concentrating tables, and a disc-type filter. A 250-kw GE, diesel-powered generator supplied
power. Water was pumped from Salt Well, four miles east, against an 1,150-foot hydraulic
head. Construction of this plant resulted in a short flurry of activity, but although several
hundred tons of ore were mined and milled by the New Sutherland Company from 1948 to
1949, mining operations finally ceased in mid-1949. [320] In 1950 the interest of the New
Sutherland Company was relinquished to Mr. William Friml of Hollywood. The property was
then leased to the Goldfield Consolidated Mining Company from 1952 to 1953, and some
drilling was done, but no new ore bodies were found. In 1961 a Mr. Ray Bennett of
Westminster, California, leased the property.
Total production of the Queen of Sheba has reportedly been 16,000 tons of crude ore yielding
5,000,000 lbs. of lead, 100,000 ozs. of silver, 1,500 ozs. of gold, and 146,000 lbs. of copper.
Ore from the mine has averaged 15.5% lead, .5% copper, 6.3 ozs. of silver, and .09 oz. of
gold per ton. [321]
Illustration 82. Carbonate Mine workings on hillside northeast of

Queen of Sheba Lead Mine. Photo by Park Ranger Warren H. Hill,

Illustration 83. Queen of Sheba Mine and Mill site, 1962. Photo
Illustration 84. View north showing stone ruins, appliances strewn

about, and flotation mill ruins. Photo by Linda W. Greene, 1978.
b) Present Status
The site designated "Queen of Sheba Mine" on the USGS Wingate Wash quadrangle map
consists of two separate mine operations. The earlier Carbonate Claim, comprising three adits
and about 1,600 feet of horizontal development on four levels, is on the south slope of an
east-trending ridge northeast of the Queen of Sheba Mine, whose workings extend higher up
on a hillside on an east slope of the Panamints about 1,300 to 1,500 feet southwest of the
Carbonate. These latter workings comprise four adits driven southwest into the ridge where
four levels provide access to 1,900 feet of level workings. [322] As of 1976 the Roy Group of
fifteen lode claims, located during 1971 and 1972, incorporate the old Queen of Sheba and
Carbonate Mine workings. (The Roy Millsite claim covers Salt Well Tanks.) [323]
The structures on the mine site as of 1 April 1978 included two wooden shacks, a loading
dock, some stone foundations (possibly dugouts or crude smelters), a large and more recent
corrugated-metal industrial building, and the ruins of the flotation mill, above which an adit
is visible on the hillside. [324] The two wooden cabins south of the mill ruin probably
functioned as residences; appliance parts are strewn on the ground outside. Inside the two
rock and mortar foundation ruins are pieces of charred timber. The ruins appear round,

though slightly irregular, in outline.
The mill structure is quite imposing due to the presence of four levels of cement floor
foundations, a great deal of the wooden framework, and various machinery items still on site.
The metal shed and flotation mill ruin probably both date from the 1940s. All that remains of
the structure below the ore bin shown in a 1962 view (Illus. 76) as having high wooden
timbered walls is a cracked clay floor about two feet high and twenty to twenty-five feet in
diameter through which water or some other liquid was routed. A rotating apparatus of some
sort that once stood up in the center of this structure has fallen over. Water from Salt Well,
although it could not be used for drinking purposes, was used to power the mill at the Queen
of Sheba. The water had to be pumped in two stages against an 1,150 to 1,200-foot head.
North of the Queen of Sheba workings are those connected with the Carbonate Mine. These
consist of three tunnels with a reserve bin below the lower tunnel from which ore was loaded
onto trucks and hauled to Zabriskie.
Illustration 85. View easterly of Queen of Sheba ore bin and mill ruins. Road in left
background leads to Salt Well. Photo by Linda W. Greene, 1978.
Ward C. Smith, in a report on mineral resources within the monument, points out that several
major lead, silver, and zinc producers exist- in Inyo County within a belt extending across
the monument lands from the old deposits at Cerro Gordo on the west to Tecopa, southeast of
Shoshone, outside the monument's eastern boundary. Within Death Valley three large lead
deposits exist--the Queen of Sheba Mine and the Ubehebe and Lippincott mines near
Ubehebe Peak--of which the first has been the most productive, yielding approximately
$300,000 worth of ore prior to 1944 and about 16,000 tons of crude ore (five million pounds
of lead) during its lifetime. Second in productivity is the Ubehebe Mine, which has furnished
approximately 3,500 total tons of ore (two million pounds of lead), and trailing is the
Lippincott Mine, whose total tonnage production is unknown but whose output has been
valued at around $80,000. [325] The Queen of Sheba (Carbonate) Mine has had a long and
varied history dating from the early 1900s through the 1970s. Its importance in Death Valley
mining history relates to its status as the most productive lead mine in the monument, both in
amount of ore produced and in its total value. For this reason it is being nominated to the
National Register as being of local significance.
The mill-associated buildings that remain standing at the Queen of Sheba site (shacks, metal
shed, mill ruins) date primarily from the 1940s, although their exact date of construction
could be as early as the late 1930s. In the early 1900s a rude mining camp of undetermined
size existed in the vicinity, but no traces of it were found. Whether the two stone dugout
foundations date from this period is unknown, because no artifacts were found in association
that might be used to date the structures. Several items of old mining machinery lie in various

stages of disrepair on the site and should be examined by someone knowledgeable in early
mining techniques and equipment. Some of these pieces might be useful for interpretive
efforts or for research purposes.
The writer suggests that this property be used to interpret the lead-silver phase of mining
activity in Death Valley. One of the monument's unique attributes is the wide variety of
minerals that have been sought after and exploited here, and these should be indicated to the
visiting public, who should also be made aware of the diverse types of milling operations
used to process the many metallic and nonmetallic elements. The only other lead mines in the
monument are in the Ubehebe District and, inaccessible to most tourists. In addition, neither
of them supported as large or as enterprising a reduction plant. It is also recommended that
some type of interpretive marker be erected, possibly at the junction of the mine's access road
with the West Side Road, identifying the site and briefly highlighting portions of its history.
Because the rough condition of the road to the mine tends to discourage visitation, emphasis
should be laid on interpreting the site in more detail at the monument visitor center.

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION III:
THE WEST SIDE
13. Galena Canyon Talc Mines
a) Sites
Illustration 86. Map of Galena Canyon mining area.
(1) Bonny Mine
(a) History
The three adjacent claims comprising the Bonny Mine are located at the mouth of Galena
Canyon on the south side of the road, their waste dumps glaringly visible from anywhere
below Badwater. The claims were originally owned by Southern California Minerals
Company of Los Angeles, whose only mining operations here occurred during 1954 to 1955,
yielding approximately 2,300 tons of talc. The area was mined by dozer cuts on the surface
and through adits and drifts underground. [326] The Bonny and Bonny #2 lode mining claims
were subsequently patented by Pfizer, Inc., on 2 February 1976, and the Bonny #1 claim was

acquired by them on 14 February 1966, but is not patented. The Bonny Millsites Nos. 1 and 2
were located on 3 November 1975. [327]
Since 1970 these pit and stripping operations have produced about 30,000 tons of talc from
the mine, for a total value of over $1,600,000. Although there is no record of ore production
for 1975, the site was being worked by dozers in 1977 and 1978. [328] In January of the
latter year Pfizer began implementing its Proposed Plan of Operations by removing waste
rock overburden in order to expose additional talc. The mine is currently an open-pit
operation that is estimated to produce 9,000 tons annually. Underground development (room
and pillar) is proposed to begin near the time of completion of the pit operations (projected at
1981). Twenty-five-ton trucks will be used to haul the ore to the company stockpile and mill
at Victorville, California. [329]
(b) Present Status
Dozers at the Bonny Mine site today are continuing pit operations and are carving out
terraced benches on the ridge at the mouth of Galena Canyon. This work is scheduled to
continue until the depth of the ore bodies becomes excessive, necessitating mining by
underground methods.
The Bonny Mine is not eligible for nomination to the National Register. It has no outstanding
importance in Death Valley mining history, nor does it contain any, significant structures on
site. An early prehistoric cave site was found west of the entrance to Galena Canyon, and two
other small caves, one of which may have been inhabited by prospectors, were found on the
north side of the mouth of Galena Canyon, but these would not appear to be affected by
current mining activity. [330]
Illustration 87. Bonny talc Mine at mouth of Galena Canyon. Photo by

(2) Mongolian Mine
(a) History
The Mongolian Mine Group, consisting of six contiguous claims, is located on the south side

of Galena Canyon about one mile west from its mouth at an elevation of 1,800 feet. The
claim group consists of the Mongolian lode mining claim (located 12 April 1928; patented 9
July 1963), the unpatented Mongolian No. 2, and Nos. 3 and 4 lode mining claims (located
10 and 30 October 1973), and the unpatented Mongolian Millsite Nos. 1-2 (located 13 March
and 16 July 1976). [331]
The original claim was located in 1928, but not until the 1960s was a cut opened and the ore
determined to be of sufficient quality and quantity to warrant a patent. Little progress in
development and lack yet of a strong market for the talc impeded production for the next
decade. Pfizer, Inc., began exploratory drilling operations in 1973 and a downdip stripping
operation in 1974. This later phase had to be enlarged in late fall and early winter of 1975
because the more easily mined surface talc of the surrounding Galena Canyon mines had
played out. The multiple-bench open-pit operation seen today is the result of an accelerated
stripping program that was begun and completed before the moratorium period decreed by
Public Law 94-429 had been instituted. [332]
So far, twenty-one acres of hillside have been disturbed by mining activity related to the
Mongolian Mine. The Plan of Operations submitted for NPS approval proposes a five-phase
program by which the waste rock overburden stripped from one section of the deposit would
be used to backfill a previously-mined area. The entire program is contemplated to last
through 1980, with reclamation beginning within six months of the end of activity. It would
be judged complete after all benches were obliterated, the walls of the pit were sloped, the
tops of the dumps were rounded off, and all areas were masked to match as much as possible
the surrounding natural environment. This procedure is estimated to take one and one-half
years. [333]
(b) Present Status
As seen from the Galena Canyon Road, this group consists of dumps and a terraced open pit.
The site has no historical importance and contains no significant structures.
(3) Mammoth Mine
(a) History
The Mammoth Claim Group, located 1-1/2 to 2 miles west from the mouth of Galena Canyon
at an elevation of 1,400 feet, consists of the Mammoth and Mammoth No. 1 lode claims,
patented 9 July 1963. The first underground exploratory activity here took place in the late
1950s, but actual underground mining operations were not undertaken until ten years later
when Kennedy Minerals Company and C. K. Williams and Company initiated development
of over 1,600 feet of underground workings. In addition, metal ore bins and other necessary
facilities were erected and access roads built.
The new underground workings consisted of a main adit with associated raises connecting
sublevels, opening the way for future room-and-pillar mining. A lower adit was projected
below the main one in hopes of intersecting the ore body, but it failed to locate any talc. A
few other smaller exploratory openings were also made, with total production during the
1960s reaching about 5,000 tons. From 1970 to 1974 the mine was idle, and then, in mid-
1975 and early 1976 Pfizer, Inc., which had gained control of the property, sporadically
activated the mine by mining and shipping small test loads procured in the vicinity of the old
main adit by means of an open cut or pit. About 200 tons of ore have been produced since,
with a resulting total surface disturbance to the entire area of 3.75 acres.

The proposed production schedule for the Mammoth Mine called for reopening the area early
in 1978 with a force of two to four men. During the first three months of preliminary work
necessary before commencing underground open room-and-pillar operations, it was expected
that only a minimal production level could be maintained. By mid-1978, however, a
production rate of 10,000 to 12,000 tons per year would be anticipated from the six to eight
miners employed five days a week. Twenty-five-ton trucks, hauling two loads a day, would
transfer the ore to the company's grinding plant at Victorville, California. The production rate
of the mine, whose projected life span is at least fourteen years (longer if added reserves are
found), is estimated to reach 20,000 tons a year. Reclamation will follow the termination of
operations and will involve the rounding off of road cut crests and dumps, the reduction of
high retaining banks, and removal of man-made structures. [334]
(b) Present Status
The Mammoth Mine workings today consist of active open-pit and underground operations.
Man-made structures on the access road include two talc bins, consisting of two metal tanks
with a wooden framework for a tramway trestle on top, and a small wooden shelter that once
housed a compressor. Both structures probably date from the 1960s. An older adit, the second
one dug in the 1960s in hopes of intersecting the talc body, with an associated waste dump, is
visible east of the metal talc bins and lower in elevation.
The Mammoth Mine site is not historically important nor does it contain any significant
structures.
(4) Death Valley Mine (White Eagle Claim)
(a) History
Galena Canyon is located immediately north of Warm Spring Canyon in the Panamint Range,
and is reached via a gravel road leading west one-eighth of a mile north of Salt Well Tanks.
The American-Italian Talc Company displayed initial interest in the talc deposits in the
Panamint Range several years before the Warm Spring talc operations commenced, and laid
claim to several areas in Galena Canyon. Incorporated with headquarters at Tonopah, Nevada,
on 15 March 1927, the company boasted a capital stock of five million dollars, divided into
five million shares with a par value of one dollar each. Beginning business with one thousand
dollars in capital, the company proceeded to acquire claims in the Panamint Range and in the
Black Mountains west of Tecopa. [335]
The first notice of the company's operations found in contemporary newspapers or journals
was an article in the fall of 1929 stating that the American-Italian Talc Company was
assembling a work crew and preparing to make shipments from its mine in Galena Canyon.
The vice-president of the company stated that it had several orders to fill, one of them for
1,000 tons of ore. The exact production level reached by the Death Valley Mine at this time
is unknown, but it was probably not more than a few hundred tons. [336] For the next few
years operations were evidently suspended, during which time the American-Italian
Company went defunct, emerging again in the summer of 1933 as the Death Valley Talc
Company. The authorized capital stock was changed to $500,000 divided into 500,000 shares
with a par value of $1 per share. S. D. Pipin, former president of the American-Italian
Company, continued in this position in the new organization. [337]

Illustration 88. Death Valley talc Mine in Galena Canyon. Photo by Linda W.
Greene, 1978.
A 1933 letter from the vice-president of the new Death Valley Talc Company to
Superintendent White at Sequoia National Park (Death Valley at this time being administered
under a joint superintendency with Sequoia National Park) informed him of the company's
takeover of the American-Italian Company assets and of the new company's intention to ship
some ore to the east within a few days' time. A camp had been established in the vicinity of
the mine consisting of "four frame buildings fully equipped with cooking utensils, beds,
stoves, mattresses, outhouse, blacksmith shop, tools, storage cellar, loading platforms, etc."
[338] The remote location of the deposits has always presented some problems for the
owners. This was most serious during the earlier days when transportation facilities were not
as advanced or dependable. This concern was voiced by Mr. Umbdenstock, who requested
help in improving the road from the valley floor to the mines.
By 1938 the company's property in Galena Canyon included ten claims. Eight men ran a
grinding plant where material ran through a "40-ton bin, steel chute about 100 ft. long, to
hammer mill, elevator, to air separator where minus 200 product is taken out to two other air
separators, products minus 400 and minus 700 mesh; oversize to 6 by 5 pebble mill,
discharge back to air separation system. Products are sacked by hand. Sixty h.p. Venn-Severn
oil engine supplies the power. Capacity 36 tons per day. [339]
About the year-to-year operations of the mine little could be found, so that only broad
comments can be made on the subsequent progress of the company through the years. From
1937-to 1942 the mine yielded about 7,500 tons of talc, some of which was mined by the
Pomona Tile Company which leased the property from 1940 to 1942. The mine was then
either idle or only sporadically worked until 1953 when the eleven claims were sold to the
Kennedy Minerals Company, which began active and continuous operation of the mine,
producing another 55,500 tons of commercial talc by 1959. The total number of claims under
their ownership had reached twenty-four by 1968, including mine workings and prospecting
excavations. [340]
(b) Present Status
The five talc mines currently active in Galena Canyon--the Bonny, Mongolian, Mammoth,
White Chief, and White Eagle--are owned by the Minerals, Pigments, and Metals Division of
Pfizer, Inc., which also has controlling interest in talc claims in the Ibex Hills and Saratoga
Springs areas. The Death Valley Mine is part of the underground workings of the White
Eagle Mine, whose operations to the east involve downdip stripping operations in an open pit.

These five operations are located on three adjacent fault blocks, with the White Eagle and
White Chief mines being the two talc-bearing sites on the middle fault block. Deposits here
have been mined mostly by downdip stripping. [341]
The northern segment of the talc zone in this middle fault block is the one containing the
Death Valley Mine, including about thirty patented and unpatented claims. This site has
yielded, by underground mining methods, practically all of the commercial talc produced on
this claim before 1960. The earliest section of the mine, high up on the hillside, is known as
the "Pomona workings," and consists of a 250-foot-long inclined shaft, which is eventually
intersected by a 150-foot-long adit. The principal mine consists of three levels of drifts, adits,
and winzes. [342]
The most imposing structure at the Death Valley Mine today is a large wooden two-section
ore bin: one double bin with two to four chutes on the right and a smaller one-chute ore bin
to the left. Also visible are at least four adits, a working platform area on top of the bins on
which are located a storage dugout, a small office structure, two ore cars, a metal bunk, and
ore scoops. Remains of a large-diameter pipe line advance down the hillside north of the
main portal and over the dump pile. [343]
The Death Valley Mine does not meet the criteria of evaluation for the National Register due
to a lack of associative significance in the mining history of Death Valley. Dates of
construction of the large ore bin are unknown, but a large grinding plant had been built
somewhere in the area by 1938. No evidence of this building was found. Because the
remaining structures at the mine are remnants of the oldest talc mining operation in Galena
Canyon, with initial work dating from the 1920s, it is recommended they be accorded a
treatment of benign neglect. Some interesting pieces of mining equipment on site (ore cars,
forge, etc.) should be examined relative to possible interpretive use. This mine is part of an
active talc operation and it is possible that Pfizer would donate some of these old items.
[Note: Archeologists from the Western Archeological Center found remains of a mining
camp with stone foundations near an ore chute thought to be on the White Eagle Claim.
These have not been seen by this writer, but reportedly appeared to be relatively recent in
origin (1950s). According to survey maps seen by this writer, the site is located between the
Mammoth and Death Valley mines near the Kennedy Minerals camp.]
The Kennedy Minerals camp, one-quarter to one-half mile east of the Death Valley Mine, is
a small community of white frame and corrugated-metal residences built in the 1930s. It is
undoubtedly the camp referred to in 1933 as being used by the Death Valley Talc Company
and located near their steatite deposit (Death Valley Mine). This complex is not historically
significant. It has lost much of its structural integrity and is currently in a state of decay.
Other type specimens of early talc camps exist within the monument in a better state of
preservation.

Illustration 89. Ore car and workshop on platform area, Death Valley talc
Mine, Galena Canyon. Photo by Linda W. Greene, 1978.
Illustration 90. Kennedy Minerals Camp, Galena Canyon. Photo by Linda W. Greene,
1978.

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION III:
THE WEST SIDE
14. Hungry Bill's Ranch
a) History of Indian Ranching In and Near Death Valley
Indian existence in Death Valley from precontact times through the 1920s was of necessity a
transitory lifestyle with settlements and camp locations determined by the seasons. In the
winter the Indians retreated toward the valley floor to escape the severe snow and cold of the
mountain ranges; in the summer the excessive heat and low water levels forced them once
again up into the higher elevations.
The three Shoshone families whose main headquarters from at least the 1880s well into the
twentieth century were at Hungry Bill's Ranch, at about 5,000 feet elevation up Johnson
Canyon, lived during the winter about fifteen miles south of Furnace Creek in the general
vicinity of Eagle Borax Works and Bennetts Well. These families might also have inhabited
Butte Valley in earlier days before moving into the mountains in the fall to gather pinyon
nuts. [344]
The occurrence of Indians (not always Shoshones) living on small ranches in the Death
Valley region and indulging in serious farming activity was noted in several instances in early
years. Travelers heading for the goldfields of Lida, Nevada, and Gold Mountain in 1873, and
crossing north of Death Valley, found
a little enclosure of less than an acre, near a small spring of water . . . . No house
or dwelling of any kind is seen, although this little farm is under a high state of
cultivation. The proprietor is always to be seen dilligently [sic] at work upon his
property. He is an aged and remarkable sedate-looking old Piute, who is known
as "Billy Rogers" . . . . Billy is proud of his success as a farmist, having year sold
his surplus (one sack) in Lida for $6. [345]
When Lieutenant Birnie participated in the Wheeler Survey of 1876 he and his companions
took the trail leading from Panamint City across the Panamint Range east to Johnson Canyon:
The first portion of the descent to Death Valley by trail was very steep. In the
canon through which we passed grass and a short running stream were found,
also a small cultivated piece of ground where vegetables were raised with
facility by irrigation. [346]
This description must refer to the Hungry Bill Indian camp area. A "Johnson's Ranch" is

shown on the Wheeler Atlas Sheet 65D (1875).
In 1891 Frederick Vernon Coville made the following observations while acting as botanist
for the Death Valley Expedition. During the trip he had seen about twenty-five Panamint
Indians, all living on the west side of the valley:
At the mouth of Hall canon, near Hot springs, at the west foot of the Panamint
mountains, and in Johnson canon, on the eastern or Death Valley slope of the
same range, the Indians have under crude irrigation and cultivation two or three
acres of ground. The crops commonly raised are corn, potatoes, squashes, and
watermelons. Of the last they are especially fond, fully as much so as the
African, and the desert climate is admirably suited to their growth.
The cultivation of plants, however, furnishes them neither a sure nor an adequate
food supply. They occasionally purchase from miners and prospectors bacon and
flour. . . . [347]
Peaches and grapes were also reported to have been raised here. [348]
In 1896 two "garden" areas within Death Valley were noted. The first described was in
Johnson Canyon:
just over the summit, and southeast of Panamint, was "Johnson's garden" in the
flush days of the rise and before the fall of Panamint. Here Indians Pete and
George [Hansen?] are cultivating four or five acres of land. With immense labor
they have cleared away the surface rocks, building huge walls for fences, and
irrigating ditches from the large springs. March 31st alfalfa was four to six inches
high: The grapevines hanging over a framework of poles, showed formed grapes
in the verdure and the peaches appeared half formed. In their larder was found
fine varieties of beans, wheat and corn. On the hillside George has graded away
a large space, and has material on hand for a regular house. [349]
The second ranch was at Panamint Tom's place in Anvil Canyon, "where a copious spring of
lukewarm water makes a small oasis in the wash, and right among the mineralized mountains.
[350]
Panamint Tom's place is mentioned in more detail in an 1897 newspaper article describing
the visit of a W. J. Langdon to the Panamint Range, a trip that happened to coincide with a
severe thunderstorm:
It struck the ranch of the notorious Indian, Panamint Tom, about 9 o'clock in the
morning, and swept everything before it. Tom's orchard of 150 trees was torn up,
his garden entirely destroyed, the camp tepees swept away and the ranch
wrecked generally. At the time of the occurrence there were eleven Indians on
the ranch, but aside from a good drenching they sustained no injuries. The stock
was on high ground and escaped the force of the water. [351]
During this same time it was reported that "Panamint George [Hansen] has a fine ranch,
supplies the miners with fruit and melons and raises large crops of alfalfa." [352] George's
ranch was on the west side of the Panamints at the mouth of Hall Canyon north of Warm
Sulphur Springs. He was probably supplying miners and prospectors in the new camp of
Ballarat further south as well as those working in the surrounding canyons. Another Indian
supplying Ballarat was Indian Joe, who had lived on Peterson Creek in the Argus Mountains
before being pushed off the land by John Searles, of Searles Lake borax fame, who started a
garden there in 1873, planting fig, apple, and other trees, and grapevines, and building a

terraced spot for his gardens. As soon as he left the area, Indian Joe returned and began
harvesting the produce himself, ultimately supplying his wares to a Ballarat storeowner,
Harry Robinson, for sale to miners. [353]
In 1910 two men, F. J. Busch and Pat Burke, made a trip into southern Inyo County:
From Skibo [near Lee, Ca.] we visited the Furnace Creek ranch, and it is
certainly a garden spot at this time of the year. We traveled as far south as
Bennett's wells in Death Valley and were escorted from Furnace Creek to what
is known as Hungry Bill's ranch by Indian Bob Thompson. Hungry Bill being an
Indian, and one that does not understand English, impressed me in several ways;
one in particular was the energy he possesses. His place might well be called the
western base of Telescope Peak, and here he and his family have lived for
perhaps thirty years. He has about fifty fruit trees that bear splendid fruit in July.
He raises grapes, potatoes, corn, peas and beans, and the ranch is not of ordinary
Indian type. It shows evidence of being kept up. [354]
b) Hungry Bill and His Family
The Bureau of Indian Affairs, the 30 June 1927 census of the Paiute, Shoshone, Monache,
and Washoe Indians of Bishop Agency, and various applications for enrollment with the
Indians of the State of California all provide differing information on names, birth dates, and
interrelationships of the various members of Hungry Bill's immediate family. According to
the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Hungry Bill was born around 1839, a full-blood Shoshone and
son of Pee-pu-wine (mother) who was residing in Inyo County by 1 June 1852. He married a
full-blood Shoshone woman, Ce-un-ba-hobe, who was evidently about the same age.
According to the BIA Hungry Bill died in 1919 of the flu and his wife passed away three
years later. However, their children, on their individual enrollment applications, listed their
father as dying in 1918, at age seventy, which would move his birth date back to 1848. Most
did not remember the year of their mother's death, although one estimated it at about 1915.
[355]
Hungry Bill and his wife had two sons: Tim Billson (aka Tim Hanneberry, Hendeberry, and
Handeberry) was variously listed as being born in 1885, on 24 October 1891, or in 1901. He
was listed on the 1927 census as living in Ryan, and according to the BIA was still residing
in Death Valley in 1940. Little is known about the other son, Johnnie Billson, who reportedly
died in 1916. [356]
Two daughters were born to Hungry Bill. Susie's date of birth was either 1880, 1890, or on
28 October 1895. She reputedly married Tom Wilson, also a Shoshone Indian, and was living
at Furnace Creek in 1940. According to information Susie provided on her enrollment
application, Tom was born 28 October 1872 and was one-half Shoshone. On the 1927 census
a Tom Wilson is listed as living in Death Valley, born in 1872, and having a wife, Susie
Button, born in 1890, and two daughters, Edna and Edith, both born in 1909. [357]
More confusing are the details on Mabel Billson, Hungry Bill's other daughter. According to
the BIA she was born before Susie. Her enrollment application states her birth date as 25
October 1884, although the census gives it as 1894. The BIA records that she went to work at
Scotty's Ranch in northern Death Valley, and, on becoming ill there, moved to Beatty,
Nevada, where she died in 1934. Never married, she bore three full-blood daughters: Mattie
Billson (born 1923); Maggie Billson (born 1924); and Musie Billson (born 1927). Mabel
herself, however, stated that she had two children, Mary Bill (born 15 March 1924) and
Musey Bill (born 25 October 1926) by Tom Wilson, a full-blood Shoshone Indian, to whom
she was never married. A third child, Maggie Bill, she presented as her granddaughter (born

25 October 1922), the illegitimate child of a deceased daughter who was never named and
who died around 1925. The grandchild's father was unknown. Maggie had lived with Mabel
almost all her life. The census lists Mabel as having a daughter born in 1914. [358]
At the time Steward wrote his treatise on the Basin-Plateau peoples, seventeen Indians were
reportedly congregating at Hungry Bill's Ranch in the summertime. These included Panamint
Tom, regarded as the "chief," his wife, two sons, and four daughters; Tom's brother Hungry
John (Bill), his wife, two sons, and two daughters; Tom's sister, her husband, and one son.
[359]
In 1937 T. R. Goodwin, first official superintendent of Death Valley, wrote an article on the
Indians of the region, and in so doing attempted to delineate some of the relationships. He
stated that nearly all the Death Valley Indians were members of various branches of the
Shoshone tribe, with Hungry Bill having been the acknowledged leader for several years.
Panamint Tom, Hungry Bill's brother, was also an important power in the tribe. Indian
George (1841-1945) of Panamint Valley married a sister of Hungry Bill. He had been born at
Surveyor's Well in Death Valley and was buried at his Warm (Sulphur) Spring Ranch in the
Panamint Valley. Robert Tomson (Thompson), to whom the allotment at Warm Spring in
Death Valley was given, was the son of Panamint Tom. Tom Wilson, who married one of
Hungry Bill's daughters, was not full-blood, according to Goodwin, but was born in Darwin
in 1872 of a Mexican father and Shoshone mother. Until young manhood he lived with his
mother and uncle in Bruce Canyon in the Argus Range. After working in his younger years
in the mines around Darwin, he married late in life, moving to Hungry Bill's Ranch, from
which he and his family migrated to the Eagle Borax area in the winter. Because he spoke
English fluently and was quite familiar with the ways of the whites, he became a sort of
liaison between them and the local Indian population, consulting with and advising the latter
informally on important matters.
On his 1928 enrollment application, Tom Wilson stated that he was fifty-six years of age,
born 28 October 1872. He was of one-half Indian blood, having been born to Manwella
Wilson, a full-blood Shoshone born in the Panamint Valley, and her Mexican husband whose
name Wilson did not know. Although born at Darwin, Wilson was now living in Death
Valley near Death Valley Junction. His first wife, a full-blood named Susie Button, had died
in 1918; his second wife, Susie Wilson, was the mother of his son Seeley, born 12 May 1929
at Furnace Creek. Wilson listed his occupation as cowboy. [360]
c) Hungry Bill and Death Valley Mining
In general the Shoshone Indians seemed to enjoy a good reputation among the white
population, being considered "invaluable as guides, message carriers, packers, and wood
choppers, and nearly all talk plain United States language." [361] Another miner around the
same time opined that the Shoshone Indians were "as a general rule . . . good workers, thrifty,
industrious and good livers . . . . The Indians all know of valuable mines, and when they find
one will cover it up. If a white man will use a little diplomacy and get on the good side of
them he can learn where the mines are." [362]
Many if not most of the Death Valley Shoshone would have been privy to the locations of
ore outcroppings primarily because of their seasonal migrations. A few such instances of this
knowledge were found by this writer, one indicating that an Indian was first responsible for
pointing out the Gold Hill mines, and another telling of Panamint Tom's guiding a certain
Julius Goldsmith to a rich mine in Pleasant Canyon. [363] it was said that Hungry Bill, as
well as other native inhabitants, found gold and silver near Panamint City long before the
whites did, and evidently did not have very civil relations with the resulting white influx.
[364]

d) Mining in Johnson Canyon
Johnson Canyon was not only productive as far as ranching was concerned, but also was rich
in mineral resources. How many mines were located in the general area before 1900 is not
known. This writer found mention of only one, the Nellie Mine, located on 4 March 1897 by
T. H. Henbery, probably Tim Billson, Hungry Bill's son, and located on the west slope of the
Panamints 1-1/2 miles north from the Indian Ranch in Johnson Canyon. [365] it was not until
the early 1900s that serious mining activity by whites occurred, for by then the fabulous
discoveries at Skidoo promoted interest again in the Panamint Range, which up to this time
had been undergoing only desultory mining exploration. In the summer of 1907 Clarence E.
Eddy, "The Poet-Prospector" who had been doing some work in the Panamints in Johnson
Canyon, led a party of newspaper men into the area to view his Fairview Group of fourteen
free-milling gold, silver, and copper claims, whose ore was assaying from $28 to $31 per ton.
He and the Salt Lake City newspaper men who had grubstaked him, headed by Frank I.
Sefrit, manager of the Salt Lake Tribune had also secured the water rights to an adjacent
stream and spring. Eddy, as the initial discoverer in the area, was completely optimistic about
the whole situation, though he was not above acknowledging that sometimes these strikes did
not pan out:
I am not certain that I have made a rich discovery--there is often a slip between the cup and
the lip--but the prospects look better than anything I have ever yet found . . . . If there is any
depth in the discoveries, and every indication is favorable, we have another Greenwater and
Skidoo camp over there in the Panamints. [366]
The discovery was said to be located on the opposite side of the mountain from old Panamint
at an altitude of 5,000 feet below the east slope of Telescope Peak, and could be reached by
wagon road from Rhyolite via Lee or Daylight Springs to Bennetts Well and then by trail up
Johnson Canyon for about fifteen miles. This latter part of the route could best be negotiated
on horseback, and with more difficulty by wagons. It was encouragingly reported that the
country had plenty of water and fuel, with good grazing land available for pack horses and
mules; it did not appear to have been worked earlier by whites. In contemplating formation of
a new townsite in the area, the name "Shadow Mountain" was decided on, because of a dark
area on Telescope Peak's east slope visible in the distance. The claims already located
reflected the strong influence of newspaper men in the initial discoveries: Lead, Add, Pick-
up, Freak, Thirty, Composing Stick, Linotype, Galley, Proof, Imposing Stone, Chase,
Shooting Stick, Mallet, Devil, Press, Bullfrog Miner, and Rhyolite Herald.
That Indians were living in the vicinity is evidenced by the statement that
Eddy left his brother on guard while he was in Rhyolite on the last trip for fear
that the Indians in that portion of the country who are inclined to dispute the
rights of the white man might destroy his monuments. He will remain in the
camp the remainder of the summer. [367]
It was also noted that
The Indians have come to believe that the sentimental mining man is afraid of
them. They have small gardens near the springs and frequently visit the poet-
prospector's camp and besiege him for bacon, trinkets and "fire water." The
prospector in attempting to meet all of their requests is a great portion of the
time short on some of the necessaries of life. . . . [underlining added]
In reality they are more dangerous than the average prospector would think at
first glance, for the average prospector does not know what fear is. But these

Indians have been living over there, many of them, from their childhood, and
with the isolation from public highways and nothing but Death Valley as an
outlet they have seen but few white men. They have come to think that the few
prospectors who have braved the wilds of that section comprise the greater
population of the United States. They still have the idea that they might rise up
and conquer the world. If they should make this attempt while there is [sic] only
one or two unarmed prospectors in the neighborhood, of course, it would be
hazardous to them.
They have firearms and other things in their possession that there is a bare
possibility that they may have taken from victims in the past. They may have
committed some of the murders charged to the privations of Death Valley. They
are not too good to do it. They look about as low as any savages I ever saw. But
so far as fearing them is concerned, Simpson and I never thought of it. [368]
The exploratory work accomplished by Eddy and his newspaper party encouraged their
backers so much that they were completely reoutfitted and sent back into the mountains, in
the belief that "the new discoveries in the Panamints will prove the sensation of the summer
and . . . that this heretofore unexplored region will develop rich deposits in gold, silver,
copper and lead." [369] Parties were also arriving from Greenwater, and it was predicted that
"there is work for 100 parties in that field this summer. They have, the utmost faith in it
becoming one of the biggest camps in the country, not even excepting the Bullfrog in the
course of time." [370]
It was reported that the Indians in the vicinity were actually responsible for the arrival of
Greenwater people. Angered by the encroachments of Eddy and his associates, a few Indians
went to Greenwater, brought back some white men they knew, and pointed out to them a 20-
foot-wide lode supposedly assaying 10,000 ozs. in silver to the ton (later assayed at slightly
less!) and located within 100 feet of Eddy's gold- and silver-producing Red Mammoth Claim.
The Greenwater people were so enthused they stayed day and night extracting and shipping
the ore, which was practically in a natural state, having been crudely "blasted" out by Indians
years ago. [371] (This property, known hereafter as the "Indian strike," was later expected to
be bonded for $100,000.) Another version of this story is that one member of the tribe was
dispatched to Greenwater to get help in legally holding their ground. A Judge L. O. Ray,
president of the Rhyolite Mining and Brokerage Company, who was then in town,
accompanied the Indian back, along with a Henry Brown and a George Fairbanks, in return
for one-fourth interest in the claims. [372]
Within half a mile of Eddy's main discovery some earlier crude mine workings were found on
the side of a canyon, consisting of implements, a shallow tunnel, and an old furnace or retort.
"They called upon Indians who live in the neighborhood and inquired about the workings and
the Indians remarked that they had 'Ketch urn some gold and some silver." [373] On the
basis of this promising information, no doubt grudgingly given, the newspaper folk located
five more claims--the Lost Inca, Montezuma, Cliff Dweller, Aztec, and Cortes--which
assayed $30 to the ton in gold with a small percentage of silver. [374]
By the middle of July 1907 plans, including a post office, were proceeding ahead full steam
for the development of the new mining camp, which was being renamed "Panamint." Over
100 claims had now been staked, with prospectors still swarming over the area. Salt Lake
interests were the principal backers of the camp, intending to organize two companies, each
with a capital of 1-1/2 million dollars; two more companies were due to organize within
another month. Businessmen were commencing at once to sell stock, but would wait until fall
to begin actual development work:

the numerous ledges of gold discovered . . have given all a full faith in the camp.
They maintain that Greenwater, Skidoo and Lee, with all of their indications, are
not ahead of the new Panamint. It is also believed that the famous Breyfogle was
found and lost in this section, and that the new discovery is within a few miles of
"Scotty's" famous mines.
In short, the prospectors and persons interested in the new discoveries are
confident that the Panamints will witness the next excitement in Nevada-
California mining. [375]
Also in this month a newspaper syndicate purchased the Fairview Group of eight claims,
originally discovered by Eddy, but evidently now owned by a Mrs. Nellie Currier and
Edward G. Gould, for $10,000 in cash and stock. This was in addition to thirty-seven other
claims and water rights purchased for the group by Eddy. The two main mines of the area
were reportedly the Greenwater "Indian silver lead strike," showing returns of $30 in gold
and silver, and the Lost Inca, operated by the Rhyolite newspaper syndicate, showing much
free gold and reportedly "the richest surface showing . . . yet observed in the Panamint
country. [376]
Among the main parties heading for the new area to join the Rhyolite Mining Company
people, the newspaper men, and the Salt Lake City capitalists, was C. A. Perry, a mining man
from Denver and manager of the Golden Chief Mining and Milling Company operating in
the South Bullfrog District. [377] A week later the first note of pessimism was creeping into
accounts of the district. According to newspaper reports, Paul De Laney, an assistant district
attorney at Rhyolite and one of the representatives of the Rhyolite newspaper syndicate, had
been sent to the area to scout it, and
Regarding the strike, . . . does not exhibit any marked degree of enthusiasm. He
says the early statements about it are somewhat at variance with the facts. [378]
This may be why, when "Slim" Young and James Kane joined the rush to the Panamints,
they passed by Eddy's camps and went seven miles further west to the site of old Panamint
where they located six claims. This area seemed to promise more good discoveries and
Young mentioned that the former mill operators there still owned sixteen patented claims in
the vicinity. Bolstering De Laney's opinion about the new Panamint was the Inyo
Independent's terse comment: "The strike was a fizzle." It further quotes De Laney as
reporting:
The Lost Inca . . . is a fake, pure and simple[.] I do not know whether Eddy knew
any better, but he certainly should have known what he was talking about before
spread [sic] the wild stories. We sent two men, Le Compte and Simpson, to look
after our interests there, and they were evidently carried away by the stories of
Eddy and the appearance of the country. There was nothing but lime, but the
lime was of different ages, and the various discolorations gave it the appearance
of a contact. [379]
The last accounts found concerning the new Panamint mining area mention Eddy as being
still involved in prospect work there. He evidently still represented, or thought he did, the
Salt Lake interests who owned twenty-seven claims in Johnson Canyon in the name of the
Panamint Mining Company.
Eddy, obviously in an attempt to draw attention away from his fiasco in Johnson Canyon,
was now gradually turning his thoughts and hopefully those of his detractors to the
possibility of locating gold on the floor of Death Valley. In pursuit of this dream he located
four claims in the foothills between Johnson Canyon and Wingate Pass--the Leadora and

Death Valley Queen groups located on parallel veins a few hundred feet apart. Development
consisted of a fifteen-foot shaft on the Leadora, which had exposed ore giving only decent
returns. It was expected that the Panamint Mining Company would take over these properties
also. [380]
At the same time then that Eddy was pursuing work on the Panamint Mining Company's
claims in Johnson Canyon, he was busy advocating his theory that rich gold deposits lay just
under the Death Valley floor, brought to. the surface from the bowels of the earth by the
action of bubbling thermal springs, and could be easily developed by dredging and placer
mining. Eddy and his brother, again backed by Salt Lake capitalists, now became involved in
competition with a former partner of Eddy's, E. G. Gould, who was in the employ of certain
California parties of dubious reputation, to corroborate this theory
that Death Valley is a huge treasure vat, into which, during the thousands of
years gone by, the hot waters from below and the cloudbursts from above have
connived to pour the precious minerals, which have gradually settled to layers of
hard pan, few or many feet beneath the surface of that uninviting sink. [381]
e) Hungry Bill's Homestead
Probably in an effort to protect his land against further white encroachment, in 1907 Hungry
Bill applied for a homestead in Johnson Canyon, which application was processed and
subsequently approved by the United States Land Office at Independence on 10 October
1907. According to records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, however, doubt soon arose over
the propriety of placing an Indian on a homestead on unsurveyed public domain lands. The
case was therefore referred to the Bureau, which processed the application papers through the
superintendent of the Carson School in Stewart, Nevada, to allot 160 acres to Hungry Bill
under provisions of the General Allotment Act of 1887. He was selected for Allotment No
122 on 1 May 1908. The next step was to have the land surveyed so a patent could be issued;
although the survey was made, Hungry Bill died before a trust patent could be given.
Nevertheless, it was issued on 14 July 1927 in the name of Panamint Bill for the NE1/4 of
Section 20, T21S, R46E, MDM, California, and then on 28 June 1940 an order was issued
showing the heirs of the estate, valued at $1,480, to be his living children and grandchildren.
[382] It has been stated by some writers that Hungry Bill received the ranch site for his
services as a scout during the Modoc War, but this could not be substantiated by the writer.
[383]
It is unclear why the homestead later reverted to the BIA, but in 1953 Hungry Bill's Ranch
was purchased by Fred and Leah Rosser from that agency, evidently without NPS knowledge.
On learning of the transaction, the Park Service began negotiations for a land exchange with
the Rossers, who were agreeable to the idea of selecting some comparable land outside the
monument. Hungry Bill's Ranch became Park Service property on 16 August 1954. [384]
f) Present Status of Hungry Bill's Ranch Site
The area designated as Hungry Bill's Ranch on the USGS Telescope Peak quadrangle
comprises a series of stone walls, corrals, wooden fences, and building sites stretching for
about 1-1/2 miles along either side of a stream flowing down the North Fork of Johnson
Canyon. The canyon alternates between very narrow stretches, choked with a dense
undergrowth that forces hikers to take to the hillsides, and valley areas varying from one-
third to one-half mile in width.
The road into the North Fork of Johnson Canyon ends at a spring about 9-1/2 miles west of
the West Side Road. This area also shows signs of habitation and use. Stone walls have been

erected alongside the stream, baling wire fencing has been added nearby, and pipes have
been laid from the spring to the stream. A burro enclosure stands near the spring, and
scattered about are tires, fencing, and tin can debris. On the hillside northwest of the spring
area is a reservoir dug out of the earth, measuring twelve by twenty-five feet. It was once
enclosed by a fence.
Arrastra pit #1 is located on the south side of the stream a few yards west of the spring area.
This particular structure was not found during the 1975 LCS survey. It is small but in good
shape, measuring about five feet in diameter. No dragstones remain. Arrastra pit #2, the first
one located in 1975, is about one-half mile west of the spring beyond a box canyon entering
from the north. It measures about four feet across and contains two dragstones. The holes in
them are plainly visible and wire is still wrapped around the smaller stone. The rocks around
the edge of the arrastre are well worn, indicating heavy use. In association with this arrastra
is a stone-lined flume descending from the hillside above, with its funnel- shaped mouth
opening east of the arrastra and measuring about nine feet across. The flume itself is about 1-
1/2 feet wide and the walls of the trough opening into the stream are about 3 feet high.
Perhaps the water was at one time rechanneled through this ditch. [385] Pieces of metal and
wood fragments with holes in them are scattered about the area. Above the arrastra on
terraces are two levels of dry masonry walls of local stone, averaging seven feet wide. The
lower is two feet high and the upper about 3-1/2 feet high.
Arrastra pit *3 is located about one-half mile further west beyond a serpentine-shaped stone
drift fence about seventy-five yards long on the south side of the stream. On either side of the
canyon, short stone walls (twenty to fifty feet long) can be seen either shoring up trails or
controlling animal movement. These walls tend to divide the canyon into pastures, but are not
always continuous stonework, often incorporating natural obstacles in the canyon walls as
part of the barrier. The third arrastra is located in a wash on a terraced ledge whose sustaining
wall is about three feet high. A gear and miscellaneous metal parts are strewn around, and
some timbers (one charred) are present. Pieces of metal were once attached to these timbers,
which were hewn out in places to accommodate them. At least one dragstone is present.
Fence posts stretch east in a line from the arrastra platform area, while a fence of poles and
stovepipes also leads west.
Just west beyond this last arrastra the canyon opens out and holds a stone corral with an
adjacent building site on the east. The corral appears to have entrances on the south side. The
walls vary from three feet to six feet in height, with periodic dips in them on the south side.
The south wall is 75 to 100 feet long, the east side about 25 feet in length, and the north side
abuts the canyon wall. Three fig trees have been planted on the north side of the corral. East
of here is a level platform area showing evidence of habitation. Metal and glass debris
abounds. This may be the location in which Hungry Bill and his kin lived. The writer's
feeling is that they divided their time between here and the larger orchard area further west
where the canyon opens out again into a wide area originally known as "Swiss Ranch" and
built during the Panamint City mining boom.

Illustration 91. Map of Johnson Canyon, showing area of proposed Hungry Bill's
Ranch Historic District.

Illustration 92. First arrastra in Johnson Canyon heading west towards Hungry Bill's
Ranch. Photo by Linda W. Greene, 1978.
Illustration 93. Second arrastra found in canyon. Note

stone retaining walls visible above dragstone. Stone-
lined flume descends hilt to left, outside picture. Photo

This is a large field of perhaps ten acres enclosed by stone walls about five feet high. Here is
the most extensive fencing, about 1,000 feet of walls three feet thick and six feet tall, built of
masonry filled with gravel and cobblestones. At the northeast end, part of the wall is circular,
about twenty-five to thirty feet in diameter, with walls about five to seven feet high (stone
corral?). A wooden gate on the east provides access to the orchard. Just inside the field a tree
and a forked branch support a pole from which various houseware items (pots, pans, kettles)
once hung. They might have belonged to. some later miner or squatter here, but have long
since disappeared. Some metal cable and a gear were found at the east end of the field.
Among the trees at the west end much metal debris has been found: an old canteen and a
frypan, a wheelbarrow, wagon jack, gears, and white murky glass, thick and bubbly. Apple,
pear, fig, and American black walnut trees abound and bear delicious fruit. There is also a
grape arbor. Wooden fencing extends further west beyond the arbor and more corral
structures. West and north of the stream are more fences (stone and wood) and corrals. The
LCS crew found a cellar hole in a grove of dead cottonwood trees near the west end of the
field containing small segments of masonry, and leveled building sites to the southwest of the
orchard back among the hills, but these were not observed during this writer's field trip.
Southeast of the orchard area is another building site, higher on the hillside. The first
structure east of the orchard here is a stone, chevron-shaped windbreak whose wall is four to
five feet high and about fifty feet long. It shelters what was probably a small house. All that
remains of the latter are two parallel stone walls three feet high and fifteen feet long on either
side of a dug-out area containing stove parts. Further southeast about fifty yards are at least
three more building levels with stone retaining walls, each about 21 feet high and 25 feet
long, barren except for debris. Wire fencing is found here as are glass, metal, and plumbing
pipe remains. [386]
Illustration 94. Drift fence, south wall of Johnson Canyon east of Hungry
Bill's Ranch. Photo by Linda W. Greene, 1978.

Illustration 95. Ruins of third arrastra on north wall of Johnson Canyon east
of ranch. Photo by Linda W. Greene, 1978
g) Evaluation and Recommendations
The masonry walls and building sites in the upper valley of the north fork of Johnson Canyon
once comprised a farming enterprise known as "Swiss Ranch," a fruit and nut orchard ten
miles from old Panamint City attributed to some Swiss settlers attempting to fill the need for
vegetables in that thriving mining camp. Horses and pack animals might also have been
boarded here. [387] From information supplied by visitors to the area in 1896 and 1910,
however, the writer feels it safe to assume that Hungry Bill and his family also lived and
farmed in this area, perhaps erecting some of the simpler fencing found here. Whether or not
the Indians actually constructed any of the huge stone walls or irrigation ditches, or whether
these were already in existence and simply reused, is conjectural. According to the 1896
report, Indians did build the walls and Indian George was even planning to erect a "regular"
house on a cleared space on a nearby hillside. [388]
The smaller valley further east has been referred to as the historic Indian camp of Hungry
Bill. In the 1960s when William J. Wallace investigated this site, a large, circular, roofless
shelter or windbreak about eight feet high was still standing in perfect condition and full of
discarded belongings, such as bundles of basketry, withes, and toys. A large collection of
these miscellaneous objects was taken to the visitor center in 1963. [389] The structure was
not seen by this writer, so it is possible it has since fallen down.

Illustration 96. Stone wall of corral east of Hungry Bill's Ranch. Photo by
Illustration 97. Circular stone pen on northeast corner of orchard complex,

Hungry Bill's Ranch. Photo by Linda W. Greene, 1978.

Illustration. 98. Hungry Bill's Ranch site, view to northwest. Photo by Linda W.
Greene, 1978.
Illustration. 99. Stone windbreak, Hungry Bill's just east of Ranch site.
Illustration. 100. Building site windbreak. Photo by Linda W. Greene, 1978.
In addition to significance in the area of early 1870s farming enterprises and its long history
as seasonal home to a group of historical Panamint Indians, Johnson Canyon also was the
scene of several mining operations. It provided a direct route from Death Valley to Panamint
City via Panamint Pass and Frenchmans Canyon, a trail used by miners going between the
western and eastern Panamint slopes as well as by the "truck farmers" to transport their goods
to Panamint City. Rich mineral strikes made by Clarence Eddy brought many miners and
prospectors into the area, which for a while underwent a flurry of mining activity. It is
doubtful, however, that the new town of "Panamint" ever prospered.
The entire stretch of ruins in Johnson Canyon is eligible for inclusion on the National
Register as being of local significance, and will be incorporated into the Hungry Bill's Ranch

Historic District nomination. An interpretive sign should be erected in the vicinity of the ruins
providing a history of the area. Information on the ranch should also be provided at the
visitor center. The network of stone walls is in good shape at the present time, but their
condition should be monitored periodically since this is an important resource. No
stabilization or restoration measures are proposed at this time.
Archeological study should be an essential part of further research into this canyon's history.
More intensive perusal of the historical literature, notably in newspapers dealing with the
Panamint City boom, might turn up more information on the exact nature of the "Swiss
Ranch" enterprise and the individuals involved. Study of Hungry Bill's Ranch site and of the
artifacts in the visitor center museum should help provide a picture of the lifestyle of these
Panamint Indians who were seemingly able to tread the line between retention of their
familiar customs and assimilation of white practices. Other remnants of Indian culture have
been found in the area: pictographs in black and red of animal and human figures on the
walls of a shelter (presumed to have been drawn by historic Indians on their way to Hungry
Bill's); and three house sites or walled shelters on the north side of the canyon against the
cliff. [390] This writer also noticed some petroglyphs on a rock wall just south of and across
the stream from Arrastra pit #3.

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION III:
THE WEST SIDE
15. Hanaupah Canyon Mines
a) History
The early history of the Hanaupah Canyon area is sketchy at best. As early as 1889 a Mr. W.
C. Morton discovered silver ore on the northeast slope of Telescope Peak in a well-timbered
canyon down which flowed a strong mountain spring. Mr. Morton stated that access to and
from Death Valley was possible by wagon. [391] The pure water of the Panamint Range was
well known by the 1900s and coveted for milling and domestic uses. "Hunopa" Canyon was
one place mentioned as having sufficient quantities of water for power purposes. [392]
In 1905 a strike was reported in "Honupi" Canyon on a forty-foot--wide vein of free-milling

ore assaying over $40 a ton. Again the abundance of wood and water in this particular area
were seen as distinct advantages to its future prosperity. [393] About 1907 a promising
copper discovery was made in the foothills at the west edge of Death Valley east of
Telescope Peak. The most important deposits were located in Chuckwalla Canyon,
immediately north of Hanaupah Canyon, but the mineralized district was thought to extend
over several miles. It was predicted that although the area had seen little prospecting activity
so far, the new discovery, whose "copper values and . . . showings generally . . . equals and in
many cases surpasses anything in the Greenwater district," would cause an influx of
prospectors and location activity. Two specific claim groups are mentioned: the Copper
Contacts and the Chuckawalla Coppers, owned by H. M. Thurman, F. C. Kennedy, and
associates. [394]
The only other mention of mining possibly in this area was a report that in September 1907
Frank Kennedy was mining silver ore on a property near Chuckwalla Canyon. The ledge was
producing 400 to 500 ozs. of silver bromide, and shipping was expected to commence if the
values held as development progressed. [395] This probably is a reference to Kennedy's
activity in the Wildrose area, however. The next several years are devoid of mention of
mining in Hanaupah Canyon. Some work was evidently going on in the early 1920s, as
evidenced by an application for a permit to appropriate "one cubic foot [of water] per second
from two unnamed springs in Hannapah Canyon, in Inyo County, for mining purposes," filed
by a William P. O'Meara of Los Angeles. [396]

Illustration 101. Map of Hanaupah Canyon mining area.
In the spring of 1922 two lode mining claims, located about nine to nine and one-half miles
west of the Eagle Borax Works and referred to as the Big Horn and Big Horn Extension,
were filed on. [397] That distance would place them in the area of the South Fork of
Hanaupah Canyon. In the late 1920s mining activity in the "Chuckwalla. Mountain region of
Inyo County, on the west side of Death Valley" is mentioned, but it is thought by the writer
that this data refers not to Chuckwalla Canyon but instead to a new mining district further
north in the Ubehebe region; it will be discussed later as the "Skookum Mining District."
Sometime during the 1920s an ex-World War I U. S. Cavalry soldier named Alexander
"Shorty" Borden, who had seen service on the Mexican border, came to Death Valley to
indulge in some prospecting work, during which time he ranged over vast sections of the
park, concentrating mainly in the Panamint, Emigrant, and Goldbelt Spring regions. On one
of his expeditions he discovered what appeared to be rich silver-lead outcroppings in the
South Fork of Hanaupah Canyon. Because assays of the find seemed encouraging, Shorty
decided to try and develop the area. In September 1932 he began construction of the present
nine-mile-long road leading west from the Death Valley floor to his mine at Hanaupah
Spring. His only resources a pick, crowbar, shovel, a small amount of dynamite, and burro
power, Shorty finished his access road six months later, supposedly at the age of sixty-five!
At the same time he dug the well that bears his name at the junction of the West Side and
Hanaupah Canyon roads. Sometime during this process Borden talked a Bill Price into
partnership with him on the mine. The enterprise seems to have fizzled, however, when it
turned out that shipping the ore to a smelter cost more than its assay value. [398]
The only other mine operated in Hanaupah Canyon of which mention has been found is the
Peon Mine, owned by the Peon Mining Company (Dale Penner and associates) and leased to
the Hanaupah Mining Corporation. No details of this operation or its dates of existence were
found. [399]

Illustration 102. Mine camp, South Fork of Hanaupah Canyon near the
spring. Note adit on far hillside. View to east. Photo by Linda W. Greene,
1978.
b) Present Status
About two miles north of Eagle Borax Spring, at Shortys Well, a rough dirt road veers left up
the alluvial fan into Hanaupah Canyon. About 8-1/2 miles from the road junction the gravel
road ends at Hanaupah Spring, the site of a pleasant stream and spring and of an abandoned
mine camp. The road forks here, the southern trail leading eventually to "a series of cascades
and pools; the northern to a twenty-five-foot waterfall." [400] This southern draw might
contain other remnants of mining activity, since the 1889 reference to a silver strike in this
area mentions "three large natural tanks, which the elements have worn in the rocks, full of
pure cold water, and . . . a stream carrying over 150 inches of water gushes down the canyon
a few hundred feet from his discovery." [401] The writer followed this southern trail for
about 1/4 of a mile along the hillside, but not on over the westernmost ridge. The areas
closely examined included the mining camp and adits adjacent to Hanaupah Spring and
another mine site on the north side of the canyon about 1/2 mile north of the main spring.
The abandoned claim at the spring consists of a prospector's residence and two adits. The
main three-room house contains only a stove, sink, and table, and has been badly vandalized.
One surprising feature is a flagstone terrace in front of the house's east entrance. A small
porch or added room on the west end has fallen in. Northeast of the main structure is a
shower house, containing a toilet and shower stall.. Both of these buildings are plywood. East
of the housing area is a road running along the side of the ridge. Metal spikes and wooden
boards on the hillside facing the buildings, and tramway section remains in front of the main
house, indicate that at one time probably access to the adits was directly up the hill from the
residential area. No structures (ore bin, chutes, or ladders) exist now. The first, main adit
appears to have been used as both a workshop and sleeping area. A wooden-timbered
entrance wall has been erected to protect a metal cot and workbench inside the tunnel from
the elements. The tunnel goes back several hundred feet into the mountainside and then
branches. The second adit on the road, south of the first, has either caved in or else was
discontinued. The mining road leading south and then west up the hillside from the house
leads on west over the ridge to a mine site on the north side of the canyon. From a distance
only a waste dump and adit could be seen.

Illustration 103. View to west up Hanaupah Canyon. Note mine road along hill to
left. Another adit is located on one of the hillsides to the right. Photo by Linda W.
Greene, 1978.
None of the mine sites visited, and examined by this writer in Hanaupah Canyon possess
historical significance. The only individual associated with mining activities here is Shorty
Borden, but not enough is known about the extent of his operations, their importance, or their
exact location to warrant a National Register nomination. The cabins around Hanaupah
Spring are lacking in integrity and are in a decrepit state due to vandalism. According to
Belden, Borden had seen some deserted Indian shacks grouped around the spring in the
1920s, which had been occupied by Indian draft dodgers during World War I. [402] No
evidence of these remains. As far as could be ascertained from the vantage point of an
opposite ridge, the site marked "Mine" on the USGS Telescope Peak quadrangle map
contains no structures. It is possible that evidence of other mining activity exists in the area,
although none is indicated here or in the Middle or North Fork of Hanaupah Canyon by the
USGS. Some Indian rock alignments have been found on the Hanaupah Canyon fan
southwest of Tule Spring. [403]

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION III:
THE WEST SIDE
16. Trail Canyon Mines
a) History
(1) Death Valley Wonder Mining & Milling Company
The earliest mining activity in Trail Canyon was contemporaneous with the gold discoveries
in the Harrisburg and Skidoo areas, taking place during the period from about 1906 to 1907.
No information was found describing day-to-day operations in the area, but enough data
emerged to establish that at least three mining companies conducted business in the canyon
during this period.
On 5 March 1906 Articles of Incorporation were filed for the Death Valley Wonder Mining
& Milling Company in Maricopa County in Arizona Territory by Stoddard Incorporating
Company of Phoenix. The incorporators were J. P. Branley and James A. Joyce. Phoenix was
to be the principal place of business in Arizona, and Oakland, California, the outside base.
Capitalized at one million dollars, divided into one million shares of $1 each, the company
began newspaper advertising later that month. Its properties included seven full claims of 140
acres, assaying from $2 to $85.73 per ton in gold and silver. Plenty of timber and water on
hand ensured easy mining operations. A final attempt to snare the investor was this reminder:
Remember our property is upon a ledge from which ore assaying over $800.00
per ton has been taken. Who knows but a few more blasts may uncover same
results for us. Secure at once what stock you can for it is much better to have a
few thousand shares at this price than wish you had. [404]
Not much data was found on the fortunes of the Death Valley Wonder Mine. During the fall
of 1906 five men were employed, and development results were considered encouraging.
Company stock was projected to rise from its current price of five cents a share to ten or
fifteen cents by the first of November. By January 1907 the company stock was being listed
on the San Francisco Stock & Exchange Board. Company assets included the Annie M. six-
claim group and the Branley in the Wild Rose District. By March 1907 the Death Valley
Wonder's crosscut tunnel was in 140 feet. The final mention found of the mine was later in
1907 while a force of men was still working there and the mine was continuing to show good
surface values. Mr. Branley was even contemplating the establishment of a company office at
Skidoo. [405]
(2) Wild Rose Mining Company

A second corporation transacting business in Trail Canyon was the Wild Rose Mining
Company, which owned property about seven miles from Skidoo. E. H. Goodpaster was the
company agent in the area, and work started on the claims, which included the Wild Rose
Annex and Rush Group, around October 1906. [406] This latter group of claims, located near
a Wild Rose Mine, was first discovered by Goodpaster in September 1905 in association with
John W. Seller, (a prominent mining man of Goldfield connected with the Bonanza Mountain
and Black Spar companies in Rhyolite) and A. V. Carpenter. By the spring of 1907 an
eighty-foot tunnel had been excavated with a crosscut running through the ledge and
exposing ore assaying as high as $100 in gold and $25 in silver. In April 1907 it was reported
that the extensively developed Wild Rose Group had just been sold to a Boston . syndicate
for about $300,000. The Wild Rose Annex property was also making a good showing at this
time. [407] Goodpaster was evidently dividing his time between Trail Canyon and the Skidoo
area, because earlier in 1907 a notice appeared that he had established a camp on the Skidoo
Contact property and was starting development of the Doctor Claim there. He had discovered
the Gold Ledge Nos. 1-4 and the Doctor claims of the Skidoo Contact Group and the Granite
Contact properties himself and had then sold them to the Skidoo Contact Mining Company,
of which he became general manager, for $15,000. [408]
(3) Trail Canyon Mining Company
A third mining venture in Trail Canyon was the Trail Canyon Mining Company, incorporated
in the state of South Dakota by three Tonopah, Nevada, and two Pierre, South Dakota,
businessmen. The principal place of business was to be Pierre, with a business office closer
to the property at Tonopah. Capitalized at one million dollars, divided into one million shares
of $1 each par value, the company was incorporated on 10 November 1906. On 8 December
1906 it was registered as a foreign incorporation in the state of Nevada, designating Tasker L.
Oddie as its resident agent. [409] In the spring of 1907 Charles M. Schwab, Oddie, and F. J
Leutjens expanded the assets of the company by purchasing five promising claims in Trail
Canyon whose assays were running from $50 to $3,000 per ton. [410]
What seemed to be a promising future for the company did not materialize, however, due to
the collapse of the New York stock market in March of that year, followed by similar crises
in Hamburg, Amsterdam, and Montreal. The financial panic spread to the west, causing two
Goldfield banks to close. Tasker Oddie, who had invested and speculated heavily and rather
recklessly in various mining claims and property and mining-related enterprises in Tonopah
and the Bullfrog Mining District, was ruined by the economic collapse. Five flimsily-
subsidized mining companies of which he was president, including the Trail Canyon Mining
Company, failed when Oddie was unable to make good his obligations to the stockholders or
to the Tonopah Banking Corporation, which had invested in his development work. [411]

Illustration 104. Map of Trail Canyon mining area.
(4) Old Dependable Antimony Mine
The next phase of activity in Trail Canyon centered around antimony mining. The monument
contains two such deposits: the Wildrose Mine, about one mile southeast of the Wildrose
Ranger Station, which will be covered in a later section, and the Old Dependable Mine in the
South Fork of Trail Canyon fifteen miles southwest of Furnace Creek Ranch. These two areas
produced a total of about 2,060,000 pounds of antimony: 2,000,000 during World War I and
the rest during World War II.
From 1939 to 1941 the Old Dependable was operated by Brinn W. Belyea, who invested
approximately $50,000 in construction of a road, camp facilities, and mine development. The
site yielded around seventy tons of ore showing eighteen to sixty percent antimony. In 1940
an H. E. Olund was in charge of the mine for Belyea Truck Company, and eighteen men
were employed in building a modern camp. Operations were discontinued when the war
came and Belyea donated the use of his time and the facilities of his trucking, crane, and
construction companies to the war effort. Mr. Belyea died in the latter part of 1946; in 1948
sixteen claims were relocated as the Old Dependable Group by his wife, Isabelle Belyea, and
were bonded and leased to J. W. E. McCulley of Darwin in January 1949. Drags, picks, and
shovels were used in an attempt to rebuild and repair the access road, permitting mining to
commence from an open cut in April. However, due to the smallness of the ore body, its
remote location, and unfavorable market, conditions during peacetime, the two cars of ore
removed from the cut were never shipped, and the property became idle. In 1951 the
workings consisted of the open cut, which had produced one eleven-ton pod assaying 60%
antimony, and two adits. [412]
(5) Tungsten Mines
A second mineral commodity sought during World War II was tungsten. As early as 1937 the
world demand for this product was increasing substantially, due mainly to business recovery
and expanded uses for the metal, and the advancing prices occasioned by higher production
costs were promoting development in the United States of hundreds of mines and prospects.
Estimates were made that in 1937 the world production of tungsten would equal the 35,000
tons produced during World War 1. [413] Small tungsten deposits within the monument have
been found at the Sheepshead-Victory Group in Trail Canyon, near Goldbelt Spring at the
Shorty Harris Prospect, and in various locations east of Skidoo. Much of this work was done
in the 1950s, domestic tungsten mining having, been encouraged by the U.S. Government as
late as 1958. [414] The Sheepshead and Victory tungsten groups are situated at about 4,000

feet elevation in the middle fork of Trail Canyon. In 1951 they were owned by Milton L.
Knapp of Palm Springs, California, and Floyd R. Bekins, of Los Angeles. Several prospect
pits were opened and one ton of high-grade ore shipped in 1943. Poor road conditions
precluded further exploration on the property, which was idle by 1951. [415]
Only brief mentions of other tungsten mining endeavors in Trail Canyon were found in the
monument files. These included the Morning Glory Group of four claims in the South Fork
of Trail Canyon, owned by Morning Glory Mines, Inc., of Albuquerque, N.M., Abram H.
Kreider, president; Ronald A Claims of Jack Smith and John Polson, in the Middle Fork of
Trail Canyon, which had been the scene of several mining attempts over the years, but which
soon reached a static state due to lack of investment capital and of any appreciable quantity
of high-grade ore. This operation involved five people in residence; All Mine and Lucky Find
Claims and Millsites #1-2 of a Mr. Dotson and Page G. Brady in the South Fork of Trail
Canyon. These millsites were a relocation of the old Morning Glory Mine camp. Evidently
these claims involved only promotional work, with no very active mining. Products obtained
were silica and ornamental rock; AA Placer Claims composed of 137 160-acre group placer
claims filed by Al Anderson and worked in 1958 over a total of 21,920 acres; Blackwater
Mine of several hundred claims, worked in 1959, containing low-grade tungsten; and the
Tarantula Mine (old Nichols Mine and Millsite) in the North and Middle Forks of Trail
Canyon, worked in 1958. According to notes in the monument mining office this was
probably the only profitable tungsten operation in Death Valley during the 1950s boom era,
and was responsible for attracting others to the Trail Canyon area. This region evidently soon
resembled the land around Skidoo, with hundreds of claims being filed on and a vast network
of roads scarring the hillsides. (The operator of the Tarantula Mine built the road stretching
from Trail Canyon, to Aguereberry Point--now only a rough jeep trail.) Quite a lot of false
stock promotion was also prevalent. At the height of the craze some of the miners tried to
drum up Washington's support for a bill to abolish Death Valley National Monument!
The Nichols Mine and Millsite were later relocated as the Broken Pick Mine and Millsite.
The Small Hill Millsite was a conflicting relocation of the old Nichols Millsite filed in the
same year as the Broken Pick Millsite relocation. Information was also found that a certain
Joseph Harris of Yuma, Arizona, who had been involved in various mining activities in
Death Valley since the 1930s, in addition to leasing the Skidoo Mine from 1938 to 1939 and
operating the Keane Wonder Extension from 1949 to 1955, had run a tungsten mine in Trail
Canyon in 1960. [416] As late as as 1971 some tungsten mining was being undertaken in the
South Fork of Trail Canyon as evidenced by a request from the claimants for permission to
use dynamite on their remote scheelite mine. [417]
b) Present Status
Because the road up Trail Canyon from West Side Road has been washed out and at best is
considered a difficult four-wheel drive road that should be navigated only by experienced
personnel, the writer did not visit these sites. The current status of the road from Aguereberry
Point into Trail Canyon is unknown, although about fourteen years ago it was a steep, one-
way downhill grade from the Point, and was also subject to washout problems. About nine
miles west into the canyon from West Side Road, the trail branches, one arm continuing west
into the Middle Fork for about 1-12 miles and ending near an abandoned mine camp.
Monument photographs taken by a ranger in 1962 indicate that at least two small mine camps
remained in the Middle Fork at that time: the Broken Pick and Small Hilt Millsites (two
conflicting relocations of the old Nichols Millsite), and the Ronald "A" Mine and camp of
Smith and Poison. These both consisted of corrugated-metal and wood frame buildings in the
residential and work areas, and wooden chute remains at the workings themselves.
The South Fork road ends after about 2-1/2 miles at a cableway leading to the Morning

Glory Mine, whose associated camp was relocated as the Lucky Find Millsite #1 and #2. The
Old Dependable Antimony Mine lies along the South Fork Canyon road also, at about 4,800
feet elevation, a site marked in the early 1960s by a large open pit on the east side of the
road. This may be the camp designated by the row of buildings on the USGS Emigrant
Canyon quad. According to Park Ranger Warren H. Hill, the North Fork of Trail Canyon
contained the Broken Pick Mine, the relocation of the old Nichols, or Tarantula, Mine, whose
workings consisted of a wooden one-chute ore bin, several adits, and other miscellaneous
mining debris.
The writer is unwilling to present any recommendations for preservation, restoration, or

reclamation in regard to Trail Canyon resources because the area was not personally visited.
It is not known whether any remains of the Skidoo-period operations can still be found. Most
of the mining activity evident dates from the tungsten craze of the 1950s, although the Old
Dependable Antimony Mine ruins would date from the late 1930s and early 1940s. It was the
later of the two antimony concerns in the Monument, produced fairly low-grade ore except
for occasional rich pockets, and produced less total yield than the Wildrose Mine. It does not
possess the qualities of significance necessary for inclusion on the National Register. None of
the later Trail Canyon mines had a production rate or associative significance that made them
important in the monument's history, and the only pictures found of mining activity in this
area do not reveal any structures of apparent historical or architectural interest.
Because Trail Canyon was not explored during the 1975 LCS Survey or by this present
project, and therefore no recent pictures of it have been taken nor a reconnaissance of
remaining cultural resources made, it is imperative that further examination and evaluation be
made before any sites or individual buildings are destroyed. The Morning Glory Mine
tramway ruin should be followed, photographed, and mapped--its present condition is
uncertain. The entire extent of archeological resources in the Trail Canyon area is also
unknown, although at least one cave site with a smoke-blackened ceiling was found at the
head of Trail Canyon over fifteen years ago. Because this canyon provided passage for
Indians between the lower valley and higher mountain ranges, there should be vestiges of
their occupation and peregrinations remaining. [418]
Illustration 105. Ronald "A" *1 mine and camp of Smith and Poison. In
middle fork of Trail Canyon, 1962. Photo by Park Ranger Warren H. Hill,

Illustration 106. Scar of mining exploration for tungsten, now Ronald "A"
14 mine of Smith and Poison. In middle fork of Trail Canyon, 1962. Photo
by Park Ranger Warren H. Hill, courtesy of DEVA NM.
Illustration 107. Broken Pick Millsite and Small Hill Millsite in middle fork
of Trail Canyon, 1962. Photo by Park Ranger Warren H. Hill, courtesy of
DEVA NM.

Illustration 108. Broken Pick Mine, north fork of Trail

Canyon, 1962. Photo by Park Ranger Warren H. Hill,
Illustration 109. Lucky Find Millsites #1 and #2, relocation of old Morning
Glory Mine camp, South Fork of Trail Canyon, 1962. Photo by Park Ranger
Warren H. Hill, courtesy of DEVA NM.


Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION III:
THE WEST SIDE
B. Emigrant Wash and Wildrose Canyon
1. Thorndike Camp
a) History
Thorndike Camp, located between the Charcoal Kilns and Mahogany Flat, in the Wildrose
section of the Panamints, was once part of a 160-acre homestead filed on by John Thorndike
(Thorndyke), a well-known Owens Valley miner, in order to provide a pleasantly-cool
summer retreat for his wife Mary, an area schoolteacher. Thorndike came to the Death Valley
region in 1903 from Maine, where he was born and had attended college. Working first as an
assayer at the Ward Mine in the White Mountains, he later moved to mines in the Coso area
and around Darwin. During these years he is mentioned in connection with the Modock
Mine, which he superintended, [1] and the Custer Mine, near Darwin, which he co-owned
and managed. In 1920 he married a Darwin schoolteacher, Mary K. Stewart. [2]
Thorndike's next move was to Ballarat, where his name was linked to the rich Gibraltar
silver-lead mine in South Park Canyon, which he supervised, [3] and to the Big Horn lead-
silver property eight miles southeast of the town that was one of four claims comprising the
Honolulu Mine, worked intermittently from 1907 on, producing mainly during World War II.
Thorndike was superintending the latter property in the 1920s over a force of fifteen miners
who were building a five-mile auto/truck road to connect with the Ballarat-Trona road to be
used for heavy ore shipments to the smelters. It has been said that this was the first mine to
ship ore from the Panamints by truck. Thorndike's contribution to the area's development
must have been considered substantial, for South Park Canyon has also been known as
Thorndike Canyon. [4] In the late twenties Thorndike also held half interests in the Sunrise,
Pine Ridge, and Panorama Nos. 1 to 5 mining claims, mining district unknown. [5]
Around the mid-1930s Thorndike filed on a 160-acre homestead in the Panamints at the
eastern end of Wildrose Canyon, the property extending from the bottom of the canyon up as
far as Mahogany Flat and climbing about 600 feet in elevation. Six structures were erected by
the couple in the approximate center of their holdings, including:
1. living quarters, a two-room frame building with an attached screened porch;
2. a cabin, a two-room frame building;
3. a kitchen/dining room, a two-room structure;
4. a laundry/shower room, a frame building with access to hot and cold water;
http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/deva/section3b1.htm[7/26/2008 3:06:31 PM]

5. a sleeping cabin, a two-room frame unit with an attached screened porch; and
6. a garage/shop, a two-room, dirt-floored frame structure housing the complex's

electrical plant. [6]
Illustration 111. Sleeping cabin, Bldg. No. Illustration 112. Bldg. No. 6, looking
5, Garage and shop, southeast. Photo looking east. Photo courtesy of DEVA
courtesy of DEVA NM. Photos of NM. Photos of Thorndike Camp taken
Thorndike Camp taken about 1954. about 1954.
Illustration 113. Toilet. Photo courtesy of Illustration 114. Wooden water tank,
DEVA NM. Photos of Thorndike Camp 3,000 gallons. Photo courtesy of DEVA
taken about 1954. NM. Photos of Thorndike Camp taken
about 1954.

Illustration 115. Living quarters, Bldg. Illustration 116. Cabin, Bldg. No. 2,
No. 1, southwest. Photo courtesy of looking looking southeast. Photo courtesy
DEVA NM. Photos taken about 1954. of DEVA NM. Photos taken about 1954.
Illustration 117. Kitchen and dining room, Illustration 118. Laundry and shower
Bldg. No. 3, looking to southeast. Photo room, Bldg. No. 4, to north. Photo
courtesy of DEVA NM. Photos taken courtesy of DEVA NM. Photos taken
about 1954. about 1954.
Although originally the Thorndikes presumably planned to occupy this property only a few
months each summer, because of the number of buildings erected it is possible that they later
envisioned developing the area for commercial purposes. This seems to be substantiated by a
1939 newspaper article reporting the unbelievable story that a Trona, California, man had
been given permission to build a ski lift above the Charcoal Kilns near Telescope Peak; in
connection with the skiing operation, it was mentioned that guests visiting the lift will find
comfortable accommodations at Thorndike's camp." [7] The Thorndikes lived intermittently
on the property until 1954; in 1955 the entire 160-acre homestead was bought by the U.S.
Government and integrated into Death Valley National Monument.
b) Present Status
Thorndike Camp is located about 3/4 of a mile beyond the Charcoal Kilns, and is reached via
a steep, low-gear road that continues on through the campground to Mahogany Flat. No
buildings are standing on the site, although some concrete slab foundations are visible, as

well as the remains of a small fish pond, a stone stairway, and some stone retaining walls.
The Death Valley Shoshone were attracted to the Wildrose area of the Panamints as soon as
the summer heat began to force its way into the lower elevations of the valley. The area
around the present Thorndike Campground was especially inviting as a summer campsite
because of the presence of several springs in the area as well as the pleasant coolness of the
surroundings due to the narrowness of the canyon and its relatively high elevation. These
were undoubtedly also the attractions that led John Thorndike to homestead there. [8]
Illustration 119. Thorndike Homestead. From Hopper, "Appraisal of

Thorndike Property," 1954.

Illustration 120. Goldfish pond (?) at Thorndike Camp site. Photo by Linda
W. Greene, 1978.
Illustration 121. Stone steps and wall in background are

all that remain of Thorndike homestead. Photo by Linda
W. Greene, 1978.
No significant remains of the Thorndike homestead are found in the campground. Despite its

earlier association with a well-known Death Valley region prospector, the site no longer
possesses historical integrity or significance.
deva/hrs/section3b1.htm

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION III:
THE WEST SIDE
2. Wild Rose Mining District
a) Early Activity
Referred to from about 1873 to the spring of 1888 as "Rose Springs District, the area loosely
bordered by the Panamint Mining District on the south, Townsend Pass on the north,
Panamint Valley on the west, and Death Valley on the east, was first opened to easy access
from the Panamints by W. L. Hunter and J.L. Porter, who had located some promising claims
in the vicinity. [9]
By March 1876 the district was seeing a vast amount of activity. The Inyo Mining Company
had bought seven well-defined ledges in the area and had set up headquarters at the North
Star Mine (formerly owned by the Nassano Company). The start of operations there and at
the Garabaldi (Garibaldi) was only awaiting the arrival of Remi Nadeau's freighting teams
bringing needed tools and stores. A townsite was being laid out to house the many miners
entering the district over the improved wagon road from Warren Springs in search of work
and property:
There are other valuable ledges in the district, and ample room for other
companies to invest; and, as spring advances, we will, no doubt, have quite an
influx of capital, as there are several parties of prospectors who have been in
here at times for a year or more, and who hold ledges of considerable merit, from
whom capitalists can purchase a set, or even several sets or groups of. ledges,
numbering from three to 10 or 12, and which now lie undeveloped, together with
mill sites with sufficient water for milling their ores. The records show that about
165 ledges have been located, and the necessary amount of work performed on
the most of them to hold them for the year. [10]
b) First Locations
By 1882 the area was being referred to variously as the "Wild Rose District", and "Rose
Spring Mining District," although the former designation was not official until several years
later, It was rumored that a silver mill was soon to be erected because of the profitable and
immense ledges being struck, and indeed a notice of location was filed on Wild Rose Spring
itself for "conducting and carrying on a General Milling and Reduction Works." [11]
Property filed on during this period included the Inyo Silver Mine, 113 miles North from
Rose Spring and adjoins SE quarter of Virgin Mine"; Blizzard Mine "5-1/2 miles East from
Emigrant Spring on right-hand side of trail leading from Mohawk Mine to Blue Bell Mine

and is about 8 miles air line north of Telescope Peak"; Valley View Mine "6 miles East of
Emigrant Spring on Mineral Hill & lies on right-hand side of trail leading from Springs to
Blue Bell Mine & is ca. 2 miles SW of latter"; Argonaut Mine (Nellie Grant), "situated about
four and 1 miles South, from the Mouth of Emigrant Canon at what is known as Hunter &
Porters rock house near Emigrant Spring & is immediately South of the Jeannetta [Juniata?]
Mine and is a relocation of the Uncle Sam Mine"; and the Jeanetta Mine "on the West side of
Emigrant Canon about 4-1/2 miles above . . . near Emigrant Spring and is a relocation of the
Nellie Grant Mine." [12]
In July 1884 the Mohawk (earlier known as North Star), Blue Bell (aka Garibaldi), and
Argonaut (aka Nellie Grant) mines shipped about ten tons of ore to the smelter that yielded
over 3,000 oz. of silver bullion. Due to the lack of milling facilities in the Wild Rose area, it
was necessary to ship the ore across the Panamint Valley to the ten-stamp plant of the Argus
Range Mill and Mining Company in Snow Canyon. This tedious trip was undertaken by the
owner of one of these properties who
is a strong believer in this district . . . . The milling test was very satisfactory,
coming up to 85 and 90 per cent of the assay value by the most ordinary process,
and bullion 75 and 80 fine, carrying a light per cent of copper. This district
shows a large amount of high grade ore. Some of the most promising ledges
have been considerably developed, giving encouragement that they will make
mines of great and permanent value. Natural and good roads lead to these
properties and to the wood and water, which are both found ample for mining
and milling purposes and are contiguous to the mines. There are hundreds, and I
may say thousands of tons of this fine milling ore out and in sight, and no
milling facilities near at hand to work it profitably, and the owners, mostly
miners, are unable to undertake the erection of reduction works. The climate is
very healthy and the finest in the world for continuous mining. [13]
By this time other producing mines in the area are mentioned: the Juniata (possibly the
Jeanetta mentioned earlier), contiguous to the Argonaut, and the Virgin six miles south of
these and near the Blizzard. Because of the encouraging results at the Snow Canyon Mill, the
owners of the latter two were endeavoring to find capital to finance construction of a ten-
stamp mill in the area of the mines. [14]
c) Formation of District and Establishment of Boundaries
On 4 April 1888 a formal meeting of local miners was held at Rose Springs for the purpose
of organizing a new mining district in light of the fact that all the books and records of the
previous district had been lost and no recorder had been active for the last two years. The
new entity was to be known as the "Wild Rose Mining District": "The north boundary line
shall be Townsends Pass in the Panamint range of Mountains. The western boundry [sic] line
shall be Panamint Valley. The Southern boundry line shall be the North line of Panamint
District. The Eastern boundry line shall be Death Valley." [15] A later description of the
Wild Rose District, whose boundaries were possibly expanded after the strike at Harrisburg,
reads:
Beginning at Williams canon to the center of Panamint Valley, thence north to a

line running east and west through Cottonwood canon to Surveyors' Wells,
thence to Salt Creek, south to Bennett's Wells, and west to place of beginning.
The district is adjacent on the south and west to the recently organized South
Bullfrog district. [16]
More mines were recorded during this time: the Weehawken (Weehawker?) Mine "about 2-

1/2 miles from Coal Kilns in northerly direction and about 7 miles in westerly direction from
Death Valley"; Antimony Mine "2-1/2 miles from Rose Springs on south side of road leading
to coal kilns and 1/2 mile from summit of mountains leading to Fever [?] Canon";
Consolidation Mine "1-1/2 miles south from North Star Mine and formerly known as
Consolidated." [17]
d) Mining Companies and Further Locations
By 1906 several mining companies held interests in the Wild Rose District: the Telescope
Peak Mines Syndicate was an Arizona incorporation with a treasury stock of 600,000 shares,
owning seven gold and copper claims covering about 140 acres in the Wild Rose District.
Offices were maintained in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and Phoenix, Arizona; [18] the
Panamint Mountain Mines Syndicate, another Arizona incorporation under the same
management as the Telescope Peak Company, with a treasury stock also of 600,000 shares,
owning sixteen full gold claims covering 320 acres each in the Wild Rose District; [19] the
Wild Rose Mining Company, whose interests were represented by W.B. Gray, Dr. U.V.
Withee, and W.H. Sanders, and which owned gold, silver, copper, and lead properties with
surface values ranging from $9 to $716 (by 1924 the company's property above Wild Rose
was proving to be one of the big gold and silver mines in the district under the management
of Charles Grundy. Nineteen thousand tons of ore assaying $29 per ton were ready to be
mined, and by March the ore was assaying $300 to $500 a ton in silver, with gold and lead
present, too); the Rush Company, owning prospects near the Wild Rose, and involved in
building a road into the canyon; the Death Valley Gold Mining Company recently
incorporated by California capitalists; and the Kawich-Bullfrog Company. The Wild Rose,
Rush, Kawich-Bullfrog, and Death Valley Gold Mining Company properties were all stated
to be approximately two miles from Harrisburg. [20]
Other mines mentioned at this time, but on which no further information was found, are the
Last Hike, Venus and Mars groups of claims located by Tom Knight in the Wild Rose
District. [21]
e) Heliograph Dispatches
An interesting technological development related to mining during this time involved the
initiation by the Rhyolite Herald of the heliograph method of communication in an attempt to
facilitate transmission of the latest news from the surrounding mining districts to its readers:
The latest move is to receive heliograph dispatches from the Funeral and
Grapevine ranges, which will be flashed to us from the mountains twenty-five to
fifty miles away. Death Valley will signal from the top of Chloride Cliff in the
Funeral range, while the California Bullfrog, Doris Montgomery and Breyfogle
will flash their news from the Doris camp. Wild Rose district will span Death
Valley with a ray of light to the Doris camp and that station will repeat the
messages to us.
Who knows but that this wireless telegraph will be the means of saving life? . . .
The instruments are now being constructed and as soon as completed and other
necessary arrangements made, the signaling will begin. [22]
f) Settlement of Emigrant Spring Brings Need for Road to Keeler
By the summer of 1906 Emigrant Spring(s) was the site of what was projected to be a great
mining camp with good ore showings in the surrounding properties that were attracting much
investment capital. Thirty men were employed in the area, and there was talk of erecting a
twenty-stamp mill. The biggest project under contemplation at this time was construction of

a road from Keeler to Emigrant to replace the over-100-mile-long Johannesburg-Emigrant

supply route that was costing shippers 4-1/2¢ per pound. The new route would not only
reduce this distance by about 45 miles, correspondingly reducing production costs and
speeding development, but would also open up a remunerative Owens Valley-Emigrant trade
in agricultural products. [23]
A letter from Ballarat in late summer of 1906 declared that results from strikes near Emigrant
Spring were still more than satisfactory. Freight teams from Johannesburg were arriving
everyday, a pipeline was being built at Skidoo, and there was an influx of mining men from
Goldfield and Bullfrog. The two disadvantages seen for the area were its distance from a
railroad and the bad reputation the country held for heat and difficulties in mining. [24] By
this time the Cashier Mine at Harrisburg, the Sheep Mountain strike, and the Golden Eagle at
Skidoo were all in the throes of new development work. [25] By the fall of 1906 the wagon
road from Keeler to Emigrant was still not an established fact, although it was being strongly
pushed by miners in that section. Darwin Wash was considered to be the most feasible route
for the trail, being both cheaper and more direct. [26]
Individual narratives on Harrisburg and Skidoo will follow in later sections. Suffice to say at
this point that both were extremely busy at this time, thus ensuring some longevity for the
Emigrant (Wild Rose) District. A six-horse stage was running twice a week between Ballarat
and Emigrant Spring, where there was a saloon, grocery store, corral, and restaurant. Plans
were underway to complete connections on a road from Skidoo to Daylight Springs and then
on to Rhyolite. It was justifiably feared by those advocating the Keeler-Emigrant Road that
all the potential revenue to be gained in the district could easily be siphoned off to Nevada,
and Owens River Valley farmers and merchants would lose out completely:
Get together! Build the wagon road! This means work for Inyo's ranchers and
their teams, and when completed will open a market for their produce, where
they will not have to submit to extortionate railroad charges. The cost of this
road would be trifling compared to the immense advantage to be derived
therefrom. The Emigrant-Skidoo-Harrisburg country has arrived and it remains
for Inyo's people to profit thereby.
Inyo is now in the limelight from a mining standpoint and it, remains for our
County officials and the taxpayers to offer every facility in the shape of good
roads and provisions to the host of men who are delving in the mountains and
developing the resources of these vast store houses of golden treasures. This will
be for the good of the County as a whole. Let no narrow feeling of sectionalism
retard the work. [27]
Conditions of life were not easy in the Wild Rose area as shown by an item in December
1906 stating that all work at Skidoo, Harrisburg, and the surrounding country was temporarily
stopped because of a heavy snowstorm that had deposited three to four feet of the white stuff
in the area. Due to lack of fuel and adequate housing, the only option available to the miners
in the section was to leave for lower elevations. In contrast, in August 1908, three or four
miles of the Emigrant Wash Road were completely obliterated by a cloudburst, the road
being five feet deep in water carrying 50- and 100-pound boulders. [28]
g) More Properties Located Throughout 1940s
By 1907 a few more properties were being recorded: the Combination-Goldfield and Nevada-
Tonopah owned by J.H. Allen, Geo. Raycroft, and A.D. Myers; Wild Rose Annex #1, "one
mile east from Harrisburg and Joins Wild Rose Group on East," located 1 March 1907 by
Weyle and Clewell; Oro Blanco Mine about 3-1/2 miles south of Harrisburg," located 25

March 1907 by Nat Levi, H.L. Culvert, and O.E. Hart; Taylor Mining Claim "2 miles south
of Harrisburg and one mile east of narrows on Ballarat Wagon road. Claim is on south side
Wood Canyon and joins with Good Dope [Hope?] Mining Claim #2 on west," located 13
April 1907 by 0. Ewing and Wm. Taylor. [29]
Due to the expansion of mining activity and the consequent desperate need for a body of men
to adjust and settle the disputes constantly arising over conflicting interests in mining claims
and town lots, some important resolutions relative to the location of mining claims in the
Wild Rose District were adopted at a meeting of the miners of the Wild Rose District held at
Skidoo on 15 April 1907. Besides setting up procedures for marking and recording claims
and performing the necessary location work, a motion was adopted to elect a ten-man
Arbitration Committee to settle local disputes in the mining community arising over
ownership. [30]
In late May 1907 a proposal was mentioned for a turnpike leading from Greenwater via the
old Daggett borax road to Furnace Creek Ranch, then to Surveyor's Wells, over Emigrant
Pass to Darwin, and connecting there with the road to Independence. The following February
roadwork was being pushed between Keeler and Emigrant, with a connection soon to be
made to the Wild Rose road. Ten men with two teams were working in the Darwin Wash
area. [31] The exact population of the Wild Rose District in the early 1900s is not known.
Registration for primaries in 1914 revealed forty-one persons registered in the Emigrant
precinct, thirty-nine men and two women. By 1916 there were only twenty-three voters
registered there. [32]
In 1923 development and prospecting work were still being carried out in the area, a number
of new properties mentioned as being active in the Wild Rose District between 1909 and
1938. Because nothing further is known of them and because rarely is their exact location
clear, only brief mention of them will be made:
1. Two Friends Nos. 1, 2, and 3.
2. Silver Star Nos. 1, 2, and 3 and Old Spanish Mine
3. White House and White House Nos. 1, 2, and 3.
4. Snowfall and Snowfall Nos. 1-11 approximately 240 acres, owned by the
Golden Glow Mines Corporation of Utah.
5. Veta Grande de Plata Nos. 1-6 at Emigrant Spring.
6. Chesamac Mine six lead and silver claims eighteen miles northeast of Ballarat,
development in 1926 consisting of shallow tunnels and open cuts worked by two
men.
7. Mother Lode three miles east of Emigrant Spring.
8. Yellow Horse Mine
9. Western Mine Western No. 2, adjoining the Moonlight Mining Company

property (in Nemo Canyon?).
10. Extension No. 1 Mine
11. Big King Mine

12. Edna Nos. 1-3.
13. Treasure Hill Mine twelve claims comprising 488 feet of shafts and tunnels in
1938. [33]
One of the more substantial mining companies formed in the district in the late 1920s was the
Emigrant Springs Mining and Milling Company started by H.W. Eichbaum and associates in
1929. (More details on this company will be presented in the Skidoo section of this report.)
In the 1940s the Skidoo District underwent a revival of mining activity. Both the Skidoo
Mine and the nearby Del Norte Group were being actively developed as was the Gold King
Mine one mile east of Journigan's Mill. Other mines functioning from this period on were
the: Emigrant Mine three lead and silver claims active in the 1940s; Rose Mine four tungsten
claims comprising an unsightly deserted camp along the charcoal kilns road, registering no
production or mining activity since the mid-1950s; and the Wildrose Mine four silver claims
last worked in the late 1950s. [34] Also during the fifties sporadic tungsten exploration was
carried out in the vicinity of Skidoo.
h) Historic Wildrose Spring Stage Station
At least one historical resource of the Wild Rose area met its demise in the early 1970s. This
was Wildrose Station, once located about mile below Wildrose Spring on the main road
through Wildrose Canyon. Its service to the public began as a shady oasis providing a water
spot and resting place for prospectors and mule teams, possibly as early as 1878; it then
functioned as a stage station on the Ballarat-Skidoo route from about 1908 to 1917. The site
consisted then of a wooden station, a corral, and blacksmith shop. After World War I the site
saw only intermittent occupancy, but by the early 1930s offered cabins, a small curio
shop/store, eating facilities, and gas to tourists. Composed of structures reputedly moved on
site from abandoned mining camps about 1932, the camp was deemed unsuitable for modern
tourism, and it was recommended that all the buildings except for the nineteenth-century
forge site be destroyed. The concessionaires were forced to vacate the premises, which soon
fell prey to vandalism and finally destruction. Today only foundations remain, topped by a
few picnic tables and a comfort station. According to one author, this was the location of the
miners' meeting in 1873 that organized the "Rose Springs Mining District." [35] If true, it
may also have hosted the 1888 meeting that created the Wild Rose Mining District.
Illustration 122. Emigrant Spring in Emigrant Canyon, no date. Photo


Illustration 123. Wildrose Station in Wildrose Canyon. These cabins are

atop the site of an old stage station serving the Ballarat-Skidoo run. Photo
by W.F. Steenbergh, 1964, courtesy of DEVA NM.
Illustration 124. Wagon roads in western Death and Panamint valleys.

Plotted by A.M. Strong, county surveyor, July 1907. Note Wildrose Station,
where John Callaway (Calloway) operated a cafe at this stage stop between
Skidoo and Ballarat. Note also the Indian Ranch on Cottonwood Creek just
to the left of Lost Valley (upper arm of Death Valley). This feature will be
discussed later in the section on Hunter Ranch. Courtesy of Inyo Co.
Recorder, Independence, Ca.

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION III:
THE WEST SIDE
i) Sites
(1) Wildrose Canyon Antimony Mine
(a) History
i) Possible Site of Earliest Mine Location in Monument
It has been suggested that the Wildrose Canyon antimony deposit in the Panamint Range was
found in 1860. An early discovery date would seem to be supported by a letter from Rose
Springs appearing in the Panamint News in 1875 listing mines in the general vicinity: . . . and
last, but by no means least, the Old Combination Company's ledges, situated about three
miles southeast of here, and discovered by Dr. George some twelve years since, and now
placed under the management of A.A. Ringold, who is also one of the pioneers of this and
Slate Range District of twelve years ago.
The mines of this company have quite an interesting history. Shortly after their discovery a
company was formed and men put on to prospect the ledges; the men were driven out by
Indians in the Spring of 1863, and four of the party killed; since then their ledges until now
have remained idle. [36]
Chalfant, in speaking of the discovery of the Telescope District in 1860, states that "W.T.
Henderson was named as superintendent of the Combination mines." [37] Later in this article
he remarks that "the antimony deposit near Wild Rose spring, in the Panamints, was found
during this period, if we accept the evidence of a chiseled 'July 4, 1860,' in its tunnel." [38]
Wheat, however, states that on Christmas Day, 1860, the party [George expedition of 1860]
crossed over into Wild Rose Canyon near the site of the present Death Valley National
Monument Summer Headquarters, and on that day discovered a deposit of antimony ore
which was appropriately named the "Christmas Gift Lode." This was the first mining claim to
be located in the Panamint Range . . . ." [39]
According to information acquired by Richard Lingenfelter, at the University of California at

San Diego, a Combination Gold and Silver Mining Company was incorporated on 26 July
1861, controlling over 9,900 feet of claims worth approximately $990,000 in the Telescope
District. Dr. George was president of the company, which in 1862 owned the Christmas Gift
and other nearby mines.
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The first official documented evidence of what might be this mine found by the writer was a
notice of location recorded on 8 August 1882 by Frank Beltic and filed on the "Original
Antimony Mine in Rose Spg. Mng. Dist. 2-1/2 miles SE of Rose Spg. AKA Inyo Antimony
Mine." [40] Also found was a location notice for the Inyo Antimony Mine, giving the same
location as above, and filed the same day by Chris Crohn, Paul Pefferle [sic] Frank Betti, and
S.D. Woods. [41]
ii) Antimony Mining in the Region
The antimony industry in the United States was still in its nascent stages in the 1880s and
was centered completely in the western states. Extensive reduction of antimony ores was
taking place in Utah by 1884, and deposits also existed in Nevada. Up to 1892 most of the
entire small output of antimonial ore produced in the United States came from California
mines. Occurrence in the Death Valley region encompassed southern Esmerelda County,
eastern and southeastern Inyo County, and northern San Bernardino County, with the
Panamint deposits situated approximately in the middle of this belt. [42] None of the
attempts to work these western deposits had so far proved successful.
Throughout the next few years the Wildrose antimony deposit underwent very little active
development work, even though by 1887 this metal was quoted at $150 per ton in London.
[43] Obviously the site's remote location and the lack of investment capital, coupled with a
still undeveloped market, precluded any serious mining operations here. In January 1889
mines in this same general area were relocated and filed on by a William Hannagan
(Hannigan or Harrigan) and a Joe Donalson (Danielson). [44]
The extent of mining accomplished by these men is unknown, but that the mines were
regarded as potentially lucrative is evidenced by the fact that a year later they were bonded
for $3,000 to G.A. Smith, a real estate dealer and mining speculator of Los Angeles, who
intended to work the property and possibly build a reduction plant in the vicinity. [45]
Smith's optimism about the mine's future was based in large part on his assumption that a
railroad would soon be extended from Salt Lake City to Los Angeles, putting the valuable
mineral deposits of the Panamint country within easy reach of cheap transportation. But until
that longed-for and necessary event took place, he declined to expend money on mine
development. [46]
By 1891 antimony mining was showing signs of increased activity and of becoming an
established industry. Over near Austin, Nevada, in Lander County, antimony mining was
becoming highly profitable by that year. An English syndicate was working some mines in
the area and making regular shipments to Liverpool, England, for reduction. The ore was
averaging over sixty-five percent antimony per ton, and at the production rate of nearly 100
tons of ore a month from the mines the company was able to declare two dividends. Still,
most of the antimony ore needed in the United States came from foreign producers, such as
Borneo, the European states, Algeria, Australia, and New South Wales. The major use of
antimony during this period was as an ingredient in certain alloys, providing hardness and
stiffness, and a lesser use was in medicinal salts. Because of its somewhat restricted
applications, the market for the metal was still limited. [47]
By 1893 reduction works for antimony ores had been established in San Francisco and were
treating ore from California and Nevada, the latter state having eclipsed the former in
production of this metal. That year the total output of antimony was 200 tons, estimated in
value at $36,000. Four hundred tons of ore had produced this amount of antimony, of which
California supplied fifty. The Wild Rose Mine, comprising eleven claims, was evidently
furnishing slight amounts of ore at this time, although lack of capital was still preventing its

full development. The deposit on the north side of Wild Rose Canyon was also opened at this
time. [48]
iii) Development of the Monarch Combination and Monopoly Mines and the Kennedy Claim
In January 1896 three notices of location were filed by Frank C. Kennedy: one for the
Monopoly Mine, two miles from Wild Rose Spring and composed of the former Hillside and
Intrinsic mines; a second for the Monarch Mine, 1-1/2 miles from Wild Rose Spring and
comprising the former Antimony and Smokeless Powder mines; a third for the Combination
Mine, joining the Monarch, about 1-3/4 miles from Wild Rose Spring, and composed of the
former Jersey Bell, Lotta, and Helen G. The Kennedy Claim was first located on 1 January
1897. [49]
In 1900 Frank Kennedy's antimony mines in Wild Rose Canyon were bonded to George
Montgomery and E.M. Dineen, two Los Angeles men who later, in association with a C.B.
Fleming, bought them in anticipation of building a wagon road to Darwin and of erecting a
twenty-five ton smelter nearby, enabling production on a large scale. A contract was
immediately let to haul the ore, which could be shipped to San Francisco and New York. [50]
The first carload of antimony ore shipped by the new owners left Johannesburg in September
1900, with expectations high of a good return and the incentive thus provided to actively
push further work. The success of this initial shipment was either not reported or the
statement simply not located by this writer, but by the next year, Inyo County was leading in
the California production of lead, soda, and antimony ($700 worth). [51]
By November 1901 the four mines of the Wildrose Group were being developed by an
eighty-foot-long open cut and four tunnels, all producing-ore reportedly averaging fifty
percent antimony. [52] The pattern of ownership of the Wildrose claims is difficult to follow
during the early 1900s. In 1902 a forfeiture notice appeared in the Inyo Independent issued
by A.W. Eibeshutz and directed toward C.B. Fleming, J.S. Stotler, and E. M. Dineen,
referred to as co-owners of the Monarch, Combination, Monopoly, and Kennedy mines in the
Wild Rose Mining District. In 1903 the only reference found to the mines suggested that
work had been stopped, evidently due to the lack of good transportation facilities. [53] Frank
Kennedy is again mentioned in connection with ownership of some Wildrose antimony
claims several years later, in partnership with a Jeff Grundy, J.T. Hall, and Miles Sargent. A
gold, silver, and lead strike was reported on their antimony property in 1907, causing some
mild excitement in the area. Whether this encompassed the subject claims is uncertain,
because several mineral properties had by now been filed on in the area by various
individuals. [54]
By June 1909 Frank C. Kennedy was understood to be the owner of the "large and entirely
undeveloped deposit of valuable antimony ore . . . in Wild Rose Canyon . . . between Keeler
and Skidoo. . . ." [55] By this time Kennedy, J.S. Stotler, and A.W. Eibeshutz had already
secured a patent on the property, having held the ground through the years by annual
assessment work. According to other records found, however, the Monarch, Combination,
and Monopoly claims, referred to as the Monopoly Antimonium Group and comprising forty-
two acres, were patented on 11 October 1909, in the name of George Montgomery et al
(Mineral Patent No. 83128). [56]
The Inyo Register reported in 1914 that J.E. (?) Eibeshutz and Frank Kennedy sold the
antimony mines at Wildrose to some capitalists envincing an interest, as earlier parties had,
in erecting a smelter and possibly a furnace to process the silver-lead ores found in
association with the antimony. [57] Apparently by late fall of 1914 construction of
reverberatory, oxidizing, and blast furnaces had finally started in Wildrose Canyon, with a
force of fifteen men expected to begin operations by December.: Probably the new operators

felt that the impending war would have a healthy effect on the metal market and make the
concentration of low-grade deposits practicable. The current owner of the antimony property
was L.C. Mott of San Francisco, whose interest in the reduction plant at this time was purely
on an experimental basis, to determine if the antimonial matte could be refined to a pure
enough state to make the plant economically worthwhile. By January 1915 twenty-two men
were working in thirty openings on the property. [58]
By April 1915 from five to ten trucks, each averaging three tons of ore per day, were making
daily trips to the railroad depot at Trona. From there ore was shipped to the Merchants'
Finance Company smelter near Los Angeles. A six-ton reverberatory furnace about two miles
from the mine was still treating the sulphide ore, which was being found in promising
quantities and of a commercial grade. [59] The antimony mines shut down temporarily in the
fall of 1915, for reasons not disclosed. By May of that year title to the property had been
transferred from Mott to the Western Metals Company of Los Angeles. During Mott's
ownership hundred of tons of high-grade ore had been shipped, running about fifty to seventy
percent antimony. Because prices for the ore were fairly high (49¢/lb.) during that time, some
profit accrued. Probably the mine was shut down either because of the wretched condition of
the roads over which the trucks had to haul the ore to Trona or because the price of antimony
soon dropped to under 30¢/lb. In December, however, the property was again shipping--six
tons of ore a day--using Mexican contract labor. Despite its last slowdown, the Wildrose
Mine was hailed as the largest individual producer of antimony ore in Inyo County for the
year 1915. [60]
In 1917 a description of the Wildrose Mine reported that many of the early open cuts and
drift tunnels had either been filled or had caved in, so the extent of workings was almost
impossible to estimate. Currently thirty Mexican laborers were hand drilling and picking the
open cuts and sorting ore from old dumps on the property. Five 2-1/2-ton auto trucks were
hauling the ore, averaging around thirty-five percent antimony, the forty-five miles to Trona
for shipment to the company smelter at San Pedro, California. [61] Greatest production from
the property seems to have occurred during the years of World War I, during which time
Western Metals Company reportedly mined about 4,000 tons of ore containing thirty-five to
forty-two percent antimony. Recovery from the nearby smelter was low, however, and actual
production was probably less than 1,000 tons. [62] From 1918 to about 1936, activity on the
Wildrose Mine property, consisting of the four patented claims plus several held by location,
was sporadic. [63]
By 1938 small-scale operations were occasionally attempted at the mine. An E.B. and
Margaret Spitzer of Trona screened ore on the Monarch dump and also attempted some
mining on the Kennedy Claim. Their Denver Mine (exact location unknown to the writer) in
Wild Rose Canyon produced a small amount of antimony ore that was treated at the nearby
mill. The property owners, A.C. MacClure (McLure) and A.G. Barnes of Los Angeles, were
pondering whether or not to treat the low-grade ore and that on the dumps, while a T. F.
Pierson and Associates of Los Angeles were busy locating eleven other claims in the area.
[64]
In 1951 the four patented claims (Monarch, Combination, Monopoly, and Kennedy) were
owned by James C. Davis of Los Angeles, the Andrew G. Barnes Estate, the A.C. McLure
Estate, and Ruth F. Bastanchury. In 1972 when the Monarch, Combination, and Monopoly
claims were appraised by mining engineers, Mrs. Bastanchury (then Mrs. Boeckerman) held
an undivided 3/4 interest in the property, while Carl D. Dresselhaus and Lawrence J. Rink
shared the remaining 1/4 interest, acquired by a tax deed. The property had been briefly
leased for a period in 1970. [65]
(b) Present Status

The Monarch, Combination, and Monopoly patented claims, along with several unpatented
ones, are located in the Wildrose Mining District on the south side of Wildrose Canyon in the
Panamint Mountain Range about 2-1/2 miles southeast of the Wildrose Ranger Station. They
are located on and near Antimony Ridge, extending over the ridge into Tuber Canyon, at
elevations ranging from 5,500 feet to 6,400 feet. These three claims form an L-shaped parcel
of 42.33 acres reached by an unimproved jeep road veering south for roughly a mile off the
graveled road that leads west to the ranger station.
When Western Metals Company was working the Wildrose Mine during World War I, the
mine workings consisted of several open cuts and narrow tunnels. According to pictures
taken at the time, the ore mined high up on the slopes of Antimony Ridge was hauled by
burro train to a long ore chute descending down the hillside to a bin. The nearby mining
camp consisted of a combination of frame structures and large tents. [66]
The Monarch workings today consist of open cuts, small adits and stopes, and inclined shafts;
the Combination Claim contains an adit and open cuts; and the Monopoly shows an open cut
and rat holes. The road to the property ends at the main open cut on the Monarch Claim, and
from there trails must be taken to the other workings. A dump area nearby contains purple
glass fragments and bottles, indicating early activity. There are no structures on the property.
The Kennedy veins, formerly known as the Wildrose Mine, are reached by jeep road on the
north side of Wildrose Canyon, about two miles north of the Monarch deposit, and about 1-
1/2 miles northeast of the Wildrose Ranger Station. They are located on a small ridge at an
elevation of about 5,100 feet. Workings consist of open cuts and small adits. No structures
exist here either. [67]
Antimony development in the western states was mildly successful, first in Utah and Nevada
and then in California. The Wildrose deposits in Death Valley are in a poorly defined district
that saw only sporadic activity through the years, full commercial development of the
deposits here being hampered by their remoteness, the consequent lack of good transportation
facilities, their small size, and an unsteady market. Their highest production level was
reached during World War I--about 1,000 tons--while the other antimony deposit within the
monument, the Old Dependable in Trail Canyon, produced mostly during 1939 to 1941, but
only about 70 tons worth. Several antimony mines have operated in California. In 1915 when
the Wildrose Mine was the largest individual producer, there was one other operation in Inyo
County (near Bishop), five in Kern County, and one in San Bernardino County. [68] Other
deposits in Inyo County were later found in Trail Canyon in the Panamint Range and on the
west slope of the Argus Range.

Illustration 125. View of prospects and working area looking northeast,

Wildrose Antimonium Group of Mines. Photo by John A. Latschar, 1978.
Illustration 126. Wooden platform site, Wildrose Antimonium Group of

Mines. Photo by John A. Latschar, 1978.
Although new uses had been found for antimony during the war years, such as in matchheads
and in the smear on matchboxes, the market continued unsteady and the prices paid for ore
subject to considerable fluctuation, making only high-grade deposits economically feasible to
mine. The threat of overproduction and a consequent lowering of prices prohibited much
development of lower-grade deposits such as the Wildrose ones, which contained only a few
high-grade pods and pockets. Because the deposits are widely scattered and no single one is
large enough to be mined profitably, because low-cost methods of treating such low-grade
ore are necessary, and because of the high cost of transportation, the ruggedness of the area,
and the lack of a large water supply nearby, the deposits could never be profitably mined at
the prevailing market prices, except for small tonnages of high-grade ore that could be
handsorted. During the war years, 1915 to 1918, the average price for metallic antimony was
22.06¢/lb., and from 1919 to 1938 it was 9.97¢/lb. Mines in the Wildrose area could only be
economically viable if prices ranged between 16-2/3¢ and 33-1/3¢/lb. [69]
The concrete foundations about one-half mile south of the junction of the gravel Wildrose

Canyon Road and the dirt road to the mines, which were tentatively proposed by the LCS
crew as the remains of the reduction plant built about 1915, were identified by the Wildrose
ranger as the ruins of a communications relay building instead, probably of the relay station
shown on the USGS 1972 topographic map of Death Valley. Field crews from the Western
Archeological Center have located two sets of ruins in Wildrose Canyon not inspected by this
writer. One of them sounds as if it might be the ruins of the reduction furnace.
The Wildrose Antimonium Group of Mines consists of four patented properties--the

Monarch, Combination, and Monopoly claims on the south side of Wildrose Canyon, and the
Kennedy Quartz Claim on the north side. In addition, there are several individual deposits
and prospects located near the first group. The Monarch deposit, referred to as the Wildrose
antimony Mine, appears to have been the site of the most concentrated mining efforts in the
area and contains the most extensive workings. The precise discovery date of the Wildrose
Canyon antimony mines is unknown, but on the basis of information acquired during this
study, it is the writer's opinion that the first claim formally staked within the boundaries of
the present national monument was in the vicinity of the present Wildrose Canyon Antimony
Mine. Because of its early discovery date and its association with Dr. S.C. George, who
played an instrumental part in the -early exploration and mining history of the Death Valley
region during the 1800s, and because it was the more productive of the two areas mined for
antimony within the monument, the site is considered eligible for nomination to the National
Register as being of local significance.
deva/hrs/section3b2a.htm

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION III:
THE WEST SIDE
i) Sites (continued)
(2) Wildrose Spring Cave House
(a) History
Wildrose Spring, located on the Wild rose Canyon Road about 1 miles south of its junction
with the turnoff to the Wildrose Ranger Station, was long a popular campsite and meeting
place for the Death Valley Shoshone, who traveled seasonally in search of pinyon nuts from
the floor of Death Valley to the upper Wildrose area via Death Valley Canyon on the east'
slope of the Panamint Range. [70] It may be safely assumed that roving travelers and
prospectors camped at the spring from the time of earliest mineral explorations in the region.
When the Wildrose charcoal kilns were producing for the Modoc Mine, Wildrose Spring
would have been a natural rest stop for the burro teams hauling the charcoal west. Pete
Aguereberry, Shorty Harris, and others frequently camped there in travels between Harrisburg
and Ballarat in the early 1900s. While Skidoo's mining operations flourished between 1906
and 1917, the Wildrose stage stop existed less than one-quarter mile further south, consisting
of a station, corral, blacksmith shop, and other outbuildings.
Dates of occupation for the Wildrose Spring cave house could not be definitely ascertained.
Allusions to similar structures in the area were found, however: a 1904 water location for
"Lower Emigrant Spring" mentioned that the spring was situated "on down canyon about half
mile from cave house in Wild Rose Mining District on road to Death Valley"; [71] Burr
Belden, in relating the experiences of Shorty Borden in Death Valley, recounts that he
"arrived in Death Valley early in the 1920's and put blankets down in an Emigrant Canyon
cave which he enlarged, fitting the opening with a door and window." [72] Both these
references, however, appear descriptive of a structure or structures further north in upper
Emigrant Canyon.
Frederick Clark, who drove a stage between Ballarat and Skidoo in 1910, said that he
changed horses at Wildrose Stage Station, "which was located about a quarter of a mile down
the canyon from the old Kennedy-Grundy place, now removed from the present highway."
[73] The distance given here corresponds perfectly to the location of the cave house and a
nearby platform site. The two men mentioned were associated with antimony mines in the
Wildrose area during this time period and certainly might have had some sort of shelter or
home here. In 1915 Wildrose Spring was described as a "much-used camping place on the
http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/deva/section3b2b.htm[7/26/2008 3:06:41 PM]

road to Death Valley by way of Emigrant Springs. The water is very good and the supply is
plentiful." [74]
Edna Perkins, during her journey through Death Valley in the 1920s, met a small group of
cowboys driving cattle to a feeding ground in Wildrose Canyon. The impression she gives is
that they were heading for a spring near the charcoal kilns, but upon reaching Wildrose she
and her companions found the cattle and also a two-room stone shack with an iron roof near
"the spring at Wild Rose." [75]
(b) Present Status
The Wildrose Spring cave house is hewn out of the cliff on the east side of the Wildrose
Canyon Road on the edge of the wash near the spring. Its timber-framed door is shored up
and strengthened by a surrounding masonry wall. The room itself measures about six by
fifteen feet and is spanned by timbers. A small screen vent has been placed above the
doorway. About 200 feet north of the cave entrance and also along the edge of the wash is a
level platform site supported by a stone retaining wall. The possibility exists that this was
associated with the cave in some way. [76]
Illustration 127. Closeup of entrance to Wildrose Spring

cave house, showing interior wall. Photo by Linda W.
Greene, 1978.

Illustration 128. Wildrose Spring cave house entrance. Note possible

leveled building site on hillside to left of cave. Photo by Linda W. Greene,
1978.
Too little data has been found on the Wildrose Spring cave house to either determine its
purpose or imbue it with any historical significance. It is possible that it dates to at least the
early 1900s when this route between the Panamint Valley and the Emigrant section was
heavily utilized by stage and foot travel. Whether it was originally, designed as a cool and
protected temporary home or camping spot, or whether it served as a cold-storage vault or
spring house for a residence or store of some kind on the nearby platform site is unknown.
Nonetheless, the cave is an interesting resource and a policy of benign neglect is
recommended.
deva/hrs/section3b2b.htm

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION III:
THE WEST SIDE
(3) A Canyon Mine
(a) History
This site was not visited by the writer in 1978, but was inspected by Bill Tweed and Ken
Keane in connection with the LCS survey in 1975. The area was once accessible either via a
2-1/4-mile-long unimproved dirt road leading east down A Canyon from the Emigrant
Canyon Road and eventually turning into a foot trail necessitating a 1-1/4-mile-long hike to
the mine workings, or by following about a one-mile-long dirt road leading north from the
Wildrose Canyon Road about 2-3/4 mites east of Wildrose Ranger Station. This latter route
led to a corrugated-metal structure undoubtedly connected with the mine workings, which are
one-half mile further north on the ridge along a foot trail. In later years a bulldozer road was
pushed north up the ridge from Wildrose Canyon over to the mine and on over the ridge
down into the head of A Canyon. All these routes were heavily washed during flash floods in
September 1975, making the site accessible only by foot.
The mine workings themselves consisted of a solid wooden headframe standing over a wood-
lined shaft. A collapsed wood frame tool shed and blacksmith shop, roofed with corrugated
metal and built on the dump near the shaft, had partially collapsed by 1975. A good-sized
brick forge was still located inside the building. Bulldozer prospecting was evident in the
general vicinity of the mine.
The only mention found of early activity in the area is a notation mentioning the discovery by
Reno men of high-grade silver ore in A Canyon reputedly running up to 2,500 ozs. in silver.
[77]
(b) Present Status
The current appearance of the site is unknown.
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Illustration 129. Headframe and tool shed, A Canyon Mine. Photo courtesy
of William Tweed, 1975.
Illustration 130. Forge inside tool shed, A Canyon Mine. Photo courtesy of
William Tweed, 1975.
The LCS crew determined that this site was probably a 1920s to 1930s operation. The only
structures on site of any particular interest were the headframe and the timbered inclined
shaft, both being solidly reinforced and in relatively good condition. On the basis of current
data, this site has no significance in the history of mining in Death Valley. Benign neglect is
recommended.

deva/hrs/section3b2c.htm

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION III:
THE WEST SIDE
(4) Nemo Canyon Mines
(a) History
Mining activity in the Nemo Canyon area was contemporary with mineral development at
Skidoo and Harrisburg. The only claims in this area of which specific mention was found are
the Eureka Nos. 1, 2, and 3, located 10 April 1908 by Judge Frank G. Thisse of Skidoo and
situated in Nemo Canyon about 1,500 feet east of the Skidoo pipeline. [78] Judge Thisse
returned to Skidoo in April 1908 to have samples of his ore assayed; the results were so
encouraging that a small rush ensued to the discovery site. James Arnold, general manager of
the Skidoo Trading Company, was in partnership with Thisse, and proceeded with a
wagonload of supplies to the area with intentions of setting up a camp. Because of its
proximity to the pipeline and its location within one-half mile of the wagon road, it was
assumed that the mine would be easy and cheap to work and profitable to develop. With
visions of the birth of a new bonanza camp, many people descended on the area within a
short time from Harrisburg and other surrounding communities. The extent of development
activity at other mines in the canyon is unknown, although there were notices of more strikes
in the ensuing months. [79]
Frank Thisse's original find evidently later became known as the Nemo Mine and was
referred to in August 1908 as a profitable gold- and silver-producing venture whose silver
samples were assaying over 2,000 ozs. of silver and 1 oz. of gold per ton. Although still
owned by Thisse and associates of Skidoo, the property was under lease to S.E. Ball and
partners (later connected with the Tucki Mine) who were extracting and shipping ore
averaging around $300 per ton. [80] Another large strike was reported in Nemo Canyon
during the winter of 1908, with assays yielding over $200 in gold and 86 ozs. of silver per
ton. The area was at this time evidently judged to have some promising production potential,
because word was soon being spread by none other than Shorty Harris that a ten-stamp mill
was to be erected. [81]
The eleven claims comprising the Nemo Mine were leased by George Cook and Joe
Wosnieck about three weeks later, and ore was soon uncovered assaying up to $3,300 a ton in
silver. The site was being touted as "one of the very best silver properties in the county. [82]
Prospective purchasers Wingfield and Scott, of Goldfield fame, and Bob Montgomery of
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Skidoo, had examined the claims, whose purchase price was set at $50,000 by Thisse and J.R.
Mason, the co-owners. In addition Cook and Wosnieck were demanding $20,000 for their
interests, making a total of $70,000, a sum not considered exorbitant for a property on which
there was indication of a deeper, richer, and more permanent ore body yet to be developed.
[83] At this time the site consisted of both surface and underground workings.
The Goldfield capitalists evidently decided not to invest in the promising mine, possibly
deciding the asking price was a bit steep. Whatever the reason, Cook and Wosnieck
continued to operate their lease, happily discovering that the ore body grew larger with depth,
and by January 1909 they had assembled 300 tons of silver for shipment to the Four Metals
Company smelter in Keeler. An experimental consignment of three tons was sent there by
wagon in February, with values ranging from $600 to $700 a ton. Because the smelter could
not assure treatment before two or three weeks, the ore was then shipped to Hazen, Nevada,
for processing. [84]
Another strike in Nemo Canyon was announced in March 1909 by a brother of Bob
Montgomery (owner of the Skidoo Mine) who reportedly found silver ore assaying 2,800
ozs. in silver and 4 ozs. in gold per ton. Meanwhile the Cook lease on the Nemo Mine was
still yielding a great quantity of high-grade ore, worth over $300 per ton. Five outfits were
now operating in Nemo Canyon and in Wood Canyon immediately to the north, most being
company ventures, with some leasing activity. [85]
From 1909 to 1920 there is a noticeable dearth of information about mines in Nemo Canyon,
indicating that despite its spectacular early production record during the short period from the
spring of 1908 to the spring of 1909, the area never attracted much investment capital. In
January 1920 notice appeared that a certain J.J. King was leaving Independence for Nemo
Canyon to check up on some mining claims he owned there. S.E. Ball, who had held a lease
on the Nemo Mine property in 1908, was still working a silver claim in Nemo Canyon in
1922, and had reportedly removed ore worth $10,000 from the mine through the years. [86]
This might refer to the Grey Eagle lode mining claim in Nemo Canyon, one-third interest in
which was transferred by Ball and Ed Attaway to Maude E. Attaway in 1924. [87]
During the mid-1930s Walter M. Hoover and a man named Starr were mining in the area and
processing the ore in a small cyanide plant north of Journigan's Mill. In 1938 the Journal of
Mines and Geology listed a Nemo Canyon Antimony Mine, comprising six claims at an
elevation of 5,000 to 6,000 feet. Owned by a Death Valley Junction resident, the mine's
limited development involved only open cuts and some shallow shafts. [88] The names of
two claims in the Nemo Canyon area were found in the monument files. The Nemo Gold
Claims, thirteen in number, were the result of fraudulent promotions by the Blue Chip
Mining Company. The Nemo Chief, two gold claims with no production record, served only
as the home of an itinerant miner. By 1971 Omar L. Heironimus, owner of the Nemo Silver
Corporation of Beatty, Nevada, acquired the water rights to a spring near the Journigan Mill
site, and was leasing the property with the intention of cyaniding the tailings dump there. By
this means it was hoped to acquire enough capital to mine Heironimus's gold and silver
properties in Nemo Canyon. [89]

Illustration 131. Building site in foreground and prospecting activity along

hillside in back, Moonlight claims. Photo by Linda W. Greene, 1978.
Illustration 132. Nemo #1 Mine, later relocated as Christmas Mine. Photo

(b) Present Status
Adjacent to the road to the Christmas Mine, on the south side and about one mile east of the
Wildrose Canyon road, is a site marked by a Mine Hazard Area" sign. No structures remain,
but it is assumed from the burned boards and assorted metal refuse on the ground that at least
one wooden building once stood here. Purple glass has been found in the area. In the hills
immediately to the south are some adits and prospect holes that were not visited by the
writer--mining activity appeared to be minimal.
Mineral development in Nemo Canyon, beginning' about 1908, appears to have been of
relatively short and discontinuous duration, never sustaining such large-scale activity as
found at Harrisburg or Skidoo. The largest operation in the vicinity was apparently the Nemo

Mine. Its notice of location placed it slightly over one-quarter mile east of the Skidoo
pipeline, which passed through the camp at the site labelled "Christmas Mine" on the USGS
Emigrant 'Canyon quadrangle map and continued south. It therefore seems plausible that the
Nemo Mine, referred to in the 1930s as the Nemo Canyon Antimony Mine, was the earliest
location of what later became the Nemo #1 Mine operated by Omar Heironimus and a man
named Mondell. This property, on a hillside south of the "Christmas Mine" at about 6,000
feet elevation, was relocated by Ralph Pray in 1974 as the Christmas Mine. It will be
discussed in the following section. The site located a mile east of the Wildrose Canyon Road
and designated by three adits on the USGS Emigrant Canyon quad contains the Moonlight
claims, owned. originally by Heironimus and later also relocated by Pray. (A 15 April 1927
article in the Mining Journal, p. 29, mentions the Moonlight Group of seven claims in the
Wild Rose Mining District, recently acquired by Long Beach, California, investors for
$755,000.) None of the mining sites in Nemo Canyon meets the criteria of evaluation for
associative significance necessary for nomination to the National Register.
End of Volume I, Part 1
deva/hrs/section3b2d.htm

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION III:
THE WEST SIDE
Beginning of Volume I, Part 2

(5) Christmas (Gift) Mine
(a) History
A Christmas (or Christmas Gift) Mine antimony lode was reportedly discovered by Dr. S.G.
George on Christmas Day 1860, during George's unsuccessful second attempt to locate the
lost Gunsight lead. [90] Earlier that year he had headed a contingent that joined forces with
the New World Mining and Exploration Company from San Francisco, headed by Col. H.P.
Russ, and together they had entered Owens Valley. George and a detachment had separated
from the main body here and headed east, discovering promising ledges in the rugged
Panamints and organizing the Telescope Mining District. Returning to San Francisco, some
unscrupulous people involved in these discoveries managed to secure investment capital there
that would, they assured, be sunk into development of the Telescope District mines. Instead,
most of these con artists left town with the monies; none of the original discoveries were
actually placed on the market, nor were any of the companies formed to work. the Telescope
mines legitimate.
Late in 1860 the George party made another trip out from Visalia, California, into the Death
Valley country, resulting in discovery of a Christmas Gift Mine on December 25. Not having
the necessary equipment to work the mine, and because winter was at hand and snow was
already falling, the expedition started home. The following year W.T. Henderson and three
others began work on a 150-foot tunnel to tap the Christmas ledge, but they were eventually
driven out by unfriendly Indians. [91]
It is the writer's opinion, due to personal research findings and discussions with others
familiar with mining activity in this section, that the so-called Christmas lode discovered by
Dr. George is not the Christmas Mine found on the USGS Emigrant Canyon quad, but is
instead what is today known as the Wildrose Canyon Antimony Mine southeast of the
Wildrose Ranger Station. On the basis of data procured it appears that the workings found at
what is presently labelled the Christmas Mine were first excavated in connection with work
in Nemo Canyon in the early 1900s. As mentioned in the Nemo Canyon section, one of the
http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/deva/section3b2e.htm[7/26/2008 3:06:50 PM]

present Christmas Mine sites is a relocation of the Nemo #1 Mine. In 1906 labor was
performed in this area by the Christmas Mining Company under E.F. Schooley. Notice was
found in 1908 that a Dan McLeod held a two-year lease on the Christmas Gift in the
Panamint Range, "probably the oldest known mine in the county," on which he intended to
install a twenty-horsepower gasoline hoist. The most recent owner of this property has been
the Keystone Canyon Mining Company of Pasadena, California, Ralph E. Pray, president.
[92]
In researching the Christmas Mine it is easy to become confused initially by references to the
productive and more developed Christmas Gift Mine that was part of the Mackenzie Group
(including the Pluto and Lucky Jim) four miles north of Darwin. This was a silver-lead mine
being worked at least by 1890 and through 1948. [93]
(b) Present Status
The area designated Christmas Mine on the USGS Emigrant Canyon quad consists of two
sites and is reached via dirt road leading east from the Emigrant Canyon Road about 4-1/4
miles south of Emigrant Pass. The mine camp is about 1-3/4 miles east of the Emigrant
Canyon Road; the only extant building there is a small wood and corrugated-metal shack.
The cabin is posted "Property of Christmas Mining Co." and contains only some bedsprings
and chairs. Also on-site are a tin-sided pit toilet and two building sites southwest of the
cabin. Nothing remains on them now but piled lumber and an old refrigerator. The burned
ruins of a dugout can be found, consisting of a shallow hole filled with metal scraps.
Northwest of the privy is a stone masonry support that once carried a portion of the Skidoo
pipeline across a wash. The support is fifteen feet long, four feet wide, and two feet high. The
pipeline scar is visible continuing on up over the hills to the southwest. Continuing east from
the residential area on a four-wheel-drive road one arrives after one-half mile at the scene of
some prospecting activity. Not much is left on site. Near the road is the ruin of a collapsed
dugout or timbered adit, with beams visible protruding from the rubble. On west, around the
top of the hill, are a caved-in stope and the remains of a timbered shaft. Much metal refuse
lies around, but there are no building remains.
Illustration 133. Christmas Mine residential area, view to east-northeast.


Illustration 134. Caved-in shaft at prospect site due east of residential area.
Illustration 135. Masonry support for Skidoo pipeline, near Christmas Mine
camp. Photo by Linda W. Greene, 1978.
A dirt road south from the residential area leads to a more complex mining operation, the
Nemo #1 Mine that was relocated as the Christmas Mine by Ralph Pray in 1974. Remains on
site consist of an ore bin, rails, trestle bents, and several small shafts, one of which was
framed and timbered with pinyon pine logs, testifying to the longevity of mining operations
here. Three of the shafts appeared to have been operated by means of hand winches. In 1975
some prospecting work was still being carried out in the tunnels. [94]
A history of mining activities within Nemo Canyon may. be found in an earlier section.
Although the spot labelled Christmas Mine on the USGS Emigrant Canyon quad map has
been thought of as the site of the first claim staked within the present monument boundaries,
it is fairly certain that George's early discovery was actually made further south. Sporadic
attempts to work this Christmas Mine all the way up through the 1970s have been made, with

its largest production during World War I. Exact output figures have not been found,
however. [95]
The remains at both this site and at the. Christmas Mine immediately south are a strong
mixture of old and new, and it is difficult to determine which workings were the result of the
earliest mining activity. The discovery of rounded pinyon pine log framing in the shaft at the
second site indicates that this operation was underway early, with the ore bin and rail system
being later additions. This site is not eligible for National Register status due to a lack of
importance in Death Valley mining history. Purple glass on the residential site further north
suggests an earlier occupancy than indicated by the miner's shack standing there today.
Dating the workings at the Christmas Mine prospect site near the cabin is almost impossible
because of the lack of physical evidence. These last two sites are not deemed eligible for
nomination to the National Register due to a lack of integrity and associative significance.
The Skidoo pipeline support near the mine camp will be included within the route of the
pipeline on the revised Skidoo Historic District National Register form.
Illustration 136. Shaft lined with pinyon pine logs, Christmas Mine
(formerly Nemo #1). Photo courtesy of William Tweed, 1975.

Illustration 137. Open stope at Christmas Mine (formerly Nemo #1).

Photo courtesy of William Tweed, 1975.
deva/hrs/section3b2e.htm

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION III:
THE WEST SIDE
(6) Bald Peak Mine
(a) History
This site, located about 1-1/2 miles northwest of Bald Peak, was not visited by this writer,
both because of its inaccessibility and because it had been inspected by two members of the
LCS survey crew, Bill Tweed and Ken Keane, in December 1975. The area is reached via a
dirt road leading east for 2-1/2 miles from the Emigrant Canyon Road about 1-1/2 miles
south of Emigrant Pass. This access was reportedly badly damaged by heavy rains in the fall
of 1975.
The site appeared to Tweed and Keane to be a talc operation, dating from perhaps the 1940s
or 1950s. On-site was a wooden-framed building with corrugated-metal walls and roof
standing on a level platform area that was supported by a corrugated-metal retaining wall. A
short distance further southeast up the canyon was a good-sized one-chute ore bin; the mine
workings were located on top of the steep slope behind. [96]
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Illustration 138. Corrugated-metal cabin at mine 1-1/2 miles northwest of

Bald Peak. Photo courtesy of William Tweed, 1975.
Illustration 139. Ore bin at Bald Peak mine. Photo courtesy of William
Tweed, 1975.
(b) Present Status
The present condition of the mine structures is unknown.
This site, probably a post-Depression Era talc operation, lacks National Register eligibility.
The scarcity of data on the mine suggests little production and associative connection with
any of the more important miners or mining companies that operated in Death Valley.
deva/hrs/section3b2f.htm
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Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION III:
THE WEST SIDE
(7) Argenta Mine
(a) History
The earliest reference to an Argenta Mine, albeit an ambiguous one, was an 1875 notice that
"Argenta" was the new name being given to the Jupiter Mine owned by the Parker company,
evidently located somewhere in the Panamint region. [97] It is highly unlikely, however, that
the Argenta Mine near Harrisburg was ever worked this early.
As far as can be determined, this latter mine was first located in 1924, was operated by the
Rainbow Mining Company in 1925, and then by the Southwestern Lead Corporation from
1927 to 1928. In 1927 notice of the mine appeared in the Inyo Independent when the Argenta
Nos. 1-12 mining claims in the Wild Rose District were deeded first from Ed L. and Hazel
Wright of Los Angeles to Charles W. Stanley, and then by him and his wife, Lulu G., also of
Los Angeles, to the Southwestern Lead Corporation of Delaware. At the same time an
Alonzo and Martha E. Stewart of Los Angeles deeded the Argenta Group (Argenta,
Leadfield, and Woodside mining claims) for $5,000 to Southwestern Lead Corporation. A bit
confusing is a later notice of the transfer of deeds to the Argenta, Leadfield, and Woodside
mining claims for $2,000 from a D.M. Driscoll of Los Angeles to the same Alonzo Stewart.
Theoretically, this should have preceded Stewart's transfer of ownership to Southwestern
Lead. [98]
Around 1930 George G. Greist, evidently an employee of the lead company, filed suit against
C.W. Stanley and the Southwestern Lead Corporation in lieu of unpaid wages. A Decree of
Foreclosure and Order of Sale were instituted against the company in May of that year for
$3,699.85, and the Argenta, Leadfield, Woodside, Thanksgiving, and Argenta Nos. 1-12
mining claims were offered for sale. [99] The litigation resulted in Greist becoming the new
owner, relocating the property as nine silver-lead claims. This gentleman, referred to as a
one-time sheriff of the Panamints, was indicated as living at the mine in 1933 and being a
neighbor of Pete Aguereberry. [100]
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Illustration 140. Argenta Mine. View to southwest of main street of mine

camp, February 1969. Photo by Chief Ranger Homer Leach, courtesy of
DEVA NM.
Illustration 141. Argenta Mine camp, view to west-northwest showing

bunkhouses and upper mining level, February 1969. Photo by Chief Ranger
Homer Leach, courtesy of DEVA NM.
In 1943 the property was owned by Greist and an Ed L. Wright and was under lease to H.T.
Kaplin and Sam Nastor of Los Angeles, with Greist superintending the operation.
Development at this time consisted of a 30-foot shaft on top of the ridge and a 630-foot adit
with lateral workings and a crosscut. Ore assaying 17% zinc had also been found in an open
cut south, of the shaft. The average grade of ore shipped contained 12% zinc, 5% lead, 2.80
ozs. silver, and .08 oz. gold. Seventy tons of lead ore shipped assayed 27% lead and $8 per
ton in gold and silver. Equipment on-site included a machine shop, an electric-light plant
with a Fairbanks-Morse gas engine, an Ingersoll-Rand portable compressor, an assay office,
and assorted boarding- and bunkhouses. By 1950 only George Griest was named as owner,
employing two men in prospecting work at the north end of the adit.
Two other properties mentioned in Wood Canyon were the Combination Group, owned by

Wilson and associates and worked in the early 1900s, and the Arnold Plunket claims to the
south. [101]
(b) Present Status
The Argenta Mine is located in the Wildrose Mining District along a ridge on the north side
of Wood Canyon at an elevation of about 5,500 feet. The site is about 1-1/4 miles east of the
Emigrant Canyon Road via a dirt cutoff just before the canyon road crosses Emigrant Pass.
The owner, George Griest, never made much of an attempt to mine here, living off public
charity until the early 1960s when he became eligible for a California State old-age pension.
[102]
The mine area consists of two levels of workings. Lower on the hill is the "main street," once
lined on both sides with about twenty assorted small, one-room boarding and bunkhouses and
with other camp necessities such as a chicken coop. All buildings are presently in a shocking
state of decay due to weathering and vandalism. Most of the structures, which were built of
wood, plasterboard, and corrugated metal, have completely fallen in or been pulled down.
The only items of any interest are on the north side of the street, in the form of remains of a
stone dugout with a wooden false front, and, just southwest of this, a round, concrete cistern
built underground, appearing to have a capacity for several thousand gallons of water. In the
photographs of the camp site taken in 1969 the stone dugout appears to have been located
behind a large building in the center of the community that probably functioned as the
cookhouse. The dugout was probably the root cellar and the cistern nearby stored the camp
drinking water.
Higher and further north on the hillside is a timbered adit and the ruins of at least two other
buildings, one having been a two-story frame structure on the edge of the dump, and the
other a smaller one-story frame building, possibly the assay office. Only the flooring and
basement level framing of the larger building remain somewhat intact; the other structure is
completely destroyed.
An incredible amount of refuse is evident everywhere on the site, ranging from modern
garbage to old machinery parts to vintage 1940s and 1950s car bodies, the entire site
resembling a tremendous junkyard.
The Argenta. Mine never yielded a profitable output nor do any structures of historical
significance remain on the property. The site was not an important Death Valley mining
operation and is not eligible for inclusion on the National Register.
Illustration 142. Argenta Mine. View to west-northwest down main street of

mine camp showing almost total destruction of buildings. Photo by Linda

W. Greene, 1978.
Illustration 143. Argenta Mine. View to northwest of mining area showing

remains of two-story building. Photo by Linda W. Greene, 1978
deva/hrs/section3b2g.htm

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION III:
THE WEST SIDE
(8) Napoleon Mine
(a) History
The Napoleon and Napoleon Nos. 1-2 quartz claims, situated one-half mile south of
Harrisburg, were located by Pete Aguereberry on 1 January 1911 and recorded on 24 January.
The location date of the Napoleon No. 3 was not found in the record books, but it was
probably several years later, since it was not filed for record until 14 September 1935. [103]
The Napoleon No. 1 is east of the Napoleon Claim and the No. 2 is south of it. The No. 3
joined the Napoleon No. 2, but on which side is unknown. The only reference to these claims
in the literature was found in Pipkin, who was evidently told by Pete that after he had done
some development work on the Napoleon he leased the claim to two men who reportedly
removed $35,000 in gold ore from the mine within a six-month period and then abandoned it,
leaving it ruined by improper timbering and gopher holing. [104] This large a sum seems
open to. question. In 1946, when Pete's estate was settled, ownership of the Napoleon Nos. 1-
4 was divided among the heirs, Ambroise Aguereberry receiving an undivided one-half
interest, and the other half being given equally to Joseph, Arnand [Arnaud], James Peter,
Mariane, and Catherine Aguereberry. [105]
The Napoleon Group is mentioned in the Journal of Mines and Geology in 1951 as
comprising four unpatented claims, the Napoleon Nos. 1-4, owned by Ambroise Aguereberry
of Trona, California. Development consisted of an 80-foot-deep inclined shaft and several
adits, all within an 8O0-foot radius. Most of the ore mined has been removed from three adits
southwest of the shaft. During sporadic operations from 1937 to 1939 lessees had shipped
fifty-five tons of gold- and silver-bearing ore to custom mills, but the operation was currently
idle. [106]
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Illustration 144. Shaft, tram rails, and ore chute at Napoleon Mine. Photo
courtesy of William Tweed, 1975.
Illustration 145. Ore bin and collapsed chute southwest of main adit,
Napoleon Mine. Photo courtesy of William Tweed, 1975.
(b) Present Status
The Napoleon Mine is situated on the north side of a ridge about one mile south-southwest of
the Cashier Mine workings. The site consists of two working levels--the lower containing a
main adit and an ore chute, with a timbered vertical shaft between, some dry-stone retaining
walls, and the remains of a mine tramway. Uphill about one-quarter mile southwest of this
first complex are a second ore bin with a collapsed chute and several adit entrances. Purple
glass has been found on this site.
The Napoleon Mine has no significance except for its association with Pete Aguereberry,
which is minimal. The writer does not recommend that it be included within the boundaries
of the proposed Harrisburg Historic District. The site does not offer potential for further

research or historical archeology.
deva/hrs/section3b2h.htm

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION III:
THE WEST SIDE
(9) Harrisburg
(a) History
i) Shorty Harris and Pete Aguereberry Strike Ore on Providence Ridge
As is the case with most important events when two or more strong-minded participants are
involved, the details surrounding the discovery of the first strike at Harrisburg Flats are open
to controversy. The find was made by two of Death Valley's most noted mining personalities-
-Pete Aguereberry and Shorty Harris. The former's version of the tale is that around the first
of July 1905 the two men met at Furnace Creek Ranch, by chance, and decided because of
the heat of the valley to pull out for the Panamints together and do some prospecting,
although Shorty was actually more interested in getting to the 4th of July celebration at
Ballarat. After negotiating the old "dry trail" through Blackwater Wash, they arrived on the
open plateau now known as Harrisburg Flats, about nine miles northeast of Wildrose Spring.
Shorty, being on horseback and driving his mules harder, was some distance ahead of
Aguereberry, who at this point saw a promising-looking ledge on the north side of a low long
hill. Chipping off a piece, he found it contained free gold. Hurriedly catching up with his
companion, Pete showed him the ore sample, and the two excitedly made plans to continue
on to Wildrose Spring to replenish their water and then return and stake out claims. During
this time of further prospecting and exploratory work, the two divided up the outcroppings,
Aguereberry staking claims on the north side of the hill, which later became known as
"Providence Ridge" or "Providence Hill," including the Eureka Nos. 1-4, while Shorty took
claims on the south side, which later incorporated the Providence Group. These finds were
located at the extreme northeast end of an east-west ridge that rises about 200 feet from the
mesa. The initial name agreed on for the camp was Harrisberry, in the hopes that a strong
association with Shorty Harris would attract prospective investors.
The "partners" split up at this point, both eventually heading for Ballarat, Shorty to spread the
word of his new find and Pete to pick up a grubstake that was being sent there by money
order. By the time Aguereberry returned to his hill within the next few days, the rush was on,
with gold-seekers from Ballarat swarming all over the strike area, necessitating that
Aguereberry reestablish his original ground by both persuasion and force. Harris's version of
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all this is slightly different, suggesting that he found the first evidence of riches and was
forced to share the discovery with Pete. According to one newspaper, "Pete and Shorty have
not flipped coins to determine who is actually responsible for the strike, but the credit is
generally given to Shorty, perhaps from previous achievements." [107] The real facts may
never be known, but however it happened, another Death Valley boom camp had been born.
[108]
ii) The Area Fills Up Rapidly
Word of the strike spread quickly, and by August 1905 at least twenty parties were locating
monuments in the surrounding hills within a three-mile radius of the original discovery,
about fifty locations being made immediately. The new area was included in the Wild Rose
Mining District, and Frank C. Kennedy, a prominent mining man of the region, was
appointed Deputy County Recorder. Samples from the immense quartz ledge, which, it would
turn out, stretched north to the future Skidoo and Emigrant Spring mining areas, were
assaying from $90 to $200 per ton in free-milling gold, with some rumored to have values as
high as $500. It was reported that 300 men and some women were settled in the new camp,
which was already organizing a townsite company, somewhat depopulating Ballarat and
Darwin and also attracting many from Rhyolite, who tramped the approximately sixty-eight
miles via the watering spots at Daylight Spring, Hole-in-the-Rock, Furnace Creek Ranch, and
Blackwater Wash. [109]
As with every large strike in the Panamint Range, the call went up for Inyo County residents
to rally and implement plans to assist the mining district by providing teaming services,
agricultural supplies, and restaurant, hotel, and merchandising facilities to incoming miners.
Ballarat was the main supply point. By September, 200 claims had been recorded in the area;
with the advent of cooler weather, the camp's population was expected to triple with new
arrivals from Nevada. [110] Timber and water, essentials to a new mining community, were
near at hand, the latter available either at Emigrant Spring, seven miles northwest; at
Blackwater Spring, about seven miles to the northeast; or at Wild Rose Spring, about nine
miles southwest. At Emigrant Spring a new pipeline was being shipped in to funnel water
from the spring to the roadside where it would be more accessible. [111]
iii) Cashier Gold Mining Company Is Formed
Four more claims mentioned in the Harrisburg area, adjoining Aguereberry's property, were
the Wild Horse, Slow Elk, Modoc, and Monarch, owned by J.W. Sellers, l.T. Davis, Bill
Pollard, Ray Robinson, and W.T. Voorhees. [112]
The intense involvement of "outsiders" in the Harrisbury discoveries and their desire to get in
on the ground floor manifested itself in the immediate bonding of Shorty Harris's strikes to
several millionaires from Tonopah and of Aguereberry's claims to Goldfield capitalists. A
few days earlier Harris had gone to San Francisco where he succeeded in persuading some
investors to visit his property in anticipation of financing development work. [113] The result
of this visit was the formation of the Cashier Mining Company, headed by O.L. Ingalls and
associates (including E.S. Shanklin, who was heavily invested in the Bullfrog National Bank
Mine, and W.A. Jacobs) and owner of nine claims. A survey of the property was to be made
and a company assayer moved in. More important to the residents of the area, probably, was
the news that saloon supplies were on their way! A deal involving $100,000 was rumored to
be pending for the Aguereberry mine. [114]
The survey of the Harrisburg townsite and of the Cashier Gold Mining Company's claims
was undertaken by J.H. Wilson of Cripple Creek, Colorado, who had formerly been an
engineer in Goldfield. He established residence in the area and proceeded to open an

engineering office (touted to be the first such business opened in the Panamint Range). The
company assay work was to be done by a D.E. Blake of Denver, Colorado, who established
the first assay office in the new camp. A William O'Brien, of Bullfrog, was put in charge of
the six men at work sinking three shafts on the property, and work was to be initiated by
driving a tunnel at the foot of the hill to hit the vein as low as possible. [115]
By late October of Harrisburg's first year of existence, the land had been surveyed for a
townsite and tents were constantly springing up in the business section. The Cashier Gold
Mining Company now kept twenty-three men busy, at $3.50 a day, round-the-clock, sinking
two shafts, one in $90 and the other in $700 ore, and running a tunnel. Twenty-seven tons of
high-grade ore had already been mined to be shipped to Keeler. The vast number. of
prospectors swarming the hills created a shortage of vegetables, fruit, ham, bacon, hay, and
grain, as a consequence of which all sold for exorbitant prices. Rumors still persisted of a
deal pending in Goldfield either for the Eureka Group or the Cashier Group (now said to
include fourteen claims), or for both, the amount in question stated to be $160,000. In
February it was reported that owners of the Eureka Group had sold a half interest in the
property to San Francisco investors who paid $15,000 down and intended to build a mill.
[116]
iv) A Multitude of Claims are Located in the Area
In December 1905 a big strike was made on the six claims of the Exjunction Group about two
miles northeast of Harris's Providence Group and owned by U.V. Withee, W.B. Gray, and
W.H. Sanders. Quartz averaging $259 in gold, silver, copper, and lead was being exposed.
Stretching for five miles along this same ledge were forty other claims: beginning at the north
were the Victoria Group of four claims, owned by Will Goodpasture, Dr. Kerns, and John
Sellers; the Exjunction or Sanders Group of six claims owned by Withee, Gray, and Sanders;
the Exjunction Extension Group of four claims owned by Goodpasture; the B & B Group of
six claims owned by Brin and Blumlein; the Check Book Group of three claims owned by the
Oakland Mining Company; three claims owned by the Kawich-Bullfrog Company; the Red
Cross Group of seven claims owned by Tasker Oddie, Luetjens, and Webb; the Annis M.
Group of six claims and the Branley, owned also by the Oakland Mining Company; the
Carrie Nation and Little Hatchet owned by Charles Nations; and the Bunker Hill owned by
Andrew Deck. [117] The Sanders strike had so far shown the best results among all these
promising operations, and the Exjunction property of six claims was the core around which
the Wild Rose Mining Company would soon be incorporated. Two timber claims and a
millsite with water rights would be included in the company holdings. [118]
A synopsis of the mining situation at Harrisburg appeared in the Herald in late December
1905, the result of observations made by some individuals owning claims there:
We found quite a stir both in the new Wild Rose (gold) district and the old
Panamint (silver) district. And this activity is being made principally by
Rhyolite, Goldfield and Tonopah people, with whom outside parties are in some
cases associated. We stopped at the Shorty Harris strike, now being worked by
the Cashier Mining company, and found that a good proposition is being opened
up. The ledge has been cross-cut in a tunnel, and there is about eight feet of ore
carrying rich milling ore, with some shipping values of which we were not
advised. Drifting is now being done on the ore. The day we were there the San
Francisco people, who are intereste, [sic] came and looked over the property.
The Sanders strike, which the Herald reported last week, is bona fide, as far as I
was able to judge, the ore looking very good. We examined and sampled the five
claims owned by Mann, Gorrill, Clemens and myself. Mr. Gorrill had not seen
the ground before, and he was much pleased. These claims [on Silver Mountain]

are old chloriding silver propositions, which were worked many years ago when
the price of silver made profitable the mining of the ore, which had to be packed
a half mile down the hill on animals, hauled in wagons 70 miles to Keeler and
shipped over the C. and C. narrow gauge, a high tariff line, to Selby's smelter in
Frisco. It was profitable work in those days, and with the better facilities for
mining and cheaper transportation, these properties should be profitable now . . . .
Johannesburg, 80 miles distant on the Santa Fe, is the shipping point for the Wild
Rose district. . . [119]
About forty men were now working in and near the camp.
By spring and summer of the next year, discoveries hastening the advent of Skidoo were
being made about two miles from Emigrant Spring, attracting miners from throughout the
region. The Panamints were rapidly filling up, despite continuing transportation problems:
Ballarat is reached by stage from Darwin, and by the line from Randsburg. From
Ballarat to Emigrant and Harrisburg transportation is effected by any sort of
locomotion at command of the individual prospector or mining tourist, there
being no established line of communication. Nor is there as yet any regular
means of travel from the east--from Beatty or Bullfrog. . . . [120]
By April 1906 the Wild Rose Mining Company had been incorporated, with W.B. Gray as
president, W.H. Sanders as vice-president, and Dr. U.V. Withee as secretary-treasurer.
Principal place of business was at Beatty, and the seven main holdings of the company,
situated about 1-1/2 miles from Harrisburg, included the Sanders strike on the Exjunction
gold, silver, copper, and lead claim. [121]
Shorty Harris was continuing to extoll the virtues of "his" town in the Panamints whenever he
journeyed to Rhyolite or other nearby camps. In May 1906 he boasted that there were twenty
tents in residence and that he was planning to try to sink for water shortly, thus negating the
need to haul this precious commodity from Emigrant Spring. Not putting all his marbles in
one bag, however, he had proceeded also to locate two groups of claims near the Emigrant
Spring Gold Eagle strike--the Gold Links and the Gold Eagle's Tail. [122] The Cashier
Mining Company was still having success with the Providence Claim, which seemed to
harbor steady reserves. The Ingalls interest in the company was purchased in the fall of 1906
by T. E. Crawford of Helena, Montana, making him co-partner with Shorty Harris. These two
planned to immediately employ fifteen men on sinking a new shaft. Crawford was also
planning to install, a five-stamp mill on the property that could draw water from the Skidoo
pipeline to Telescope Peak. [123]
By November the Emigrant Spring area was fairly bursting with mining activity. Reputedly
there were 150 miners in the area, a third of whom at least were working at the Skidoo Mine
and on the projected Telescope Peak pipeline. The new townsite was rapidly filling up and
was the terminus of a twice-weekly stage run from Ballarat. Owners of the Denver and
Tramps properties in Rhyolite were still negotiating for the purchase of some Harrisburg
property for a reputed $160,000. Meanwhile the Panamint Greenwater Gold & Copper
Company, organized and financed by Denver capitalists, had purchased the Sweeney Group
of four claims a mile east of Harrisburg. [124]
Silver Mountain, between Harrisburg and Skidoo, was still the scene of several good silver
strikes at this time, which, because of the current high price for that commodity, seemed
assured of a reasonably productive future. As mentioned earlier, rumor held that the outcrops
here had been worked by Mexicans in years past, with the ore being carried on mule or
horseback down from the mountains and then to Keeler for shipping on the Carson and

Colorado Railroad to San Francisco smelters. It was presumed now that with better
transportation facilities and a higher price for silver, these old workings could be operated
even more profitably. Although the wagon road from Rhyolite to Stovepipe Wells was
finished, work was still continuing on the last section to Skidoo. [125]
Some idea of the atmosphere at Harrisburg can be gleaned from the following account of its
New Year's Eve party of 1907:
There were no invitations issued, there was no one asked to go. No one cared
whether any one else went but themselves. No one cared to see any one else
there. Whoever wished to go, went. Many were so inclined. Most of those who
did go reaped a rich reward. No one attended for the enjoyment of the affair. It
was a New Year's party under cover of midnight, held in the great big outdoors.
Desirable mining property was the prize and there were many prizes. So great
was the desire for claims that had been neglected and allowed to expire, that the
re-locators met in numbers of ten and fifteen, in several instances, at some lone
monument, just as the hour of midnight heralded the birth of the new year. Of
course, in such instances, the names of all present were place on the location
certificate and many who expected to secure two or three full claims, considered
themselves fortunate in having been figured in for a tenth interest in one . . . .
The re-located property is now in the hands of energetic men and development
will be done. . . . [126]
Another large purchase in the Harrisburg area was consummated in the spring of 1907 when
San Francisco and Michigan capitalists and John Stukey and his associates Kennedy, Gray,
and Thurman closed two important mining deals, one involving the Ross E. (Rossie) Group
of nine claims to the north of the original Harrisburg strike, purchased for $12,000, and the
other the Providential Group of six claims on the south side, bought for $10,000. Another
purchase mentioned was that of the Combination Group near Harrisburg by the California,
Illinois & Wisconsin Gold Mining Company. [127]
The Cashier property was still undergoing active development at this time. A 165-foot tunnel
had intersected a four-foot ledge of quartz showing values of from $70 to $100 in gold.
Although just the high-grade ore was deemed sufficient to make the property a big mine, all
the ore exposed was thought to be millable on the ground at a profit, which would make it an
immense producer. A mill was being planned by the company, and in connection with that
project they were contemplating use of the pipeline from Telescope Peak to provide the water
supply. The Eureka Mine was still showing rich ledges, and ten tons of high-grade ore were
ready for shipment, averaging $150 a ton. Notice appears at this time of some litigation
between Shorty Harris and Crawford, owners of the Cashier, and J.P. Aguereberry and F.
Flytin, representing the Panamint Midas property, over the Eureka Claim, with two of the
properties finally being consolidated. Work was to be pushed with a force of fifteen or twenty
men; later word suggested that the Cashier-Midas property had been bonded to a Chicago
syndicate. [128]
Meanwhile W.B. Gray was still steadily developing the Wild Rose Mining Company's
property two miles from Harrisburg and had driven a 150-foot adit, exposing a ledge carrying
good values its entire distance. The three principal directors of the company, Edward E. Babb,
W.W. Curtis, and. U.V. Withee, accompanied by a mining engineer, visited the property in
the fall of 1907 to formulate plans for its future development. [129]
The names of a few more mines in the Harrisburg vicinity now come to light: the Blue Jay
Group, near the Cashier; the Jockey Club Group; adjoining the Cashier claims; and the
Rosalind S., Hearst Junior, Hearst Second, and Wilson lodes in the vicinity of the Green

Monster Group. These names reflect the interests of William Randolph Hearst and his father-
in-law G.W. Wilson. These latter lodes were about the last to be recorded in that district,
which now contained forty-three unsurveyed claims in an area of 1-1/2 square miles. Eight
men working on the Cashier Mine were sinking a shaft, and three rich gold veins had been
found crossing the property. It was hoped that a 140-foot tunnel would intersect them in
about seventy more feet. [130]
Illustration 147. Supposedly a view of Harrisburg Camp, taken on Death

Valley Expedition by Yeager and Woodward, May 1908. Tent flap,
however, identifies spot as "Emigrant Springs." Photo courtesy of DEVA
NM.

Illustration 148. Pete Aguereberry, date unknown. Photo courtesy of

DEVA NM.
v) A Mill Appears Imminent
Because conditions at the Cashier Mine seemed so promising at this point, with ultimately
thirteen men working on a shaft and tunnel in which ore values were increasing, entrepreneur
George Brown was moving his rooming house and restaurant from Emigrant Spring to
Harrisburg to accommodate the increasing population. The only other storekeeper in the area
whose name is known is Sam Adams, who ran a general store and saloon in a large tent with
supplies brought in from Ballarat. He supposedly cleared a profit of $6,000 on the saloon in
his first six months there. [131] Because of good showings in tunnel and shaft, the Cashier
Company was still toying with the idea of erecting a ten-stamp cyanide lixiviation mill. To
get the required water to run the operation, Crawford purchased from Ballarat people their
water rights in Jail Canyon, amounting to eight miners' inches flow of water. This would pass
through the Skidoo pipeline to Harrisburg. The addition of fifteen more stamps to the Skidoo
mill was also being contemplated, as well as construction of a ten-stamp mill in Nemo
Canyon to the south and another five-stamp custom mill for Skidoo below the large mill.
These custom milling plants would enable small owners to obtain money for further
development, for it was now considered unprofitable to ship out less than $100 ore. [132]
vi) Litigation Over Aguereberry's Eureka Mine
By March 1909 the Harrisburg mill was on its way from San Francisco, and over 100 tons of
ore were waiting on the dump. Part of the delay in acquisition of the mill evidently concerned
a dispute that had been evolving around Pete Aguereberry's claim to the adjoining Eureka
Mine. Ownership of this property had originally been divided among Pete and his original

grubstakers, Flynn and Kavanagh. When the three decided to sell as soon as possible, Flynn
was put in charge of handling the sale. The result of his dealings with some dishonest mining
promoters was that they--a Captain Fleece (appropriately named), his brother, and two other
partners--acquired a one-third interest in the Eureka property but failed to come through with
their promised down payment. When in November 1906 a bona-fide investor from Rhyolite
named Sherwood Aldrich examined the claims, he became quite excited and offered to buy
them for $180,000 cash if a clear title could be produced.
Illustration 149. Cashier Mill ruin and Pete Aguereberry, 1916. From Dane
Coolidge Collection, courtesy of Arizona Historical Foundation.
This turned out to be impossible, for Fleece and his associates blocked the sale by so
hopelessly tying up the property in litigation that the future seemed bleak indeed for its sale
to anyone except Fleece, who had of course offered to buy the other two interests at a
ridiculously low price. Flynn and Kavanagh became so fed up with the whole situation and
discouraged at their inability to resolve it, that they drew up papers in which they
relinquished all their interest in the claims to Aguereberry. The Eureka property, therefore,
was lying idle while the Cashier Mining Company was producing rich dividends from Shorty
Harris's original claims. Luckily for Aguereberry he still had thirty or more properties in the
surrounding area that he could sell or lease, and so he managed to survive the period. Despite
several trips to Los Angeles during which he tried to reach an agreement with Fleece about
starting operations on the Eureka, no headway was made, Fleece being occupied now with a
leased claim at Skidoo. It was not until the financial panic of 1907 hit that a way out for Pete
seemed to offer itself.
After having kept up the assessment work on the mine for three years, Aguereberry let it lapse
when Fleece and his brother discontinued their mining operations at Skidoo and left that part
of the country. Aguereberry arranged with a friend to relocate the claims and then sell them
back to him, thus establishing himself as sole owner by the spring of 1909. He immediately
commenced driving a tunnel in pursuit of the gold vein and continued working the mine for
the rest of his days. [133]
vii) Cashier Mill Opens for Business
To pass the time until final installation of the Cashier Company mill, its employees were kept
busy blocking out ore and constructing a seven-mile pipeline in connection with the mill's

operation. Although little more could be done on the Harris property until erection of the mill
that would process the large reserves already on hand, Aguereberry was by now steadily
developing the Eureka Claim and drawing out large quantities of ore for shipment to the
Skidoo mill for processing. By the middle of July the Cashier amalgamation and
concentration mill was almost finished, with production expected to begin almost
immediately. It was hoped that proceeds from concentrating the generous amount of high-
grade ore here, running $50 per ton, would enable construction of a larger plant later. By
early August the Cashier Mine had made its first clean-up and sent out the first shipment of
gold bullion. After about two weeks of operation the mill had yielded around $2,000. It was
hoped' that a better percentage of recovery could be realized from the high-grade Cashier ore,
and it was expected that the five-stamp mill would soon produce from $10,000 to $12,000 per
month. [134]
A couple of weeks later the ore being treated at the mill was averaging better than $60 a ton,
mainly in gold. The plant was working about 3-1/2 tons of ore per day, meaning a daily gross
output of about $200, or $6,000 a month by using only one shift. Cyanide tanks had not yet
been built. Ore for the mill was coming from the new tunnel above the old workings, rather
than from the 100-foot shaft. [135] By September the plant was judged so successful an
operation that the company intended to install an additional five 1,000-pound stamps within
the next month, increasing the daily output from the current six tons to about twenty. [136]
A couple of months later a W.C. Price accompanied by a mining engineer traveled to

Harrisburg to view Crawford's mine in anticipation of purchasing it. The exact condition of
the mill at this time is unknown, but in January 1911 the Cashier was shipping its $50 a ton
ore to the Randsburg mill and Aguereberry was shipping $60 rock there. [137] In February
1911 controlling interest in the Cashier Group was acquired by Sam Godby of Pioche, T.G.
Crawford having retired. A force of men sent in to explore the property by the new owner
discovered more areas of ore and definitely proved extensions of the vein and shoots. This
decided Godby to immediately put a ten-stamp mill into operation, suggesting that one had
not been in use up to this time. [138]
In the fall of 1911 two persons named Crowell and Lindley were slated to assume charge of
the Cashier Mine, probably for the incoming owner W.C. Price, their intention being to move
the hoisting plant from the Midas Mine onto the Cashier property. By late October W.C.
Price had taken over direction of the Cashier Mine, and had levied an assessment of 5¢ per
share on the company stock to speed up development. The twenty-five horsepower gasoline
hoisting rig from the Midas was soon added to the Cashier property to facilitate ore retrieval,
and machinery and supplies were being freighted to Harrisburg in preparation for the start of
development work. It was rumored that the company intended to purchase the Eclipse
Development Company mill and move it to the Cashier. In December it was reported that the
Cashier Mine was producing so well that a mill was imperative. What happened to the earlier
one, or whether it was just insufficient for the workload, is unclear. By early 1912, after
development work at the mine had been carried on steadily for over two years, it was being
said that the ore body was now sufficiently proven to justify erection of a (another?) mill.
Possibly for this purpose, assessment no. 6 of 1-1/2 cents per share was levied on the
corporation's stock. [139]
The pipeline froze up during the winter of 1912-13, necessitating extensive repair work. In
the summer of 1913 six leasers were reported to be working at Harrisburg and Skidoo in
addition to Aguereberry, who had mined ten carloads of high-grade ore for shipment.
Requests were still circulating for a custom mill for the area, indicating that any existing
plants were already overloaded. By June 1914 Price had ten or twelve men installing
machinery for concentrating and working his ore; twenty-one tons of equipment were either
ready for shipment to Harrisburg, on the way, or on the ground. [140] Then in September

mention is again made of a five-stamp mill running at Harrisburg. By March 1915 the
Cashier Mine reportedly had a ten-stamp mill with a cyanide plant projected for installation.
Around 1916 the Cashier Mine was said to have produced 15,000 tons of ore averaging $20
per ton, all taken from the first mine level and above since the ore body pinched out below
140 feet in the shaft. The ore was being treated in a five-stamp Joshua Hendy mill and the
pulp run over amalgamation plates and the tailings cyanided. Capacity of the mill was twenty
tons per twenty-four hours, with water supplied from the Skidoo pipeline two miles away and
power furnished by a distillate engine. The property was under lease to P.R. Turner and
Robert Weir, who were stoping on the 100-foot level and intending to run fifty tons through
the mill expired in before their lease expired in October 1916. [141]
viii) Waning Years
From 1917 to 1938 Aguereberry's Eureka Mine (both the Eureka and Cashier properties were
referred to now as the Harrisburg Mine) was listed as active. In 1917 it was said to show
development consisting of a forty-foot crosscut tunnel and several shallow pits. Ten tons of
ore treated at the Cashier mill had yielded $50 per ton. In 1926 it was listed as idle, as was
the Cashier Mine, still owned by the Cashier Mining Company of Los Angeles. On this latter
property a 400-foot inclined shaft with four levels, at 100, 200, 300, and 400 feet, produced
free-milling gold quartz ore assayed at $20 per ton. [142] The Cashier was possibly being
operated by Roy Journigan, who also was working the Skidoo Mine, in 1938; at least he was
treating the ore in his twenty-ton cyanide plant 5 miles northwest of Harrisburg in which he
employed fifteen men. In this year the Cashier property comprised seven claims and was
owned by J.P. Aguereberry. (A brief history of the mine written at this time said that it had
been worked from 1906 to 1910 by the original owners, was bought by the Cashier Mining
Company of Los Angeles, which operated it until 1914, and then was relocated by
Aguereberry. Three thousand tons of ore were estimated to be on the dump, carrying $15 in
gold per ton. Recent ore mined from the tunnel had been hauled to the Journigan Mining and
Milling Company plant at Emigrant Spring for treatment, with production estimated at
$150,000.) [143]
In 1951 the Independent (Cashier) Mine property of seven gold claims was owned by
Ambroise Aguereberry. The workings consisted of a complex arrangement of shafts, adits,
drifts, stopes, crosscuts, and winzes. Ore assaying $7 to $12 per ton in gold and silver had
been found. Several prospect shafts and tunnels existed northwest of the main shaft near the
ridge. Although an adit had been added 250 feet north of the main shaft, the property was
idle. [144]
ix) Mines in the Harrisburg Vicinity
Many claims were located in the general vicinity of Harrisburg about which only a brief
mention could be found: a company owned by one William Taylor operated the Delaware
Claim; Pete Aguereberry located several claims in the area in addition to the Eureka, namely
the Black Hill Mine, one-half mile east of Harrisburg, located on 1 January 1911; the Black
Hill No. 1, one-half mile east from Harrisburg and joining the Black Hill Mine on the north,
also located 1 January 1911; the Eagle Nos. 1 and 2 silver mines, two miles southeast of
Harrisburg, located 19 May 1916; and the Jupiter Quartz Claim, situated 1-3/4 miles east of
Harrisburg on the Blackwater Trail, located 10 January 1917. [145]
More detailed information is available on the Napoleon, Independence, and Independent

mines located by Aguereberry. (The Napoleon Mine was discussed in the previous section.)
The mining group consisting of the South Independence, South Independence No. 1, East
Independence, Independence No. 1, Independent, and Independent Nos. 2 and 3 is unpatented
and covers about 140 acres. The Independent location incorporates the old Cashier lode. The

Independence Mine, later amended and renamed the Independence No. 1, was originally
discovered by Martin Etcheverry in 1909. This was a relocation of the Eureka No. 1 and was
joined on the south by the Providence No. 1; It was later quitclaimed to Pete Aguereberry in
1938. The East Independence, near the mouth of the Cashier Gold Mining Company tunnel
and joining the east side line of the Independence Mine, was located by Martin Etcheverry in
1910 and quitclaimed to Aguereberry in 1938; the South independence (abandoned mining
claim known as the Providence No. 1 owned by the Cashier Gold Mining Company; had two
shafts on the south side of the hill and one tunnel on the east side near the north end line and
was bounded on the north end line by the Independence Mine) and the South Independence
No. 1 (abandoned claim known as Providence No. 2 owned by Cashier Gold Mining
Company; joined on east by South Independence Mine and on north was bounded by
Independence No. 1) were both located by Pete Aguereberry in 1921; the independent (bound
on the south by the Providence No. 2 and joined on the east by the Independence Mine) and
the Independent No. 2 (bound on the south by the Horn Toad No. 3 and joined on the east by
the Independent No. 1) were both located by Martin Etcheverry in 1910 and quitclaimed to
Aguereberry in 1938; the Independent No.. 3 had been located by Etcheverry in 1910 and
was relocated by Aguereberry in 1935. The Independent No. 1 (bound on the south by the
Providence No. 3 and joining the Independent Mine on the east) was located in 1910 by
Martin Etcheverry; as were the Independent No. 3 (bound on the south by the Horn Toad No.
4 and joining the Independent No. 2 on the east) and the Independent No. 4 (bound on the
east by the Independent No. 3.) The South Independent No. 3 was located by Aguereberry
and filed on in 1935.
Upon Aguereberry's death in 1945, his property descended to his heirs--Ambroise, Joseph,
Arnand (Arnaud), James Peter, Mariane, and Catherine Aguereberry. Not all the heirs
contributed assessment work on the claims, however, so that by the fall of 1958 only Joseph
and Ambroise retained Pete's old claims, including the Napoleon. [146] By 1960 the
Independent Mine was being used mainly as a weekend retreat by Joe Aguereberry. Although
it had produced a small amount of ore as recently as 1958, the last profitable shipment was
around 1910. Assessment work in the past few years had consisted only of camp
rehabilitation. [147]
(b) Present Status
Harrisburg is located about 1-3/4 miles east of the Emigrant Canyon Road on the way to
Aguereberry Point. The first structures noticed at the site are the three houses composing Pete
Aguereberry's old mining camp. The westernmost structure appears to be Pete's original two-
room cabin, built about 1907, with a lean-to shed attached to the south side. The cabin still
contains appliances, personal clothing, and assorted kitchen utensils. The middle cabin of the
three, a guest house, was built by 1941 and contains three fully furnished bedrooms and a
bathroom. The cabin on the east, a furnished two-room structure, was not standing when
Aguereberry's estate was settled in 1946 and was evidently built by his nephew Joseph who
became administrator of the property. All the buildings, are white with green trim. Scattered
elsewhere over the site are tool remnants, stone foundations, a metal water tank, another
small one-room shack, and a caved-in dugout, that once consisted of a corrugated-metal roof
over a wood frame.

Illustration 150. Aguereberry Camp at Harrisburg, view to west. Photo by

Illustration 151. Collapsed dugout by road, Aguereberry Camp. Photo by


Illustration 152. Eureka Mine, site of blacksmith shop to right. Photo by

Illustration 153. Stone dugout between Eureka Mine and Cashier Mill ruin.

Illustration 154. Cashier Mill ruin on east end of Harrisburg hill. Photo by
Illustration 155. Dugout on opposite side of ridge from Aguereberry Camp.

Continuing eastward along the slope of the hill one comes to two metal-lined chutes serving
an adit. On around the point of the ridge are another caved-in dugout ruin consisting of wood
debris, corrugated-metal roof remains, and a door section; a tunnel possibly used as living
quarters containing a stoped area, a wooden table, some stove remains, and a wooden frame
doorway inside dividing the space into two rooms. A stove stands outside the entrance; a
stone dugout with standing walls and a wooden door, reputedly lived in once by either Shorty
or Pete in the early days; the ruins of Aguereberry's Eureka Mine and the remains of his
blacksmith shop and compressor buildings; and the three-level ruins of the Cashier Mine and
Mill, consisting of large cement foundations and an impressive one-chute ore bin.
All over the hillside and ridge are prospect holes, stone foundation' walls, and evidence of
underground excavations associated with the Cashier lode, in addition to a timbered 400-foot
inclined shaft. further around on the south side of the ridge is a partial wood- and tin-sided

dugout, and further west another, one completely in ruins with only stone walls 'remaining.
East along the road to Aguereberry Point and south of the road is a tunnel used as living
quarters--a hollowed-out area measuring about five by twelve feet--with the remains of stone
walls out front. Across the gully from it are some waste dumps.
The Harrisburg site is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places as a historic
district. This nomination can be justified on several counts. First is its association with two
well-known Death Valley figures--Jean Pierre Aguereberry and Shorty Harris. Aguereberry
was a Basque, born in 1874, who emigrated to the United States at the age of sixteen. He
worked at many different jobs in his new home, including sheepherding, stagecoach driving,
haying, mining, delivering milk, etc., until short times spent in Tonopah in 1901 and
Goldfield in 1902 convinced him that prospecting and mining were to be his future. When
labor trouble started in the latter town, Pete pulled out, grubstaked by Frank Flynn, a rancher,
and Tom Kavanagh, a restauranteur in Goldfield. Aware of the strikes that had been made in
Death Valley at Bullfrog, Greenwater, the Keane Wonder, and near Ballarat, Pete decided to
prospect toward Rhyolite and Ballarat, eventually winding up at Greenland (Furnace Creek)
Ranch where he met Shorty Harris and began the historic journey that resulted in the
discovery of Harrisburg.
Aguereberry lived on his Eureka Claim at Harrisburg for the remainder of his life, working
the mine mostly by himself and reportedly recovering $175,000 in gold. At various times he
took odd jobs in the area such as stage driving, working on cattle roundups, performing road
work for the county, or mining for others, simply for the sake of diversion, but he always
returned to his own place when he tired of that. He often took tourists through his mine and
also delighted in showing them the view over Death Valley from Aguereberry Point to which
he had driven a 4-1/2-mile-long road by pick, shovel, barrow, and blasting powder. [148]
At the time of Pete's death he left to his heirs in the way of personal property: one Ingersol-
Rand compressor, one jackhammer, one stoper, a 1931 Ford pickup, two shacks, one toilet,
one shower, four beds, one stove, and two dining tables with cooking utensils. 149 When this
writer visited the site in 1978 the cabins were still completely furnished, complete with
made-up beds, furniture, and provisions. The Eureka Mine supported Aguereberry from the
time of its initial discovery up until his death in the 1940s. Connected with this one-man
operation were a compressor building and blacksmith shop.
The Cashier lode claim, originally belonging to Shorty Harris, is distinctive because of the
large mill ruin associated with it. It also at one time had a connected powder house and
blacksmith shop built out of $100-a-ton ore. [150] Although it was worked from about 1906
off, and on until the late 1930s, the mine's exact production record is uncertain, ranging from
a whopping $300,000 in 1916 to $250,000 in 1936, $150,000 in 1938, down to a reported
total of only $70,000 in gold and silver in 1957. [151]
In addition to its association with Aguereberry and Harris, the townsite' is an outstanding
historical resource because of the variety of early mining lifestyles and technological
processes displayed here. Although the short-lived camp was composed mostly of tents,
several other modes of shelter were used over the years, as evidenced by the presence of
structures ranging from Aguereberry's neat homestead to several small caved-in dugouts, a
larger dugout with stone walls and a brush and pebble roof (especially valuable for its
information on construction techniques), exploratory tunnels or adits enlarged and used as
shelters, to frame and metal dugout/shacks on the south side of the ridge. Mining technology
from the early 1900s on is well illustrated by a large multi-level mill ruin, a well-timbered
shaft, extensive underground excavations with stone retaining walls, and adits. Not only are

these interesting in and of themselves but also because of the contrast between the two
mining operations involved--the Cashier Group run by large-scale commercial interests, and
the adjoining Eureka Mine that was basically a one-man operation for forty years.
deva/hrs/section3b2i.htm

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION III:
THE WEST SIDE
(10) Jordan Mine
No information on this site was found, although Benjamin Levy locates it in the Wildrose
Mining District south of the Star of the West Mine. [152]
deva/hrs/section3b2j.htm
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Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION III:
THE WEST SIDE
(a) History
This property was one of the group of silver mines located by the Nossano brothers about
1874 in the nascent Rose Springs Mining District. Not to be confused with it was a mine of
the same name situated on the west side of Woodpecker Canyon in the Panamint City area in
1874. [153] Appearing to be a good-sized operation in 1875, the Star of the West No. 1 was
producing ore assaying at $845.13; the No. 2 was assaying at $1,099.61, and the No. 3 at
$1,189.13. [154] Included with the properties purchased by the Inyo Mining Company in
1876, the mine had no notable production thereafter. [155]
(b) Present Status
The location of the Star of the West Mine was not pinpointed by this writer, although Levy
places it south of the North Star Mine. [156]
Due to the paucity of documentary data on the Star of the West Mine, it was probably not a
significant part of Death Valley mining history.
deva/hrs/section3b2k.htm
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Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION III:
THE WEST SIDE
(a) History
The North Star Mine is especially difficult to research because this was a fairly common
name for mines of that period. This particular claim was another one of the group of silver
mines located by the Nossano brothers toward the end of 1874, and was reportedly located
three to five miles south of the Garibaldi. One press report noted
That the valuable mines in the Panamint range are not confined to those located
in the Panamint District alone is certain from what I have learned in the last few
days, and know from ore received here from the Rose Spring District, twenty-
five miles north of Panamint, in the same range of mountains. The ore in good
part is of the same character as that of Panamint. Assays made by J. L. Porter of
Cerro Gordo . . . give the very good return of $300 to $1,000 per ton in silver.
These mines are the Star of the West, the North Star, owned by Mr. J. Morsano
[Nossano]. [157]
One can easily be misled by numerous descriptions of activity on a North Star ledge "about
2-1/2 miles in a Northwest direction from the town of Panamint," about which information
surfaced with some frequency. [158] Because of certain vagaries in the boundary descriptions
this may or may not be the North Star Mine in the Panamint Mining District "On which the
Company are running a cut or level from the head of Marvel Canyon." [159] In April 1875
assays were obtained on the Nossano Brothers' newly-discovered silver ledges in the Rose
Springs District, the North Star among those sampled. In this particular instance the ore ran
$1,363.23 a ton, although the correspondent adds that assays from that mine had occasionally
reached as high as $1,700 per ton. [160]
The North Star was one of the properties purchased by agents for the Inyo Mining Company
in 1876, [161] and was chosen as the headquarters site for the company's projected extensive
operations in the area. In March the company superintendent was
only awaiting the arrival of [Remi] Nadeau's teams, with a full supply of mining
tools, stores, etc., to commence active operations on their several mines. Their
http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/deva/section3b2l.htm[7/26/2008 3:07:09 PM]

prospects are indeed flattering, and it is the prediction of all who have seen the
property that they have purchased, that theirs will prove the most prosperous of
any mining enterprise on this side of the Sierras. They secured seven well
defined ledges, showing, probably, the richest average croppings of silver ore
ever found outside of Virginia City, and much surprise is often expressed that
they could have purchased it at so low a figure. [162]
Two travelers to the Rose Springs District in April were given a tour of the North Star Mine,
"which is considered one of the best owned by this company [Inyo Consolidated Silver
Mining Co.]." [163] Development consisted of a forty-foot tunnel run in on one vein and a
shaft sunk on a second one. High-grade ore was being extracted, some of it assaying over
$2,000 and generally expected to mill over $200 per ton. [164] By June a shaft had also been
sunk at the mouth of the tunnel and was producing ore assaying $301 in silver per ton. [165]
The North Star was probably abandoned about the same time as the Garibaldi, around 1877,
when papers show the Inyo Silver Mining Company was being assessed for 3,000 feet at $2 a
foot in the North Star Mine. [166] Six years later the North Star Mine was relocated by
Medbury and Hunter as the Mohawk, and its location was given as seven miles southeast of
Emigrant Spring and seven airline miles north of Telescope Peak. [167] N. J. Medbury, W.
K. Miller, and J. M. Keeler soon became partners in the Mohawk, Blue Bell (aka Garibaldi),
and Argonaut (aka Nellie Grant) mines, and in 1884, interested in testing their ore's milling
potential, Miller hauled 10-1/2 tons of the material from these mines thirty miles across the
Panamint Valley to a mill in Snow Canyon. Four bars of bullion, weighing 3,400 ozs. were
produced, [168] proving that the material was of good milling quality.
For several reasons these mines should have had bright and profitable futures: the ledges
were being well and continuously developed (the Mohawk supported at least a tunnel and
shaft by this time), roads throughout the area were relatively functional, and wood and water
could be found within a reasonable distance. What prevented all these small operations from
reaching their full potential was the lack of nearby milling facilities enabling the ore to be
worked profitably. Compounding the problem over the long run was the fact that although
small operators could initially open the mines, turning them into paying propositions required
the involvement of practical mining men with sound judgement and backed by solid
investment capital. [169] As it turned out, most, of these small mines passed into oblivion,
and although the North Star was still mentioned in 1889, the extent of its life beyond that
date is uncertain. [170]
Several later miscellaneous references were found that might pertain to this property. In 1896
Charles Anthony of Darwin filed a location notice on a Morning Star Mine in the Panamint
Mountains about 1-1/2 miles north of the Consolidated or Consolidation Mine, a property
formerly known as the North Star Mine. In 1903 notice of a land transaction involving the
North Star and Valley View mines in the Panamint Range was found. There was a Valley
View Mine operating in the Wild Rose District around 1884 in the vicinity of the Blue Bell,
Argonaut, Mohawk, Blizzard, and Jeanette mines. Its 1883 location notice specifies it as
being six miles east of Emigrant Spring on Mineral Hill on the right-hand side of the trail
leading from the spring to the Blue Bell Mine. It seems to have been operating during the
Skidoo period also. The transaction mentioned might, however, refer to the Valley View
Mine discovered about 1896 east of Post Office Spring on the west side of the Panamints, and
if so, the North Star property mentioned is probably one of those in the vicinity of Panamint
City. [171] This latter seems the most probable since the 1903 article suggests that much
development work had been done on the Valley View; the mine by that name located within
the monument probably could not boast much progress until after 1907. Open to question is a
location notice for the North Star Nos. 1-6, situated one mile east of "Kennedy's Springs Wild
Rose Canyon, located in April 1907. [172]

(b) Present Status
The exact location of the North Star Mine was not found by this writer. The property seems
to have undergone no intensive mining since its early days, at least not under its original
name, and it is entirely possible that no recognizable remains exist. Or, more recent mining
operations may have completely obliterated the original workings.
The lack of information found on the property is probably indicative of its lack of historical
significance.
deva/hrs/section3b2l.htm

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION III:
THE WEST SIDE
(13) Journigan's Mill
(a) History
The early history of activities on, and ownership of, this site, located in the Panamint Range
two miles south of Emigrant Spring on the west side of the Emigrant Canyon Road, is a
rather confusing chronicle of the juggling of titles to water rights to any or all of the six
springs located near the mill site. These springs and the mill site were involved in
intermittent mining and milling operations from at least the early 1920s through the early
1970s. According to a monument memo a one-stamp mill was processing Skidoo ore here
around 1909, but this allegation was not substantiated by data found during the course of this
study. Carl R. Suksdorf and Frank (Shorty) Harris purportedly ran a ball mill here in 1918
while performing custom work for miners in the vicinity. Suksdorf, at least, was still in
control of the property in April 1923 when he filed for the water rights to the six nearby
springs (Green, Canyon, Burro, Malapi, Burns, and Willow) for use at his five-acre Gold
Dollar Millsite and camp where he was presumably processing ore from his Gold Dollar
Mine about one mile northwest of Skidoo. This application was revoked in February 1926 for
failure to develop the water source and use it beneficially. In 1924 Shorty Borden and Harris
are said to have run a five-stamp mill on the site to process ore from Skidoo and the Poppy
Mine. [173]
A Dr. Archibald owned the property in 1926 and a Mr. Hoover was milling there until 1932.
Beginning in 1934, prompted by passage of the Gold Reserve Act, gold mining activity in the
United States began to accelerate with the increase in the price of gold to $35 per ounce. In
March of that year Roy Journigan, E. L. Journigan, and L. E. Steinberger located the five-
acre Gold Bottom Mill Site Claim. (No chain of title exists between Suksdorf and Journigan,
the latter not relocating the Gold Dollar Millsite, but merely locating in the same general
area.) Roy Journigan acquired the interests of his partners in the mill site sometime prior to
April 1939 and possibly as early as May 1937 when he applied for the water rights to Green,
Burro, Willow, and Burns springs for use at the Gold Bottom Mill Site, which at present was
receiving an insufficient supply from just one spring in the area. On 20 December 1937 the
Journigan Mining and Milling Company requested a permit to construct a small pipeline to
divert these waters to the mill across monument property. This group of springs evidently
supplied Journigan's Mill up until World War II.
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Many formerly productive gold mines in the Death Valley and surrounding regions opened
up again during these prewar years, given impetus by the presence of a custom mill in the
area. As a result, Journigan and Judge Gray, operator of the Skidoo Mine, entered into a
business arrangement for the reduction of the latter's ores at the former's custom mill, which
was also processing ore hauled by truck from the Cashier Mine at Harrisburg. [174]
In January 1937 Roy Journigan secured a lease on the Skidoo Mine, about 2-1/2 airline miles
northeast of his mill, from the Gray and Worcester Mining Company, which had operated the
mine for the last two years and used Journigan's Mill to process the ore. Journigan employed
five men to work the old stopes on the property, and old dump tailings were also being
hauled to Journigan's amalgamation and cyanide plant for treatment. Machinery at the plant
consisted now of a twenty-five-ton ore bin, a 6 in. by 8 in. Blake crusher, a twenty-five-ton
fire ore bin, a 3 x 4 ft. Straub cone-type ball mill, seven 14 x 5-ft. cyanide tanks, 4 x 8-foot
amalgamation plates, and four-compartment zinc boxes, the entire operation being powered
by a fifteen h.p. Fairbanks-Morse gasoline engine. Four men were employed working the
Skidoo ore and performing custom work for other mines in the area. The plant's capacity was
twenty-five tons per day. [175]
Illustration 156. Journigan Mining and Milling Co., 1935. Note stamp mill
to right of lower entrance road. Photo by George Grant, courtesy of DEVA
NM.

Illustration 157. Buildings on mill site south of plant, 1962. Photo by Matt
Ryan, courtesy of DEVA NM.
On 14 April 1939 Roy Journigan and his wife Mary agreed to sell the Gold Bottom Mill Site
to J. E. O'Donnell, who assigned the agreement to C. O. Mittendorf, who, on 12 February
1940 proceeded to assign his interest in the 14 April agreements to the Del Norte Mining
Company, a Nevada corporation. The Del Norte Group of mines, just north of the Skidoo
Mine operation, had been the site of an important low-grade gold ore discovery in 1936, and
a short while later were being actively developed, the ore being trucked to the Keeler Gold
Company's mill for treatment. During World War II, on 20 May 1943, the Journigans
quitclaimed all interest in the mill site and the water rights to the Del Norte Company, [176]
whose owners were John M. Rogers, Joe Stivers, and Roy C. Troeger. According to the
Journal Stivers and Rogers used the water from the springs acquired in their purchase to
operate the mill at Skidoo.
On 1 March 1951 the Del Norte Corporation quitclaimed a 45/100 undivided interest in the
mill site and its other property to Joe W. Stivers and a 55/100 undivided interest to Roy C.
Troeger. These two, in turn, leased the Gold Bottom Mill Site Claim on a year-to-year basis
to James H. Bennett and Max Barginski, who proceeded to locate three other mill sites--the
B & B, B & B #1, and B & B #2--contiguous to each other and to the Gold Bottom Mill Site
and located up the Burro Canyon branch off Emigrant Canyon toward the mill water sources.
The B & B Group was later quitclaimed to Art Detloff. [177]
On 28 November 1953 the Gold Bottom Mill Site and other properties were quitclaimed to
Art Detloff and Donald A. Dobbins, who by the next year were busy rebuilding the mill site,
which by now consisted of only a few tanks and buildings. A crew of married men and their
families were constructing houses and erecting concrete foundations and piers for the cyanide
solution plant. The mill was expected to be in operation in three to four months and
producing 100 tons per day. The milling process involved sending Skidoo ore through a 16 x
24-inch Wheeling crusher to two 36-inch Allis-Chalmers rolls that would reduce the rock to

1/4-inch size. From there it would go to a large Harding ball mill and be ground to a hundred
mesh, then on to agitation in a cyanide solution tank. It would then be pumped in sequence to
three Dorr thickeners, two of them sixty feet in diameter and twelve feet high. The recovered
gold, in solution, would then be pumped from the tanks through an automatic Denver gold
precipitation unit in a locked room. The gold would then be retorted into bullion bricks and
shipped to the mint. Tailings would go to the Oliver filters and be conveyed by belt to the
dump. The Skidoo ore was being mined by the Golden Queen Mining Company of Mojave,
who had extensively sampled the Skidoo ore bodies and found them ranging in value from
$14 to $28 per ton. Already 250,000 tons of the ore were ready for breaking and to be hauled
to the mill, hauling and milling expenses totalling about $7.50 per ton with gold recovery
running about 90%. The profit on a 100-ton-per-day schedule was expected to be $7 per ton.
[178] Detloff also filed on another mill site, called the "Detloff," adjoining the Journigan site
and northeast of it in November 1953. The camp buildings were located on this later claim.
Meanwhile, on 9 March 1954, Joe Stivers and his wife quitclaimed to Roy C. Troeger all
their rights in the mill site and other property. [179] By 1959, because Detloff and Dobbins
defaulted in the payment of royalties and in other particulars, their Gold Bottom lease was
terminated and they quitclaimed all their interests in the mill site to Troeger in February.
[180] In September of that year the machinery at Journigan's Mill was purchased by the
Argentum Mining Company and was dismantled and moved to Columbia Flats, Nevada,
southwest of Mina. Only the two water tanks were left. By 1960 the "Detloff Mill," owned by
Roy Troeger, was considered an eyesore, largely due to the ramshackle condition of the
remaining buildings.
Illustration 158. Journigan's Mil' ruins. California State Route 8 in

background. Photo by Linda W. Greene, 1978.
From 1962 to 1964 a contractor, Carl Dresselhaus, and his crew, who were performing
annual assessment work on the Del Norte and Skidoo claims, held water rights to Burro
Spring, but no milling activity was taking place here. On 1 May 1967 Roy Troeger deeded to
David E. and Elisabeth Hinckle an undivided 25% interest in the mill site and his mining
claims. (Troeger held the remaining 75% undivided interest until his death in 1973.) [181]
Also in 1967 Troeger entered into a use agreement on the Gold Bottom Mill Site with the
unregistered Nemo Silver Corporation, O. L. Heironimus, president. This company, which in
the lease obtained water rights to one of the nearby springs, intended to install pipelines from
the springs to connect to the remaining cyanide tanks. Heironimus and his partner Bill
Stapleton then would attempt to cyanide the tailings dump, and hopefully the gold and silver
recovered would provide them with enough capital to mine their gold and silver claims in
Nemo Canyon. At that time the property supported a frame building, two 25,000-gallon water
tanks, and eight old concrete cyanide tanks. [182] This appears to have been the last spate of
activity on the site.
(b) Present Status

The only building remaining on the site today is a large white plywood building covered with
tarpaper and with a composition-paper roof. Originally it appears to have been divided into
three rooms. Inside are a mattress, bedsprings, and an old icebox. Southeast of this structure
are wooden foundations of another building, identified in one photograph found by the writer
as a CCC building. Northwest of the first building are two cement foundations for other
structures (see Illus. 157). Further northwest and around the point of a ridge are the ruin of a
collapsed residence and some old car wreckage.
The mill site itself consists of two steel water tanks, an extensive layout of concrete
foundations and machinery pillars, and seven concrete cyanide tanks. The concrete ruins are
in stable condition.
The Journigan's Mill ruins are considered eligible for inclusion on the National Register of
Historic Places as being of local significance. The site has been used sporadically for milling
purposes from the first decade of the twentieth century up until the early 1970s--the longest
continuous usage of a site for milling-related activities within the monument. In addition to
its early association with such Death Valley luminaries as Frank Harris and Shorty Borden, it
is especially significant because as the largest and best-equipped custom mill in the Wildrose
area, its presence in the 1930s stimulated gold-mining activity around Emigrant Spring and
provided impetus and encouragement to the reopening of mines in the Skidoo/Harrisburg
areas by cutting down markedly on their production costs. Journigan's Mill is the largest ruin
of an amalgamation and cyanide plant of the 1930s-1950s period left within the monument
boundaries.
The concrete ruins are in good shape and do not require stabilization work. The erection date
of the frame building on the site is uncertain, though it appears in a 1954 picture. It might
have been one of the structures erected during the Dobbins-Detloff period of ownership in
the early 1950s, An interpretive sign on this site presenting a capsulized account of the mill's
operation and perhaps an early picture would be of great value, since visitors passing by now
have little idea of the type of structure that once stood here.

Illustration 159. View south down California State Route 8 of

Journigan's Mill cyanide tanks. Foundations in preceding photo are up
hill to right. Photo by Linda W. Greene, 1978.
Illustration 160. Stamp lying on bank by side of road below cyanide tanks.

deva/hrs/section3b2m.htm

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION III:
THE WEST SIDE
(14) Mill Site North of Journigan's Mill
(a) History
This small mill site alongside the Wild rose- Emigrant Canyon Road was operated during the
mid-1930s. Walter M. Hoover, who has owned several pieces of Death Valley mining
property, and a man named Starr ran the small cyanide plant here on ore hauled from Nemo
Canyon about 1935. After the partners split up, Starr continued to operate the mill until
sometime in the fall when he left California. The area was subsequently cleaned up by
monument personnel and a small amount of pipes and fittings removed. [183]
(b) Present Status
The mill straddles a rocky outcropping on the west side of the Emigrant Canyon Road about
one mile north of Journigan's Mill. Four cement-lined masonry tanks connected with the
cyanide process' are still present, one being at least twenty feet in diameter and still
containing remains of the wooden grid that once covered the bottom. Stone dry-wall
foundations and concrete machinery pilings are also in evidence. Southwest of the mill and
along the, edge of the ridge are what appear to be small adits or holes of some kind in the
rock face. Some low stone walls are associated with them.
This site is not historically significant. The mill operated for only a short period during the
1930s, but the ruins are interesting and have interpretive value. No stabilization work is
thought necessary. The" remaining foundations should be left to benign neglect and an
interpretive marker erected identifying the area as the site of a 1930s cyanide milling
operation. The purpose of the low walls southwest along the hillside is unknown, the writer
having been unable to examine them closely. They and the nearby, caves (?) should be
examined for archeological significance.
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Illustration 161. Cyanide mill ruins on west side of Emigrant Canyon Road
1 to 1-1/2 miles north of Journigan's Mill. Photo by Linda W. Greene,
1978.
Illustration 162. Cyanide tank on mill site. Note wooden slats remaining.
deva/hrs/section3b2n.htm
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Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION III:
THE WEST SIDE
(15) Gold King Mine
(a) History
The original location of the Gold King lode was made on 29 August 1936 by C. O.
Mittendorf, who, along with a fellow Los Angelan, P. H. Greer, bought the property formerly
leased by Walter M. Hoover of Lone Pine. [184] Serious mining activity on the site
apparently began in 1938, after 200 tons of ore from the mine, whose showings were said to
be unusually. good, had been found to run $25.50 per ton at the mill. This encouraging
discovery spurred development and resulted in the opening of an extensive ore body by early
1939. As a result the owners decided to send a test run of one thousand tons of extracted ore
to the Golden Queen Mill south of Mojave, over 150 miles away, in order to determine the
type of milling most suited to this particular ore. Seven ore trucks were needed for the long
haul to Lone Pine and then south. This circuitous route was necessitated by the distressing
condition of the shorter road south through Emigrant Canyon and the Panamint Valley that
made it unfit for use as a mine-to-market road. [185] During this time the Gold King was
extensively developed and ore was being produced for shipment on a regular basis. On
completion of loading and hauling the 1,000-ton test shipment, mine workers were given a
well-deserved vacation, five men finally resuming development work again toward the end of
June. [186]
In late summer the mill of the Del Norte Mining Company, which was operating near
Skidoo, was anticipating the arrival of ore for treatment not only from the Del Norte Mine,
but also a minimum of 300 tons a month from the nearby Gold King, [187] which, indeed,
supplied most of the mill's custom work--1,300 tons of ore--until the arrival of winter forced
a cessation of all mining and milling activity. [188] Shipments resumed again in April, when
it was also reported that a contract had been let for sinking a new shaft at the mine. [189] The
Gold King lode was patented in March 1944, but no data was found about any further mining
activity over the next thirty years. A lease/option agreement was executed in 1975 between
W. M. Hoover and a Mr. Crowe, with the former again acquiring leasing privileges over the
site. [190] In April of this year the Gold King Extension lode was located by Hoover joining
the east end of the Gold King.
(b) Present Status
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The Gold King patented lode mining claim is located about one mile east of Journigan's Mill
in Emigrant Canyon in the hills southwest of Skidoo, and is reached by a rough trail leading
east about 6-1/2 miles south of the Emigrant Canyon Road intersection with California State
Highway 190. Due to recent washing activity, the trail's merger with the Emigrant Canyon
Road is difficult to detect. According to a plat of the property dated 29 May 1942 (Mineral
Survey No. 6289), underground workings consisted of a discovery shaft, three short adits,
and three inclined shafts, each intersected by short crosscuts, comprising an estimated total
footage of 640 linear feet. Although this 1942 plat also lists such improvements as a
blacksmith shop, bunkhouse, cookhouse, and office, they are not now extant. In 1975-the
remains of a cabin site, a collapsed dugout, and a small powder house were found.
Illustration 163. View southeast of shaft and dump in wash, Gold King
Mine. Photo by John A. Latschar, 1978.
Illustration 164. Collapsed dugout on edge of wash, Gold King Mine. Photo
by John A. Latschar, 1978.

The Gold King Mine site has no historical significance. Early 1900 references to a Gold King
Mine were found to refer to one by that name in the Bullfrog District. [191] The subject
property was not developed until the 1930s, and during that time supported a small mining
camp for its employees. Because the underground workings are located in a wash, they have
been filled in through the years with sand, gravel, and silt, making the site fairly safe for
monument visitors, probably few of whom, however, are aware of its existence. The small
powder house and dugout ruin, if still on site, do not appear to pose safety hazards.
deva/hrs/section3b2o.htm

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION III:
THE WEST SIDE
(16) Tiny and Sunset Mines
(a) History
A Sunset silver mine was mentioned in the Panamint District as early as 1873, in the vicinity
of a Blue Belle Mine; it is fairly certain, however, that this refers to a location near Panamint
City. [192] The only other early citation to a mine of that name found by this writer is a
location notice for a Sunset Silver Mine in the Rose Spring Mining District 3 miles northeast
from Rose Spring Garden and about 1-1/2 mile north of the Virgin Mine. [193] According to
the LCS crew who visited the mill ruin site miles south of Skidoo in 1975, that area had been
referred to in the past as the Sunset Mine. No data was found conclusively supporting this
designation, although an article in the Mining Journal does mention a gentleman from
Barstow, California, who "has been carrying on gold production on a small scale at his Sunset
mine in the Panamint district of California for the past six years. His equipment includes a
five-ton Straub ball mill, Economy concentrator and amalgamation plates. [194] The
monument mining office had no information on this mine, or on who had worked it, although
activity evidently took place here as, late as the 1940s--a claim marker for a "Tiny Mine"
was found by this writer on the site, dated 11 October 1945.
A bona-fide Sunset Mine is located on the south side of the gravel Skidoo Road about three
miles east of the Wildrose-Emigrant Canyon Road. Last worked about 1940, its four claims
produced about 100 tons of ore averaging $20 worth of gold per ton for custom mills. Small
amounts of silver were also recovered. [195]
(b) Present Status
Approximately 1-1/4 miles east of the Skidoo-Emigrant Canyon road junction a dirt track
leads north for about 1-3/4 miles to the Tiny (Sunset?) Mine site. A trail continues north
beyond the mine turnoff across the ridge to Skidoo. The area of mining activity covers the
south slope of this ridge, facing Harrisburg Flats, and comprises two sites. About 1/4 mile
east of the mill site and adjacent to the road continuing on to Skidoo are the remains of a
collapsed wooden shack. Of some interest is the road leading from here to the mill site,
whose edges and curves have been shorn up and reinforced by a tremendous amount of dry-
wall masonry. Basically three levels of mine workings exist, the access road entering on the
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second level alongside an adit that has been closed off with a tin door. On the lower level
below this adit are the ruins of a milling operation, with cement machinery pilings, dry-wall
masonry foundations, and a portion of a wooden ore bin still extant. Built into the hillside a
few yards northwest of the mill is a cistern with a cement floor and plastered masonry walls
on three sides, the hillside forming the north end. A pipe leads from this reservoir to the mill,
probably once supplying the power to run it. The upper level of workings above the access
road consists mainly of caved-in stopes, some containing rotted timbers. Ruins of a small tool
shed or blacksmith shop are also found on this upper level. A series of stone walls advancing
down the hillside suggest that some type of chute arrangement once descended toward the
mill. Below the mill ruins is a dry-stone silt dam.
Illustration 165. Mill ruin at Tiny Mine, one mile south of Skidoo. Photo
The Sunset Mine about 2-1/2 miles southeast of this site consists only of a timbered vertical
shaft with drifts run on three levels. Downhill (northwest) from the mine and across the
Skidoo road is a house possibly associated with the mining operation that appears to be of
1930s or 1940s vintage.
Insufficient data exists on the Tiny Mine site either to provide associative significance or to
properly place it in the context of Death Valley mining history. During the LCS survey of the
site, purple glass was found on a dump in the area along with hand-finished bottle necks,
suggesting an occupancy period from the 1880s up to approximately 1920. The site's
proximity to Skidoo and location adjacent to the Skidoo-Harrisburg road suggest that the site
might have been prospected in the early 1900s during Skidoo's heyday. At least one set of
claims during that period--the Rag Time Group--was reported as lying about two miles south
of Skidoo. [196]

Illustration 166. Masonry-walled reservoir northwest of mill ruins, Tiny

Mine. Photo by Linda W. Greene, 1978.
Illustration 167. Building site along road to Tiny Mine. Photo by Linda W.
Greene, 1978.

Illustration 168. Sunset Mine headframe on road to Skidoo. Photo by Linda

W. Greene, 1978.
In the spring of 1909 it was announced that the Skidoo Mines Company planned erection of
an additional mill on its property to treat ore from the Wilkinson lease, situated on the north
side of Skidoo hill. This lease location was too far from the Skidoo mill to afford hauling of
ore from that point, so the company was considering locating a new plant about a mile from
the present mill (in which direction was not stated). Water used in the present plant would be
conserved and used again at the new structure. The Wilkinson lease, however, was a near
neighbor of the Granite Contact property, which was located north of town, so it is doubtful
that the new mill would have been built even further south. [197]
The other possibility is that the mill is of a later construction date and associated with the
1930s era of mining activity in the monument. The present southern boundary of the Skidoo
Historic District passes through the middle of this site. Since these mill ruins have
interpretive value, it is recommended that the site be left in a state of benign neglect and that
the southern boundary of the Skidoo Historic District be expanded slightly to include the
ruins and the impressive stonework retaining walls.
deva/hrs/section3b2p.htm

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION III:
THE WEST SIDE
(17) Cabin 1-1/2 Miles Southeast of Skidoo
This site is reached via a 1-1/4-mile-long track, now almost indistinguishable, leading north
from the gravel Skidoo road about 1-3/4 miles east of its junction with the paved Emigrant
Canyon Road. The area was visited by members of the LCS survey crew in 1975. The only
extant structure was a rude miner's cabin of tarpaper and corrugated metal probably built
during the 1930s or possibly associated with the 1950s tungsten activity in the area.
Miscellaneous debris littered the site. Adjacent to the shack a portion of the Skidoo pipeline
scar was visible.
The cabin is not historically significant, but the Skidoo pipeline route scar will be included on
the revised Skidoo Historic District National Register form.
Illustration 169. Cabin 1-1/2 miles southeast of Skidoo. Photo courtesy of

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Illustration 170. Cabin 1-1/2 miles southeast of Skidoo. Photo courtesy of

deva/hrs/section3b2q.htm
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Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION III:
THE WEST SIDE
(18) Blue Bell (Garibaldi) Mine
(a) History
Historical records and early newspaper accounts provide only fragmentary data on this site.
Around 1874-75, shortly after the discovery of Panamint City, a party of Italians--Joe and
Zeff Nossano, Joe Lanji, and Charles Andrietta--discovered a group of eight silver mines in
the new Wild Rose Spring District in the vicinity of present-day Harrisburg. [198] These new
properties included the North Star, Star of the West, Maria, and Polar Star mines, all located
in the northeast portion of the district, five miles east of Emigrant Spring, and overlooking
Death Valley:
Among them is the 'Garibaldi' mine, a very large lode, showing on the surface
hundreds of tons of rich ore. An average sample of the ores of this mine, assayed
by J. L. Porter, of Cerro Gordo, yielded $238.18 per ton in silver.
This remarkable discovery has been visited by a number of mining men from
Panamint, Cerro Gordo and elsewhere, all of whom pronounce it as showing on
the surface a larger amount of rich ore than they have ever seen before. [199]
Two months later a correspondent of the Panamint News visited the Nossano brothers'
property, which he said included about twenty mines, and wrote that
Their principal mine, the Garibaldi, has an outcrop of an average width of sixty
feet; with metalic ore assaying from $400 to $1,800 per ton, the greater portion
of which is free milling ore; a large percentage of the ore can be sorted and
worked by smelting. [200]
Because it was still a relatively new location, excavations in the area only penetrated about
eight feet. An interesting sidelight to the Garibaldi's history is that Dr. S. G. George, early
pioneer into the Wild Rose area and discoverer of the Christmas lode in 1860, was working
with another gentleman from Visalia, E. M. (F. M.?) Bently (or Bentley), on the eastern
portion of the Garibaldi--referred to as the Lady Ethel--during this time. [201]
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Reportedly during the seventies ore from the Garibaldi and probably from some neighboring
properties was sent by muletrain over a Walker's Pass to the railroad several hundred miles
away. By the spring of 1875 the Garibaldi was still upholding its reputation as "the most
promising location in the district, if not in the entire county," [202] even though little
development work had been done. Ore from here was generally averaging $628 to $1,600 per
ton. [203] It was no surprise, therefore, when the Garibaldi, North Star, Polar Star, Star of the
West, and Maria mines were sold by the Nossano brothers to a San Francisco syndicate for
$70,000. Incorporated under the name of the Garibaldi Mining Company, the group's board
of directors included A. J. Bowie, Jr.; Arch. Borlands, William M. Lent; N. B. Stone; and
John F. Boyd. They evidently only acted as agents for the Inyo Mining Company, because
the latter's superintendent, a William Irwin, immediately took over development of the
Garibaldi, spending about $30,000 on the project. [204] The future not only of this mine but
of the entire Rose Springs district seemed extremely promising now:
Since the Inyo mining company made the purchase of the Nassano [sic]
company's mines, the camp has changed its appearance, and, instead of being the
resort of a few prospectors, is shaping itself into a busy mining camp. A town
site has already been laid out, a station erected for the accommodation of those
visiting the district, the wagon road from Warren springs improved, and work on
the Garabaldi and North Star mines commenced. [205]
Although from the meager information presented here it is difficult to determine the exact
location of this main camp, presumably the focal point for prospecting activities in the Rose
Spring District, it is known that the Inyo Mining Company headquarters were established at
the North Star Mine, three to five miles south of the Garibaldi. [206]
Illustration 171. Stock certificate, Garabaldi Mining Company. Courtesy of

Richard E. Lingenfelter, Univ. of Calif. at San Diego..
By April 1876 the Garibaldi Mine workings consisted of a 100-foot incline run down on the
hanging wall and an 18-foot tunnel that had been started to tap the rich ledge. Superintendent
Irwin was now contemplating erection of a mill on the site, to be powered possibly by water
piped over from the vicinity of Furnace Creek, fifteen to twenty miles east. [207] In June the
vein was struck at the bottom of the shaft and ore recovered assaying $600 a ton. Twelve
men were employed in drifting, crosscutting, and other development work. [208] Despite the
impression that work was progressing well here, before long Irwin decided the ledge had
petered out. According to Milo Page, Irwin, who had previously mined in Oregon, simply did
not know how to mine under California's geological conditions; others said he miscalculated
and, veering away from the ledge by mistake, concluded that the ore had run out. Whatever
the reason, the mine was abandoned, Irwin leaving for Bodie to work on the Standard Mine.
Several sacks of high-grade ore were left behind on the dump. [209]

Later in 1877 it appears that W. L. Hunter picked up this mine, along with the Argonaut,
Junietta, Blizzard, and Virgin, later selling interests in them to W. K. Miller and E. N.
Medburg (N. J. Medbury) of Lone Pine, these three then proceeding on development work
together. [210] No further mention was found of the Garibaldi Mine until a formal notice of
location for the Blue Bell Mine was filed in 1883 by N. J. Medbury and W. L. Hunter, "8
miles East from Emigrant Spring on south side of canon emptying into Death Valley. Is about
opposite to Mouth of Furnace Ck. and about 10 miles air line north of Telescope Peak and is
relocation of Exchequer or Garabali [sic] Mine." [211] According to the U.S. Mint several
high-grade silver mines were being operated in the Wild Rose District in that year, some of
which had been discovered ten years or so before during the height of the Panamint City
excitement. These included the Virgin, Peru, Kuler, Silver Star, Mohawk (aka North Star),
Valley View, Umpire, Argonaut (aka Nellie Grant), Genette (Junietta?), and Empire State.
Ore was also being recovered from the old workings on the Garibaldi; 150 tons of material on
the dump had assayed $100 per ton on the average and were being shipped to San Francisco
for treatment. Development work was being financed solely by proceeds from the ore
shipments. [212]
By the time another year had passed several thousand dollars had been expended on
development of the Argonaut, Junietta, Blue Bell, Blizzard, and Virgin mines by Hunter,
Miller, and Medbury. The Blue Bell reportedly contained a well-defined twenty-foot ledge
showing ore averaging $80 per ton, with over 100 tons of ore lying on the dump. Over $1,000
had been spent on development of this property alone. In the late summer of 1884 10-1/2
tons of ore from the Mohawk, Blue Bell, and Argonaut mines were sent to the Snow Canyon
mill for treatment in order to determine the ore's milling quality; about 3,400 ozs. of silver
bullion were produced. [213]
In November 1884 Medbury and Miller sold a J. M. Keeler one-half interest in the Blue Bell,
Mohawk, Valley View, Blizzard, Argonaut, and Jeanette (sic) mines for $1,600. [214]
Evidently the mine underwent yet another name change, because two years later a notice of
location for the Silver Queen Mine was filed, located in Rose Springs Mining District and
"formerly known as the Blue Bell Mine or Garibaldia." The property in question had been
located 2 April 1886 by M. M. Beaty (probably Beatty) and Joseph Danielson. Again on 1
January 1888 a Silver Queen Mine on the east side of the Panamint Range and about twelve
miles northwest of Coleman's borax works in Death Valley, "formerly known as the Blue
Bell or Garabaldia mine" was located by Paul Pfefferle and Joseph Danielson. [215] In 1902
the Garibaldi Mine, now including an 80-foot shaft and 150-foot tunnel, was linked to
Charles Anthony of Darwin. [216] It is more uncertain whether a 1906 discovery of a Blue
Bell No. 1 and No. 2 claim took place at this site. Their location is given as "between the
Casa Diablo Company's mines and the old Wild Rose property. . . ." and "are about four
miles south of the old Wild Rose. . . ." [217] Because of the vague description of boundaries
it would be difficult to determine the area involved without further research into the Casa
Diablo Company and its holdings. It is the writer's opinion, however, that this refers to
claims further south and west, possibly outside the present national monument.
In 1906 the old Garibaldi Mine near Skidoo, possessing numerous long tunnels and shafts,
was owned by Kennedy (probably F. C.) and Gray, who had performed limited development
work. It was during this year that the first reference was found to "stone mill buildings" on
the property. [218] Kennedy received an offer for the mine at this time, a sale that might
have been consummated, since in 1911, Mr. Ball was working the "Girabaldi" and had
several tons of ore ready for shipment. [219] Before long the mine was again abandoned, and
no record of any mill or smelter returns for the next several years has been found. One memo
in the mining office file lists the Garibaldi as being worked in 1953 for gold. A later list
shows W. M. Hoover as owner of the Garibaldi and E. H. McGlothlin and Earl Enger as
owners of the Blue Bell. [220] According to McGlothlin, who by 1974 was one of four

claimants of the Blue Bell Millsite and the Blue Bell #1 lode claim (encompassing the old
Garibaldi Mine), a lessee of the property shipped about 150 tons of selected material from
the site in 1967, and he himself had shipped nine to ten tons to Barstow a year later. No
documented production for the mine has been found. [221]
Illustration 172. Cabin on Blue Bell mining claim. Photo by Linda W.

Greene, 1978.
Illustration 174. Tramway support, Hanging Cliff Millsite. Photo by Linda

W. Greene, 1978.

Illustration 173. Cable heading north across gulch toward Hanging

Cliff Millsite. Light area on far cliff is mine dump. Photo by Linda W.
Greene, 1978.
(b) Present Status
The Blue Bell Group, comprising one twenty-acre unpatented lode claim (Blue Bell #1) and
one five-acre unpatented mill site (Blue Bell Millsite), is about three miles east of Skidoo and
reached via the gravel Skidoo Road. The turnoff to the mine is about five miles east and north
from the junction of the Skidoo and Emigrant Canyon roads; from there the Blue Bell
Millsite lies about one-half mile down the slope. Here claimants have erected their tin shack
headquarters, still furnished, and identified on its side as "Hidden Wash, McFarlin and
Durham Mining." Probably built in the 1950s or 1960s, the cabin and surrounding ground
resemble all mine camps of that period within the monument--assorted debris and trash, old
appliances, and a dilapidated vehicle litter the ground.
From here a road trends southeasterly toward the Hanging Cliff Millsite, which, located at
the crest of a hill, is distinguished by a large metal support for a cable tramway that crosses a
small, though deep, canyon toward the Hanging Cliff Claim, appropriately named for its
precarious location on the side of a very steep rock wall. Further east and at the bottom of a
precipitous jeep road is the Blue Bell Claim (Garibaldi Mine). Its situation is best described,
though slightly exaggerated, by a visitor in 1876 who remarked that
the descent from the mine to the valley is so abrupt that a stone can be thrown
with ease into the valley below, although the mine lies several thousand feet
above it. [222]
No mine structures are extant; indeed, the main shaft itself is barely discernible to the

untrained eye because of the efforts made to fill it in. Of greater interest are the remains of
several rock houses or dugouts visible in the canyon a short distance below. Two others are
built against a hillside near the road between the Hanging Cliff Millsite and the Blue Bell
Claim.
The Blue Bell (Garibaldi) Mine is determined to be of local significance and eligible for
inclusion on the National Register. It is one of a group of very early silver mines in the Wild
Rose area, all discovered during the rash of exploratory activity prompted by the excitement
over Panamint City's unfolding riches, and all worked intermittently over the next several
years. Making it somewhat unique is the fact that it evidently proved profitable enough to
mine, or at least periodically explore, over the next almost forty years so that its location is
still known today.
What makes the site especially significant, of course, are the associated stone ruins, which in
the early 1900s were identified as mill buildings; no specific date for their construction was
mentioned, however. They should be researched further and in closer detail by historical
archeologists. Due to time limitations the writer was only able to examine the two more
accessible dugouts near the Garibaldi Mine road: one is about eleven feet square in dimension
and is surrounded on three sides by a five-foot-high wall with two entrances; the other was
circular in shape with about twelve feet of five-foot-high curved wall remaining. The
structures lower on the canyon floor appear to be ten to fifteen feet in diameter.
Illustration 175. Stone dugout to north of road between Blue Bell and
Garibaldi mines. Photos by Linda W. Greene, 1978.

Illustration 176. Stone dugout to north of road between Blue Bell and
Garibaldi mines. Photos by Linda W. Greene, 1978.
It has been hypothesized that these ruins date from early Spanish exploratory or mining
activities in the region; reportedly an old trail can still be seen leading from the vicinity of
these structures to the floor of Death Valley. It is this writer's feeling, however, that they are
probably of later construction and associated with early mining endeavors at the Garibaldi
during the 1870s. The limited historical data available seem to agree that the Garibaldi was
one of the more prominent mines in the early Rose Spring Mining District for several years.
The 1875 Inyo Independent newspaper article quoted earlier in this section suggests that the
Garibaldi ore warranted smelting works of some kind, and these might have been built by the
Nossano brothers. When the Inyo Silver Mining Company took over the property and
initiated extensive development procedures, such stone structures might have been erected to
house employees as well as milling operations.
Further conjecture about the ruins is not only time-consuming but also meaningless until the
site is investigated further by historians and historical archeologists; hopefully the discovery
of artifacts in association with the structures will enable their more precise dating. Because of
the presence of several ruins, of varying shapes and sizes, possibilities exist here for
comparative study of, early Death Valley stone structures, some of which might have been
connected with early milling operations. Such an opportunity should not be overlooked.

Illustration 177. Adit associated with Garibaldi Mine Claim. Photo by

Illustration 178. Ruins of stone mill buildings in valley below Garibaldi

Mine. Death Valley salt pan seen in distance. Photo by Linda W. Greene,
1978
On the road near the Garibaldi Mine is an old rubber-wheeled, wooden-sided ore wagon,
probably dating from the early 1900s, and possessing interpretive value. A tag on the vehicle

provides full information on its maker, model number, etc.
The Blue Bell Millsite and Hanging Cliff Millsite and Claim possess no demonstrable
historical significance.
deva/hrs/section3b2r.htm

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION III:
THE WEST SIDE
(19) Skidoo
(a) History
i) Ramsey and Thompson's Great Discovery
Right here on the border line between California and Nevada, just a few miles
from arid within speaking distance of Nevada's big, bonanza gold camps of
Goldfield, Rhyolite, Tonopah, California promises to give birth to the most
wonderful gold mines America has yet produced . . . . Here the golden goddess is
again singing her siren song of enchantment and California is again beckoning to
the world with a finger of gold: and the world is listening, and looking, and
coming--TO SKIDOO! [223]
By 1907 when this enticingly optimistic editorial appeared, Skidoo was a thriving year-old
mining camp. Her cramped townsite, dizzyingly nestled on top of the Panamint Range,
already proudly possessed over thirty tents, several frame buildings, and many of the
amenities of civilization, including restaurants, hotels, and a newspaper. It was a far cry from
the desolate and lonely conditions existing here in January 1906 as two wandering desert
prospectors, John Ramsey and John ("One Eye") Thompson, wended their slow way up
Emigrant Canyon toward the newly-discovered gold strike at Harrisburg.
Although the Panamint Range for almost its entire length had been known since the early
1850s to contain gold-. and silver-bearing veins, early mining efforts had centered mostly
around silver and lead, the gold veins being largely overlooked and unprospected. Only now,
in the early 1900s, was this precious metal becoming a highly-prized and sought- after
commodity. Both Skidoo and Harrisburg, discovered about six months earlier and located
about 5-1/2 miles further south, were the direct offshoots of the big Nevada bonanzas of
Tonopah, Goldfield, and Rhyolite. Excited and encouraged by the seemingly quick riches
exposed in these areas, the desert mining community became hungry for more, and
prospectors began gravitating westward across Death Valley in search of rumored treasures in
the Panamints.
The long trek of Ramsey and Thompson toward Harrisburg was suddenly interrupted by a
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rare freak of nature in the Death Valley region--a blinding fog. Quickly becoming disoriented
in the murky light, and afraid of getting lost in one of the many surrounding canyons, the two
decided to encamp near Emigrant Spring and proceed on their way in the morning. By the
next day the fog had lifted, enabling a view of some nearby ledges whose color appeared
promising. A true desert prospector always had time for even a brief survey of such
formations. What Ramsey and Thompson found completely dismissed all thought of a further
journey, and precipitated their prompt location of several claims in the vicinity. Comprising
the Gold Eagle Group, this series of rich ledges appeared to stretch north-south for a distance
of about 1-1/2 miles, varying from two to twelve feet wide, and showing $82 in gold per ton.
Somehow managing to keep their new discoveries secret until their claims had been properly
monumented and recorded (luckily they did not run into Shorty Harris here!), it was not until
a couple of months later that news of the strike began to spread. Immediately realizing that
these veins were probably located in the same mineral belt that had been the source of riches
for Panamint City over thirty years earlier and that was now proving so productive in the
Harrisburg vicinity, hordes of miners turned their burros toward Emigrant Spring, hoping to
be early enough to cash in on the bonanza. Though located in California, the camp soon fell
almost completely into the hands of Nevada capital and enterprise. As soon as word of the
strike reached the ears of the pioneers of the Bullfrog District, the area's future was assured,
for it was their intervention and investment that made Skidoo one of the longest-lived and
most successful Death Valley mining camps.
ii) E. A. Montgomery Acquires the Property
The Nevada mogul most responsible for Skidoo's success was E. A. (Bob) Montgomery, who
immediately purchased the original Gold Eagle Group of claims from Ramsey and
Thompson. As was not at all unusual on the desert mining frontier, where the thrilling
prospect of untold wealth often precipitated fast and loose business deals, some hint of
scandal did revolve around the negotiations for the property. One version of the transactions
states that a representative of Captain DeLamar, a well-known mining magnate of the region,
being one of the first on the scene with money enough to act, promptly secured an option for
a one-half interest in the property for $100,000. Following on his heels came E. Oscar (Bob)
Hart, a Goldfield pioneer, mine owner, and New York promoter, who subsequently secured
the former's option and bonded the property for $20,000.
From this point on the facts are hazy, probably deliberately so. According to some,
Montgomery eventually intercepted Hart and for his option offered him a sum he couldn't
refuse--$100,000 extra--and then proposed to the discoverers another large sum for their
remaining interest. Upon the latter's acceptance of same he was put in sole ownership of this
phenomenal discovery. Some doubt is cast on this tale of completely orthodox business
proceedings by a second account to the effect that Hart made the original deal with Ramsey
and Thompson to bond the claims for $23,000, after which, forking over the option money
and rightly assuming he had an ironclad contract, he returned to the East to attempt to
interest Schwab's bankers in the property, leaving matters for the most part in the hands of
his business associate George M. Ottis. This was his first mistake, for Ottis, not above
playing both sides of the fence, apparently turned around and struck up a partnership with
Montgomery (or so he claimed in a lawsuit two years later), betraying Hart's option for the
claims in return for a one-eighth interest in the mine and any ensuing profits. Montgomery
was thus enabled to pick up Hart's option before his time expired, gladly paying a bonus
therefor. [224]
However it happened, by May 1906 the Schwab crowd and Bob Montgomery and his
associates had gained undisputed control over the original twenty-odd claims of Ramsey and
Thompson, and Matt Hoveck, Montgomery's competent former manager of the Montgomery-

Shoshone Mine, was put in charge of development. Nevada capital was now pouring into the
district from such investors as Senator Nixon and George Wingfield of Tonopah, who bought
the Green Monster Group of fifteen claims adjoining the Gold Eagle, and Hudson
Goodpasture, John W. Seller (one of the original locators of Bonanza Mountain and an
investor in several big enterprises in the Bullfrog District), and A. V. Carpenter, who secured
the Contact Group of seven claims in these early days, believed by some to be next in
importance to the original strike. [225]
It was the news of Montgomery's entrance into the new field, however, and of his initiation
of development, that practically emptied Harrisburg and provided the impetus for a mass
location of new claims, everyone vying to acquire a site as close to his works as possible and
within the prosperous mineral zone that was now estimated to measure about six miles wide
by fifteen miles long. Considered part of the Wild Rose Mining District, the new Emigrant
section was immediately provided with a deputy district recorder to handle the expected
increased work load; a voting precinct was also established here.
An astute and competent businessman, E. A. Montgomery intended to waste no time in the

development of his Skidoo interests, future plans for the site involving installation by 1
January 1907 of a quartz mill (variously projected as holding thirty, forty, or sixty stamps) to
be run by water and hopefully later by electric power. Although sufficient water for domestic
purposes could be acquired from Emigrant Spring, approximately five miles away by trail
and seven by wagon, a more abundant water supply would be needed to provide the hydraulic
force necessary to run the milling plant. Accordingly, water rights to the springs near
Telescope Peak, at an elevation of about 7,400 feet, were acquired from a Fred Gray of
Ballarat, enabling the release of about forty miner's inches from Birch Spring at the head of
Jail Canyon, and north of Telescope Peak, to be conveyed by gravity pressure to the mill and
townsite in a long pipeline ranging in diameter from six to eight and ten inches, estimated to
cost about $150,000 and intended with a fall of 1,800 feet to provide enough force to
generate about sixty horsepower for mining and milling purposes. The water was harnessed
at the springs in a four-by-eight sandbox. Pressure would be reduced somewhat along the
line, there being places where the water would drop lower than Skidoo's elevation. The high-
pressure quality pipeline would be strung along the route in twenty-foot lengths. It weighed
650 pounds to the length, with eighteen miles worth weighing 1,544-2/5 tons. It was expected
that because of this water supply all ore running above $4 a ton could be treated at a profit in
the mill. Water from the line would be free for domestic purposes. [226]
A negotiable road from Emigrant Spring was also needed to facilitate the importation of
construction supplies, and for this task Montgomery employed 20 men, expecting to increase
this force soon to 75 and later to 250 when the mill was in operation. The promoter and
backer of all this initial development work was the Skidoo Mines Company, an
unincorporated and closed association operating on a partnership basis. No stock offerings
were ever made, the individual members contributing all necessary monies. A capitalization
of $250,000 would hopefully cover all initial costs.
By the Fourth of July 1906 a real spirit of optimism pervaded the camp, its over-abundance
of energy and enthusiasm finding an outlet in the discharge of guns and the explosion of
gunpowder in front of buildings gaily decorated with bunting and flags. Such optimism
seemed duly warranted, for arrangements were already being made for an auto line into the
district from Beatty, a stage line seemed assured, a post office had been applied for, mine
options were being taken up right and left, and several companies expected to start
production soon. The high altitude of Skidoo (5,600 feet) and its relatively protected position
in a saddle on the southwest slope of Tucki Mountain meant that prospecting and
development work could continue all summer.

On Montgomery's property, now rechristened the Eagle Mine, a spate of construction activity
was currently underway, resulting in erection of several matched lumber buildings, including
a bunkhouse (eighteen by eighty feet), a cookhouse, a boarding house (twenty by forty feet)
with a twenty by thirty-foot kitchen, an office, and a blacksmith shop, in the company camp
located on the hilltop above (south of) the mine workings where thirty men were busily
employed in development work and in laying the foundations of the stamp mill.
Communications with Ballarat had been substantially improved by the initiation of a tri-
weekly stage line, but in order for the new camp to reach its full potential it was concluded
that a communication and transportation line with Rhyolite was needed, necessitating much
work on the road crossing Death Valley that at this point was so sandy it could not support
loaded wagons. [227] A telephone line to the Bullfrog District was also considered essential
to keep mining men in Skidoo apprised of the rise and fall of shares.
iii) Granite Contact Mines Company
Touted as the Emigrant Spring section's first stock offering, the Granite Contact Mines
Company, one-half mile north of town and still considered second in anticipated wealth to
the Skidoo Mine, with an almost comparable surface showing, was incorporated under the
laws of South Dakota in the summer of 1906 and was offering stock at 15¢ a share by
August. Capitalized at $1,250,000 with 500,000 shares in the treasury for development
purposes, the company was backed by a string of solid Bullfrog businessmen: John W.
Seller, president; Clay Taliman, a prominent Rhyolite attorney, vice-president;. J. J. Fagan,
pioneer broker and real estate man of the Bullfrog District, secretary; and treasurer G. B.
Keenan, cashier of the Bullfrog Bank and Trust Company of Rhyolite. [228]
Prospective purchasers were completely assured by the company of the systematic

development campaign that would be undertaken on its seven claims (adjoining the Skidoo
Mine on the north, the Blue Jay Mining Company on the east, and the Skidoo Contact
Mining Company grounds on the south and west) in what was
Without question . . . destined to be one of the best high grade and leasing camps
on the desert gold fields; situated as it is at an altitude of 6500 [56001 feet, with
a delightful climate, with an abundance of water for mining and milling
purposes, with a plentiful supply of timber for fuel and lumber, with ideal free
milling ores and with precipitous mountains particularly adapted to mining by
tunnel, mining operations can be conducted by the most economical methods
known to mining. [229]
Many people evidently were won over by the eye-catching and flamboyant ads appearing in
the Bullfrog Miner and Rhyolite Herald for the demand for stock was far greater than
anticipated, no doubt prompted in great part by the already heavy and continuing investments
in the area by prominent Nevada operators.
iv) A Townsite is Established
From its very beginning Skidoo displayed a definite tendency toward an organized and
systematic development pattern that no doubt played a great part in helping sustain it through
the rough years ahead. The rapid influx of mining men to the vicinity, some with families,
made the establishment of a townsite and the dispersement of residential and business lots
the next natural step in the area's growth. By the end of August 1906 a townsite, variously
designated as Montgomery and later Hoveck, was platted just east of the Skidoo Mine, which
was functioning as the center of milling operations. Neither "Montgomery" nor "Hoveck"
captured the imagination of the townspeople, however, nor did either of those two solid
citizens particularly desire to be so memorialized. The details of the debate resulting in the

colorful designation of "Skidoo" have been lost to history and open to conjecture for years,
the linking of the then popular slang term "23 Skidoo" with the townsite having been
variously attributed to: 1) the length of the Skidoo pipeline; 2) a total of twenty-three claims
in the original discovery group, coincident with twenty-three surveyed blocks in the new
townsite (this seems the most likely suggestion, though newspaper reports mention twenty-
four claims), prompting Mrs. Montgomery to suggest the appellation; 3) the location of the
original mineral discoveries on the twenty-third of the month; 4) the twenty-three men who
supposedly founded the town; etc. Whichever fact prompted the suggestion, the new name
was wholeheartedly approved by all.
Lots on Skidoo Street went almost in a day. The coming of winter would delay new
construction, but by spring large and substantial frame buildings would be rising. An
important drawing card for the area was its relative accessibility compared to the
inconveniences experienced by earlier and smaller mining ventures in this region. Emigrant
Spring(s) rapidly became the distributing point for Skidoo and Harrisburg, boasting now a
general store and three saloons for those who needed to slake their thirst before attempting
the last few miles to either of those places. The rate of fare to Johannesburg from Los
Angeles was only $6 and the stage rate to Ballarat, on the threshhold of the Wildrose and
Emigrant districts, only $8. The ride from Ballarat to Skidoo was another $6, the stage
leaving every Tuesday and Saturday. Freight to Skidoo cost about 3-1/2 cents per pound and
entered the region from the railroad terminus via Barstow and Johannesburg, hauled by ten-,
twelve-, and fourteen-horse teams. Other assets of the region were free-milling ores,
extremely rich formations, and the ability afforded by the high mountains to utilize tunneling
methods rather than expensive shaft work. [230]
v) A Communications Link to Rhyolite Needed
The arguments put forth earlier in favor of establishing a communications link with Rhyolite-
-a move now considered even more logical because it would put Skidoo about forty-five
miles closer to a railhead--were revived, and in the course of the discussion it was pointed
out that a decent automobile road already existed to Stovepipe Springs (Wells), twenty-eight
miles northeast. If a good dependable water supply and a waystation could be developed
there, travelers and freight supplies should be able to negotiate the burning desert sands in
relative comfort. While plans for this project were being hashed and rehashed, a new gold
strike in the fall of 1906 on the north end of Sheep Mountain added to the mining
excitement. (This area later proved to also contain sizeable quantities of copper ore.) [231]
Meanwhile work on the Skidoo pipeline was progressing. Grading was finished and the
laying would commence as soon as the eighteen freight outfits engaged in transporting the
material could deliver it. The first consignment of pipe arrived from Johannesburg in the
middle of September. Seventy-five men were at work on the water system and at the mine
where the main shaft, already down sixty feet, was exposing magnificent ore filled with free
gold. [232]
Further discussion on the Skidoo-Rhyolite road had resulted in the decision to commence
work almost immediately on the proposed route. Matt Hoveck, manager of the Skidoo Mine,
committed the company to construction of the road up to the sand dunes, a project estimated
to entail an expenditure of several thousand dollars, if Rhyolite businessmen would build
from the east to that point. J. R. Clark, brother of the Las Vegas and Tonopah Railroad head,
was appointed to supervise this second construction phase, selling subscriptions in Rhyolite
to finance the work. (This scheme was not completely foolproof, for expenditures always
outweighed contributions. The total amount donated was $1,045, while expenditures for
picks, shovels, rakes, wages, teams, and lumber for culverts were $1,525.90. In addition,
some further work became necessary and was expected to result in a final deficit of $750.90.)

Hopes were also high at this time that Borax Smith's railroad would be extended westward
from his Lila C borax mine, past his Furnace Creek properties, on north to Cow Creek, and if
the Emigrant Spring ore continued to show promise, on to Skidoo. [233]
Meanwhile slow but steady work continued at the Skidoo Mines Company site where two
shafts and as many tunnels were producing high-grade ore with values ranging from $100 to
$1200 per ton, precipitating the receipt by Hoveck of at least twenty-five lease applications
from Goldfield and Tonopah people. Because it seemed inevitable that the number of ore
deposits would far outstrip the capacity of the company mill to handle them, it was already
assumed that a second mill of fifty stamps would have to be established at the lower end of
the property, utilizing the same water after it had performed its duty above, the fall between
the two mills being about 1,000 feet. [234]
vi) The Skidoo News Arrives
One of the more important events in Skidoo's early days, and one ensuring the dissemination
of her virtues far and wide, was the arrival in November of a four-horse load of printing
material, transported to the isolated town by James G. Sterrett and Edwin S. Drury of
Encampment, Wyoming--the Skidoo News was born! During the ensuing months other
businesses mushroomed in the vicinity, all owing their existence to the Skidoo Mine: an
engineering and assay office was opened in that town by two mining engineers, John H.
Wilson of Rhyolite (formerly of Greenwater?) and R. H. Earle of New York; Lawrence
Kimball of the Kimball Bros. stage line began canvassing the wagon road between Rhyolite
and Skidoo preparatory to the establishment of regular stage and express service; a water
station was established at Stovepipe Wells and an eating house and feed stable were
projected; John Calloway began running a six-horse bi-weekly stage from Ballarat; and Jack
Hartigan further developed his Emigrant Spring facilities and was liberally dispensing spirits,
general merchandise, and stock feed.
vii) Conditions Continue Promising
Actually, mining conditions throughout Inyo County as a whole were healthy during the
closing months of 1906, with 150 miners reportedly working the Emigrant District, where
investment capital seemed always available. Harrisburg was taking on a new lease of life due
to all the activity in the surrounding region, and Ballarat was thriving as the distribution point
for supplies for a vast mining section including not only the Wild Rose District but also the
revitalized camps in the Darwin, Modoc, and Coso districts. To the north numerous valuable
copper properties in the Ubehebe and Saline Valley regions were drawing much attention at
this time, and to the east Greenwater, the site of a bonanza copper strike, was attracting
investors from all over the country. [235]

Illustration 179. Office of Skidoo News 1907. Note Matt Hoveck and Bob
Montgomery in picture. From Rhyolite Herald, 19 April 1907.
Over the next few months slow but steady progress took place in the efforts to improve
conditions at the new camp. Although five miles of pipeline had been laid by the end of
November 1906, the early days of December brought heavy snows, sometimes as deep as
three feet around Skidoo and Harrisburg. The unbearable cold, lack of fuel, and poor housing
accelerated an exodus from the Emigrant Spring area. The Skidoo News even froze up, and
work on the mines and pipeline had to be temporarily interrupted. Toward the end of
December weather conditions had improved to the extent that twenty-seven laborers could
resume work on the pipeline, while a forty-horsepower hoist was installed on the main shaft
of the Skidoo Mine, now down 120 feet and exposing ore running from $60 to $200 per ton.
By early January the first power hoisting plant to be installed in camp, a new eighteen-
horsepower one hauled by fourteen-mule team from the railroad, was installed at the mine.
An iron-clad engine house was erected at the No. 1 shaft and the hoist was working steadily.
Although large surface showings were present on the Granite Contact, permanent work had
not yet been started. The need for a mill and treating machinery on the property was already
being hinted at, however.

Illustration 180. Plat of the town of Skidoo, Inyo Co., Ca., filed 10 January
1907. Courtesy of Inyo Co. Clerk and Recorder, Independence, Ca.
Illustration 181. Plat of the town of Skidoo, Inyo Co., Ca., filed 6 May
1907. Courtesy of Inyo Co. Clerk and Recorder, Independence, Ca.
J. R. Clark had by now also taken charge of the road work on the Skidoo end of the line
being constructed between Rhyolite and the new town, which, now boasting thirty-three
tents, several frame buildings, a big general mercantile store, a lodging house, a restaurant, a
newspaper, and several saloons, was eagerly anticipating increased trade from the new
association. By the middle of January men were working at four places along the road, which
had been finished so far only over the Funeral Range to Stovepipe Wells. Here, nearly two
miles out of a necessary five of the road had been corduroyed with mesquite. [236] Although
the road still needed some finishing touches, it was negotiable by motorcycle, stage, or auto.
Crossing of the sand dunes took a good two hours, however, and from Stovepipe to
Emigrant, a distance of twenty-one miles, about seven hours. The route from Skidoo to the
railroad via Ballarat was badly deteriorating and rapidly becoming impassable for teams with
heavy loads, causing Superintendent Hoveck to contemplate bringing the rest of the pipeline

in over the new road from the north. Work on the project had been delayed already for six
weeks during the end of December and first of January because of the inability to transport
supplies over the road now being used.
The Kimball Bros. stage line lost no time in initiating a five-day round-trip service from
Rhyolite to Skidoo via Stovepipe and Emigrant Spring, with a one-night stopover at the
former. A one-way fare cost $20, and the express rate was 5¢ per pound. During this same
time a telephone line from Rhyolite was nearing completion to Stovepipe Wells. The
connection had reached there by March 1907 and was already extending nearly five miles up
the Panamint slope toward Skidoo. Completion of this communication link would do much
toward ending some lingering feelings of isolation at the townsite.
viii) Leases Opened on the Skidoo Mines Company Property
To return briefly to mining operations at Skidoo, a new and extremely profitable phase of
activity began with the opening of leasing opportunities on the Skidoo Mines Company
property to interested parties. According to Hoveck the company would eventually lease
everything except for the three big ledges on the Skidoo and the three on the Cocopah that the
company was working. (The Cocopah Group of fifteen claims was not included in the Skidoo
Mines Company organization, but did have the same directorate. It was later consolidated
with the Skidoo Mine.) The awarding of these leases offered the possibility of quick fortunes
for many, because rich values could easily be drawn from the surface without tedious
preliminary development work. Royalites agreed on were 10% on $25 ore or. less with a
graduate scale up to 25% on $100 or better.
On the Skidoo itself, the No. 2 shaft was now a double compartment sixty feet deep another
forty-horsepower gas hoist was soon to be erected over it to increase production capacity. In
February 1907 a new venture, the Skidoo Contact Mining Company., was organized under
the laws of South Dakota with a capitalization of $1,000,000. Comprising five claims-(Gold
Ledge #1-4 and Doctor) 1-1/2 miles north of Skidoo, the Skidoo Contact Group lay adjacent
to the Golden Eagle Group (Skidoo Mine) and the Granite Contact, and was considered third
in importance to these two. President of the company was O. O. Kincaid, cashier of the John
S. Cook & Co. Bank of Rhyolite; vice-president was John W. Seller. [237]
Illustration 182. Rhyolite-Skidoo stage, on exhibit at Borax Museum,

Furnace Creek Ranch. Photo courtesy of G. William Fiero, UNLV.

It was anticipated that the first shipment of gold bullion from the Skidoo Mine would be
made before the end of July, test samples of ore having been shipped to Taylor & Company
milling machinery house in St. Louis and to Denver in an attempt to determine the best
method of treatment. According to Hoveck, an eighty-stamp mill operating by the summer
would reserve ten of its stamps for custom work, entailing at least three years of steady use
for the other seventy stamps. Hoping to facilitate operations elsewhere, the company offered
to furnish water and electric power to any surrounding properties desiring it. Ore was to be
purchased from leasers or operators, all ore running above $5 per ton to be bought and paid
for at the mill. By March leasing offers for Skidoo ground were withdrawn, the Skidoo Mines
Company undergoing a formal incorporation encompassing all twenty-three Cocopah and
Gold Eagle locations in one organization. [238]
ix) The Townsite Expands
Skidoo townsite was thriving now, and a great morale boost was provided when the U.S.
Government withdrew its aesthetic objections and officially recognized the appellation
Skidoo. In March the Skidoo Bank and Trust Company, with a paid-up capitalization of
$25,000, took up temporary quarters in the general store. Due to numerous delays, however,
it was not until May that the renamed Bank of Southern California opened its doors for
business. The first day's transactions carried deposits up to almost $10,000. The future looked
so rosy that stone masons imported from Los Angeles were already quarrying the native
white stone for use in a new two-story-high building costing $12,000, with lodge rooms on
the second floor for Masons and with a 60 by 100-foot ground floor to house a large store
and several business offices in addition to the bank. In February the Panamint Artificial Ice
Company had been formed by Salt Lake parties who intended to divert water from the
Telescope Peak pipeline to their $5,000 ice plant situated on four town lots. Two men already
managing large businesses at Tonopah and Greenwater were planning the establishment of
the Skidoo Lumber Company, intending to supply this commodity from Rhyolite via big
freighting outfits at from $15 to $25 cheaper than the prices now being paid of $130 per
thousand board feet.
Investments in mining properties and real estate were the order of the day, the latter
transactions being ably conducted by Capt. W. R. Wharton, a Pennsylvania capitalist and
stockholder in the Skidoo Mines Company, who bought the Skidoo townsite in March 1907
from Matt Floveck who had acquired the original one from James Arnold, the locator.
Wharton proceeded to plat a new residential addition east of the original townsite, where he
himself erected two portable houses, and sell business lots as well as oversee development
work on those promising claims embraced within the townsite. It was expected that such
development work would soon open up an extension of the Gold Eagle ledges within the city
limits. The Skidoo Townsite & Mining Company, with a capital stock of 1,000,000 shares,
was organized, with Montgomery as president; Matt Hoveck, vice-president; and Wharton as
secretary-treasurer. It owned eight full claims and one fraction adjoining the Skidoo Mines
Company property and, in addition, sold townsites ranging in price-from $100 to $1,000
each, depending on location.
Skidoo's population had reached 400 to 500 citizens, who were being served by L. E.
Thompson's large general merchandise store, supplying everything from mining necessities to
hardware, clothing, drygoods, and groceries, four saloons, a meat market, laundry, bakery,
newspaper, and lumber yard, lodging houses, three restaurants, assayers, surveyors, a
physician, lawyers, brokers, and more. Social activities were held in the Skidoo Club,
measuring twenty by fifty feet and costing about $3,000, and in the more elite Panamint
Club, which demanded an initiation fee of $100. By April the town contained altogether
about 130 residences and business houses of frame, wood, and iron.

Because the Telescope Peak pipeline was not yet finished, water continued to be hauled in
wagons from Emigrant Spring by ten-horse team and was sold for $4 a barrel or three to ten
cents a gallon or higher to the townspeople. It was hauled to the Skidoo Mine in an iron tank
on wheels. Groceries, supplies, and the cost of living were about equal to Rhyolite. Mail was
being hauled on the Kimball Bros. stage from that town, while fresh meat and vegetables
arrived by the same means and were then peddled. A Death Valley Forwarding Company had
been established in. Rhyolite to forward freight to Skidoo. Emigrant Spring now was a small
camp of framed tents with traveler accommodations in the form of a store, a saloon, a
lodging house, and restaurant. Water was piped from the spring to a point in front of the
main building. Several prospectors called this place home, as did Frank C. Kennedy, the
district mining recorder. [239]
Illustration 183. Proud cardholders of the Skidoo Club, 1907. From

Rhyolite Herald 19 April 1907.
x) Transportation Problems Arise
Skidoo and the surrounding Emigrant District were now accessible by stage both from
Ballarat (four-horse, tri-weekly service arriving on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays) and
Rhyolite (now on a four-horse, three-day round-trip schedule), and it was being rumored that
a stage company in Johannesburg was planning a line to Skidoo, making the 110-mile trip in
two days, a stage going each way daily. This would mean three regular stages into the town
as well s several private cars, such as J. W. Calloway's sixty-horsepower auto with a capacity
for ten passengers. [240]
The recently-completed Rhyolite-Skidoo road was proving a boon in many ways, but
unforeseen problems soon arose that for a while were seriously detrimental to the freighting
business. The trouble was first perceived when J. R. Clark, who had been hauling pipe,
telephone poles, and other miscellaneous freight for Montgomery and Hoveck was warned by
freighters doing business between Rhyolite and Skidoo not to haul any more freight for less
than 3-1/2 cents per pound, even though the distance was less than fifty miles. This action
justifiably angered the Skidoo Mines Company, which had just initiated a shipment of 500
tons, or ten carloads, of pipe, lumber, hay, and grain from Los Angeles to Skidoo via
Rhyolite. Upon learning that hauling the supplies from the latter place to Skidoo would cost
$3.50 per hundred, the shipment was stopped and ordered to go via Johannesburg instead,
where the freight charge was only 2-1/2 cents per pound although the distance was 120 miles.

It was not until the following October that arrangements were made among the local Rhyolite
freighters to allow open competition for the Skidoo business and to do away with the
prohibitory tariffs. This would ensure the rerouting of freight for the Skidoo Mine (especially
the lucrative mill shipments) back through Rhyolite and necessitated the laying off of many
of the freight handlers and railroad men who had been involved in the Death Valley business
at Johannesburg. [241]
An important milestone in the town's history was reached in early spring 1907 when Skidoo
became connected to Rhyolite by phone, one of the first messages relayed concerning a new
strike on the Granite Contact. According to the Skidoo News
The telephone from Rhyolite has reached Skidoo and a flood of business
between the Bullfrog metropolis and this place is keeping the wires busy. The
first message flashed across the wires from here last Monday announcing that
communication was, opened and that conversation could now be carried on with
the Panamint camp. [242]
The line, built by the Skidoo Mines Company, again under Clark's supervision, had a halfway
phone station at Stovepipe. The cost of talking with Skidoo was a mere dollar. By the end of
April a similar 7-1/2-mile-long line was about to be completed to the Keane Wonder
northeast across the valley that would connect with the Rhyolite-Skidoo line, thus making a
second phone office in the valley. [243]
"Away up at the top of the Panamints where the western wall of Death
Valley fades off into thin air; that's where Skidoo is . . . the little strip of
country in Inyo county, California, where the geography shows blank."
From Inyo Register, 17 January 1907.
Illustration 184. Townsite of Skidoo, 1907. From Rhyolite Herald, 19 April

1907.

Illustration 185. Community of Emigrant Spring(s), 1907. From Rhyolite

Herald, 19 April 1907.
Illustration 186. Skidoo Mines Company camp, 1907. From Rhyolite

Herald 19 April 1907.

Illustration 187. Skidoo Mines Company headquarters building, 1943.

xi) Continuing Activity by the Skidoo Mines Company
All this thriving progress by the town of Skidoo was, of course, directly attributable to a
surge of profitable and systematically-planned development at the great Skidoo Mine. The
parent mining company was still carrying out its plans with its own money, offering no stock
on the market except for 20,000 shares that were sold to friends as a favor for $30,000. Like
Goldfield, Skidoo was fast becoming famous for her leases (of which she now had five), the
most famous of which were the Shackett and Hoyt ones. Next to the Skidoo and Granite
Contact mines, these were most important in proving the richness of the district. Figures vary
considerably as to the number of men actually employed by the Skidoo Mines Company at
any one time, ranging from forty to seventy for the month of April alone. By spring, several
thousand dollars had been expended on the mine camp, where the company headquarters
were now housed in a fine building containing a large main office, a private office for the
superintendent, a parlor, bathroom, and several private bedrooms for employees. The
structure was surrounded by a large porch and finished throughout in excellent style. Workers
were boarded and lodged for $1 each per day. Other recent improvements at the camp site
consisted of a twenty by ninety-foot boarding house, a bunkhouse and another building, an
eighteen by twenty-four-foot reading room, an officers' dining room, and a lady cooks' room.
[244]
The Skidoo mill was to be built near the mouth of Tunnel No. 3. Here the ore's free-milling
character made it easy to treat, and by stoping and tramming directly to the mill and not
using wagons, the ore could be cheaply mined also. The No. 1 shaft was driven to a 200-foot
depth and was equipped with a twenty-five-horsepower gasoline hoist, while the double-
compartment shaft, in April, was still awaiting its forty-horsepower hoist. At this time the
Skidoo Mines Company completed its formal organization. Still a closed corporation, it had a
capitalization of $5,000,000, with the capital stock divided among the incorporators.
Montgomery was president; Capt. W. R. Wharton, vice-president; and Matt Hoveck,
treasurer and general manager. Ten claims were included in the mine holdings, and it was
fully understood by the men involved that close to half a million dollars would probably be
expended on the installation of water, an electric plant, the mill, etc., before any return on the
investment would be realized. The Cocopah Mines Company was organized by the same
people and financed in the same manner. This company controlled fourteen of the Gold Eagle
locations, including the extremely rich 22 and 23 claims. It intended installation of a twenty-

stamp mill to handle customers, but this project as well as further development would be
delayed until the Skidoo Mine enterprise was in full swing.
By the middle of April eight leases, each a 400 by 600-foot plot, had been given out on the
Skidoo Mines Company property, each one expiring 1 April 1908 with the probability of
being renewed. The terms of lease stated that two persons must be employed twenty shifts
each per month. On ore running $20 or under per ton, the company would receive a royalty
of 10%; from $20 to $30, 15%; above $30, 20%. In addition, it was promised that when the
Skidoo mill was finally installed, ore taken out by the lessees would be given preference over
company ore. Not intending to make any profit on the work, the company would charge only
enough more than the milling cost to allow for wear and tear on the machinery, interest on
their investment, and other contingencies. [245]
xii) Skidoo Continues Systematic Development
Mining speculators, investors, and owners from all over the country were clearly visualizing
the immense profits to be made at Skidoo. Among the camp's visitors during the spring of
1907 was a representative of Lindblom, Linderberg & Co., multimillionaire mine owners of
Alaska, who steadfastly announced their intention of becoming involved in the section's
mining activity. An important aspect of Skidoo's dynamic mining community and the one
that was probably responsible for attracting so many people to her properties was that her
business elite were well and widely known for their conservative judgement and legitimate,
businesslike mining methods,
men who investigate thoroughly and then support their opinion with capital as
strong as the Bank of England; this is the class of men who are making of
Skidoo the most wonderful gold camp ever known . . . . Skidoo is not alone great
through its gold; it is great in the possession of financial backing which mine and
produce that gold. [246]
This is the feature that gave Skidoo her truly unique standing in Death Valley mining history.
A short tally of some of the "greats" associated with Skidoo produces the following
impressive list:
1. E. A. (Bob) Montgomery, Nevada mining king
2. Matt Hoveck
3. Capt. W. R. Wharton, closely associated with Charles M. Schwab and his

enterprises
4. Capt. John L. Armit of Colorado Springs, actively engaged in mining

throughout the West
5. John W. Seller(s), Goldfield operator
6. various officials of the John S. Cook & Co. Bank of Rhyolite
7. Sherwood Aldrich of Colorado Springs, involved in the Bullfrog Tramp

Consolidated
8. Patsy Clark, the copper king involved in Greenwater mining
9. Poulson & Weaver, Salt Lake City capitalists

10. Busch brothers, founders and promoters of Rhyolite
Countless others were also involved in various Skidoo operations. [247]
Illustration 188. Skidoo Mines Company stock certificate. From Historical

Mining Certificates folder issued by The Book Club of California, 1971,
edited by Albert Shumate and printed by Ward Ritchie Press.
By early May 1907 the citizens of Skidoo, in accordance with their already proven desire to
create a law-abiding and orderly camp, petitioned the county for the appointment of peace
officers. A brief visit by the county district attorney and sheriff confirmed the need, and a
deputy sheriff and justice of the peace were duly appointed.. Another tie with the county seat
was suggested in the form of a Skidoo-Keeler road, providing another railroad outlet for the
growing community. A second attraction of the proposed project would be a consequent drop
in the local cost of hay, grain, and vegetables due to the new access to Owens Valley,
products. [248]
The establishment of a Skidoo board of trade was another innovation. With Matt Hoveck as
president, the organization not only monitored sanitary conditions in the camp, but also
created a set of rules by which Skidoovians were expected to abide:
That all citizens pledge themselves to assist the officers of the law in maintaining
law, order and decency in this camp, especially in the following particulars:
The prevention of shooting firearms within the boundaries of the townsite.
To discourage the carrying of concealed weapons therein.
The orderly conduct of all persons upon the streets of the town.
Preventing the use of vulgar and indecent language in places likely to be within
the hearing of ladies and children.
The prevention of women and minors from entering barrooms. [249]
The first of summer saw frustrating problems on the Skidoo pipeline. The heat and scarcity of
water across Death Valley were preventing the hauling of heavy freight from Rhyolite,
necessitating utilization of the longer route through Johannesburg and Ballarat. One hundred

sixty horses were on the road hauling pipe' in the first week of June, and the wagon trains
hauling supplies for the construction gang were increased to speed up work. Numerous delays
had plagued the project, the result of railroad tie-ups, of the inabilities of factories to make
prompt shipments of material, and of numerous other factors over which the Skidoo Mines
Company had no control. Material for the line filled forty railroad cars; after its arrival at the
depot it had to be freighted by wagon over 100 miles and packed on burro trains up mountain
trails where it was laid in solid rock in almost inaccessible places. Despite the holdups and
obstacles, five miles of the line had been completed, over the hardest piece of country
through which the line would pass, and water was now running into Tuber Canyon. A Mr.
Maren, who had previously laid pipe for Standard Oil Company, was in charge of the work
and intended to have his crew of thirty men lay not less than one-quarter of a mile per day
from now on. It was not until the first week of September, however, that the line was
completed to Harrisburg, and by the end of November the pipeline was still two miles and
one hill away from Skidoo. [250]
Illustration 189. Team hauling water line pipe from Rhyolite to Skidoo,
1907. From Rhyolite Herald 19 April 1907.
One proof of Skidoo's durability was the fact that it was not experiencing the usual "hot
weather slump that so often invaded mining camps in Death Valley during the summer quiet
season and that many times presaged the end of less stable communities. Here, however, the
mines were increasing their forces, new buildings were going up, and autos filled with
speculators and sightseers arrived every day. To handle the increased activity, the Kimball
Bros. stage now left Rhyolite six times a week, leaving there every day but Sunday at 5:30
P.M. and leaving Skidoo every day but Monday at the same hour. During the hot summer
months, nighttime was the only period in which to travel.
Most interesting, though, is the realization that a great depression had been sweeping the
country for the past several weeks. With the exception of Skidoo, where there was no
cessation or lessening of activity through the summer, there had already been a general
closing of mines in practically every camp on the desert. Not more than half the mines were
working now in Goldfield, Tonopah, Manhattan, and other northern Nevada camps, and those
that were able to keep going had greatly reduced work forces. These dull times would
continue for most of the large mining camps in Arizona, California, and Nevada into the fall.
The lively town in the Panamints had experienced only a slight reduction in population, now
holding probably less than 300 people, of whom 100 were employed at various properties. An

estimate at this time arrived at nearly 2,000 claims in the district. The fact that the Skidoo
Mines Company expended three months time and $4,000 on grading a new road around the
big Skidoo hill, long a terror to freighters and visitors, was testimony to its continued
commitment to the area. [251]
A change of policy occurred in Skidoo during the fall when the camp, heretofore a non-union
one, elected to organize a local branch of the Western Federation of Miners:
The name of Skidoo camp has been as a challenge to I.W.W. men for a good
while, it having been the policy of owners there to limit the stay of agitators to
the length of time from the stage on which they arrived to the next one going
out. [252]
The thirty-five charter members next proceeded to formulate a policy of liberal, non-coercive
elements that were truly unique in labor history and that greatly enhanced the WFM image, at
least in this section of the Panamints. These instructions to the membership included:
1. no attempt to dictate policy to mine owners
2. acceptance of no one as a member unless he was a practical miner (that is,

actively engaged in mining work)
3. encourage and bring in to the district good miners who were already union
members
4. cease reports that had been circulated through union channels detrimental to
Skidoo. [253]
This action by Skidoo miners greatly augmented the high esteem in which the area was held
by important individuals whose support meant so much to the town. J. J. Taylor, a well-
known mining engineer in the firm of Voorhees & Taylor of Rhyolite, voiced the widely-
held opinion that
Skidoo has a better reputation, from a mining standpoint, than any other new
camp in the country, and from what I. have seen in the few days here, I consider
that the reputation is fully justified, and merited. The camp has the mineral,
beyond question. But aside from that all important fact, it has been thus far
entirely free from any wildcat or stock jobbing promotions which have given
black eyes to every other mining district on the desert. Up to the present time
Skidoo mining has all been on a clean, legitimate basis. The biggest mine in the
camp, the Skidoo, is under the management of one of the most thorough mining
men of the country, Matt Hoveck, and honest work is every where in evidence.
[254]
The desire of Skidoovians to keep this statement accurate extended to the calling of a miner's
meeting in November to frame new district laws and select an arbitration committee of ten to
settle any disputes arising over mining claims. [255]
xiii) The Skidoo Pipeline is Finally a Reality
"Yes, the streets of Skidoo are running full of water, enough for swimming pools or skating
rinks." [256] Thus did Bob Montgomery announce the long-awaited event as water piped
from Telescope Peak was turned into a big reservoir above town, from which it ran freely
through the unpiped city streets. The line awaited continuance to the town, mine, and mill
until the latter was further advanced. The twenty-two-mile-long line of six-inch pipe, with

eight- and ten-inch mains in the draws, was said to have cost around $250,000.
Other sources said the total bill for wagon haulage from the railroad at Johannesburg to the
road nearest the pipeline was $75,000, and the line itself cost nearly $300,000. Montgomery's
elaborate plans of development had of necessity to undergo some modifications and
retrenching of policy because of the 1907 financial panic, and as a result a substitution was
made in the pipeline of a number of miles of steel spiral pipe for the heavy eight-inch steel
screw pipe used throughout most of the length. A big electric station had to be cut out as
well as private lines to other springs. So far five teams of the Tonopah Lumber Company had
transported 100,000 feet of lumber to Skidoo for the mill, material for which was coming
from Los Angeles, and grading for a sixty-stamp mill, that being the determined capacity
upon completion (reduced from the last-mentioned eighty because of financial conditions),
had been finished. [257] Construction work was being rushed, but the heavy mill timbers
could not be set until the concrete beds had hardened sufficiently to support them. A steel
cable strung across the gulch would be used to hoist the heavy machinery. A dam in the
gulch below the millsite formed a pool where tailings would be saved until the cyanide
process was installed.
Financial problems had started to affect the camp now, and the depression that led to a
reduction in the projected sire of the Skidoo mill also was the excuse for the holding of a
"Hard Times Frolic," a newspaper account of which gives some indication of the town's
erstwhile optimism and general spirit of good humor that accompanied the patient wait for a
return of solid business conditions. Invitations to the party read:
WHEREAS, In a burst of defiance against the solemn depression thrust upon our
beloved Death valley region by the heartlessness of Wall street and high finance
generally, we, the free and independent citizens of Skidoo have resolved to hold
a "hard times frolic" in the Eschwig grand opera house . . . . To this you are
heartily invited that you may join in the good cheer, good drinkables and eatables
provided. And enjoy the greatest terpsichorean, literary, musical and freakish
exhibition ever devised by man on the ragged edge of Death valley. [258]
The arrival of the new year in Skidoo saw the continuance of positive and improving
conditions. Immediate need was seen for a school district, census returns of which in June
showed a healthy attendance of thirty-nine white children, twenty boys and nineteen girls.
Work progressed on the Keeler-Skidoo or "Zinc Hill Road," as eight men and two teams
struggled to blast a 3-1/2-mile section out of solid rock and cement through Darwin Wash by
means of mules, scrapers, jack-hammers, and blasting powder. Efforts at the Skidoo Mine
were directed toward getting the ore in shape for stoping and toward exploring new bodies
that could be conveniently transmitted to the mill; much good miffing ore was present on the
dumps and a ready water supply was at hand. The main problem was that all available cash
had been used, and more capital was necessary. [259]
xiv) The Hanging of Joe Simpson
Because of this charged atmosphere, when tempers possibly were temporarily strained by
more doubts about the future than were usually entertained, and in light of the town's
reputation for decency and law-abiding behavior, it was less than prudent for Joe "Hooch"
Simpson, a gambler hailing from Reno, though a resident of Skidoo for some time, with a
reputation for a surly character and drinking to excess, to enter the store of James Arnold,
one of the town's founding fathers and one of the best-liked men around, and proceed to
deliberately shoot him to death. The motivation for this action is not completely clear, but it
was evidently on account of some fancied wrong that Simpson felt had been done him by the
victim. He was immediately arrested, and upon Arnold's death a few hours later, it was only

by some of the greatest diplomacy that law officers were able to avert an immediate lynching.
As it was, only a temporary stay of execution had been granted, for on 22 April Simpson was
dragged from confinement and efficiently and unceremoniously attached by the neck to a
telephone pole. Word of the deed spread quickly. When newsmen arrived from other parts
wanting pictures of the event, Simpson was rehanged with pleasure, and the photo taken that
appears in practically every volume on Death Valley. As would be expected in this town, the
entire project was undertaken in an organized fashion, and when the misdeed had been
avenged, normal conditions rapidly resumed. [260] An official investigation of the affair
determined that Joe Simpson, one-time consort of "Skidoo Babe" and regarded as really
nothing more than an ordinary pimp, had met death "by strangulation at the hands of
unknown parties, [261] while "the opinion of the Skidoo people appears to be that the
lynchers did a justifiable piece of business." [262]
xv) The Skidoo Miff Supports the Town
Late spring of 1908 brought the commencement of teaming between Owens Valley and
Skidoo along a route vastly improved but still marred by a few steep grades and curves
where top-heavy loads found the going particularly harrowing. This section of road from
Darwin Wash connected with the old Nadeau freight road into Panamint Valley and with the
Wild Rose road constructed by the Modoc Company when it was hauling ore from the
charcoal kilns in Wildrose Canyon to its mining property. May also saw the first stamps fall
on high-grade rock at the Skidoo mill. The attachment of a Pelton water wheel would soon
enable the addition of five more stamps. In early June the first gold brick from the Skidoo
Mine, representing the cleanup for the first few days of operation and estimated to be worth
$4,000, was transported to Rhyolite and then shipped to the mint by Wells Fargo express. Ten
stamps were now in operation and the full process at the mill encompassed crushing,
amalgamation, and concentration, with cyanide still to be added. The second brick from May
production was valued at $7,000. By the end of June the mill was treating around thirty-five
tons daily with an increase to twenty stamps planned when the demands of the mine justified
the additional expenditure. [263]
It was considered unprofitable to ship less than $100 ore from the area, prompting the
frequent voicing of the need in Skidoo for a small custom mill, which could secure water by
contract from the Skidoo Company and thereby enable more lessees to start work. This was
deemed especially essential when in July the Skidoo Mines Company decided to throw open
more than half its estate for leasing purposes, wisely realizing that it would be years before it
could work all its territory. The lessees' ore would be treated by the company at a maximum
rate of $3.50 per ton, including cyaniding, or at only $3 per ton if the run was made with
water power. Leasing royalties were raised only slightly: ore under $20 a ton, 10%; ore over
$20, 15%; ore over $30, 20%; ore over $50, 25%. The company's action here was expected to
have a tremendous influence on the prosperity of the camp. Numerous advantages would
revert to the company, the expired leases already handed over to them having greatly
enhanced the value of the property; when the new leases expired, the Skidoo Mine would be
in control of a tremendous output that would keep the mill running steadily. The great factor
sustaining the mine's value was that ore bodies were increasing and their average value was
remaining, steady. The mine's future was dependent on the fact that the ore bodies would
persist with depth and that enough large-capacity reduction plants could be installed to
handle large reserves of milling ore at a profit to offset high operating costs. The June
cleanup resulted in a $13,000 brick. [264]
A Presidential year is usually fairly lean for business, and coupled with this particular one
was the unfortunate fact that effects of the past financial panic could still be felt during the
traditionally quiet midsummer time. Having been without adequate water for eighteen months

and for so long without a reduction plant, and crippled now by the failure of its bank, the
withdrawal of the Nevada stage line, and the closing down of the Skidoo News (all due
primarily to the stringency of the money market), it was truly amazing that the camp of 150
people was still able to function. It was supported singlehandedly by the Skidoo Mines
Company, which was amazingly still able to increase its output, put a cyanide plant in
operation, and keep fifty men employed on its own business while twenty-five or so others
worked on leases. [265] It was agreed by all that "lack of a sufficient water supply and power
to work her ores is the only the sole reason why Skidoo is not one of the foremost producers
on the Pacific coast. [266]
Although Montgomery had once hoped that the Nevada-California Power Company would
extend electrical service into Skidoo and into other sections in the district south of Rhyolite,
thereby furnishing power for his mill and enabling the present water line to be freed for use
by other mills in the area, this never came to pass. The cost estimated by the power company
for the project was approximately $1,000 or more per mile, and most of that would have had
to be paid by the Skidoo Mines Company itself. [267]
Due to the lack of mills in the vicinity, little mining activity was being conducted in Skidoo
in the fall of 1908. Their mine's great production rate ($20,000 a month) prevented the
Skidoo Company from donating more than three months time to reduction of the ore worked
by its lessees, a11 of whom had been mining for more than a year with no opportunity to
extract the gold. Renewed isolation of the town meant that mining timbers were costing $400
per thousand running feet, potatoes sold for eight cents a pound, and hay for $100 per ton.
[268]
By October 1908, in an attempt to alleviate somewhat the problems caused by a lack of

reduction plants, E. M. Tracey, assayer for the Skidoo Mines Company, was promoting the
erection of a five-stamp custom mill in the gulch below the main Skidoo mill in a location
enabling it to utilize the latter's waste water, which, with a fall of 800 feet or more, could
generate enough power for further ore reduction. This mill, powered by a twenty-five-
horsepower oil engine, would be for use on the ore of Skidoo Mine lessees only. After four
months the company would take over the plant, paying the cost price less 6%. [269]
Thus gradually the Skidoo Mines will augment their reduction works on a very
economical basis, and eventually achieve the ambition of Bob Montgomery of
having a big mine operated at a very low cost, although isolated in an expensive
section of difficult access. [270]
At the same time work was proceeding on this project, grading was being done to enable an
increase in the Skidoo mill from ten to twenty-five stamps. The cyanide plant was
functioning extremely well, with a total savings now being secured of almost 95%. The water
necessary to run the larger mill was being obtained by increasing the head of the present
supply at the spring near Telescope Peak. [271]
By January 1909 the route from Stovepipe station to Skidoo had been shortened by fifteen
miles by completion of a light road up Telephone Wash, making the. Rhyolite-Skidoo trip
only about forty miles long; despite this, the freight, mail, and stage route had reverted to the
long and expensive Johannesburg road, over 100 miles long. Carloads of pipe were still being
delivered to the Skidoo Mine as efforts were being made to furnish power for additional
machinery, electric lights, etc. The total cost of all these improvements--the additional pipe,
additional water and machinery, financing of leases, construction of transportation tunnels,
etc.--had to this date exceeded production. By March a second, lower mill of five stamps was
in operation, as were six concentrators and fifteen cyanide tanks. Around seventy men were
employed at the mine, where a healthy state of affairs seemed to exist. Despite the town's

drop in population and generally quiet atmosphere, holidays were still important, and
Washington's birthday was celebrated with a literary program and grand ball lasting far into
the night.
According to current estimates, in the months since the Skidoo plant started operation, about
5,000 tons of ore had been milled. There were estimated to be 49,320 tons in sight averaging
nearly $20 a ton with a large tonnage running below $10. The bullion output for the six
months of the previous year reached $110,000. The total cost per ton produced was $8.69, but
it was anticipated that this would soon be reduced to $5.10. (By January 1910 the total cost of
mining and milling ores was under $8 a ton.) Ore reserves were placed at between $812,500
and $1,000,000. [272]
The Skidoo Mine operation, encompassing twenty-three claims and fractions, consisted now
of the mill, a laboratory, office, lodging and boarding houses, an approximately fifty-mile-
long telegraph line, machine shop, large ore bins, tramway, etc. Underground workings ran
5,000 feet, largely confined to about sixty of the company's 240 acres. Enough ore was in
sight to keep the mill running full capacity for the next three years. Shipments from
Harrisburg were also being processed here. No renewal of leases was being extended. In July
the Los Angeles Mining Review reported that in the last three months the net profits from
mines operating in the Skidoo region had been from $15,417.46 to $17,981.57, with gross
extraction averaging $24,859.41 a month. This made the Skidoo Mine second only to the
Keane Wonder in production in California in 1909. The net profit for the last three months
was $49,019.96, or an average of $26,339.98 a month, or $196,079.84 per year. All
indebtedness of the Skidoo Mines Company was cleared away by this time, and the first
dividend, aggregating $50,000, was being paid in July at the rate of five cents a share.
Illustration 190. Skidoo Mines Company camp, 1909. From Rhyolite

Herald Pictorial Supplement, March 1909.

Illustration 191. Skidoo Mines Company mill, 1909. From Rhyolite Herald
Pictorial Supplement, March 1909.
This success was corresponding with the return to the limelight of several southwest Nevada
districts, which were only now recovering from the setback dealt their development by
irresponsible promoters and poorly-managed mining operations in earlier days. The
Montgomery-Shoshone, for instance, was in the process of paying off its indebtedness and
the Keane Wonder had just opened up a promising lode. [273]
xvi) A Fire and Litigation Bring an End to Mining Activity
Despite the ongoing and successful development at the Skidoo Mine, however, it was obvious
that the town itself was becoming more and more depleted, the supervisors' proceedings of 20
September 1909 ruling that "it appearing to the Board that the attendance of pupils in the
Skidoo School District for the past year has been below the required number for maintaining
a school, motion was made and carried that the District be declared lapsed. [274]
When Frank Montgomery, nephew of E. A., took over management of the Skidoo Mine in
the winter of 1909-10, a new era of productivity arrived. More aggressive than his uncle, he
put half the workforce on development and the other half he charged with supplying ore to
the mill. It was not. long before the most extensive and richest ore body yet was located.
Better returns were the result, acquired in spite of some pipeline troubles due to expansion
and contraction and sometimes even freezing that temporarily lessened the hydraulic power
supply for the mill during extreme seasons of the year. Although the mine was, able to keep
up production for several years yet, monthly net profits seemed to suddenly start a downhill
slide, broken only temporarily by an occasional banner year:
September 1909 -- $10,000

October 1909 -- $11,507.22
November 1909 -- $ 6,508.82
March 1910 -- $ 8,116.66
April 1910 -- $ 6,878.78
July 1910 -- $ 7,798.41
October 1910 -- $ 5,212.73
November 1910 -- $13,280.03 [275]
A second dividend of five cents a share ($50,000 total) was paid by the company on 1 July

1910.
A report on the Skidoo Mine appeared in the Mining and Scientific Press in August 1910 and
presented the following brief summary of its operations: work was being pursued on four
veins, with two tunnels and two shafts having attained a maximum depth of 300 feet. Ore
averaging $15 a ton was recovered and treated by amalgamation, concentration, and
cyanidation in a fifty-ton mill, with about 65% of the gold recovered on the plates. The
concentrate was shipped to the Midvale, Utah, plant of the United States Smelting, Refining
& Milling Company. Cyanidation of the tailings recovered 90% of the gold. Forty men were
employed at the mine and mill, and a power plant consisting of several gasoline engines was
on hand in case of severe trouble with the pipeline. The company's statement of operations
from June 1909 to June 1910 inclusive showed profits of $92,617, with the total cost of
mining and milling at $6.88 per ton. [276]
At the start of 1911 there were three producing companies and five producing lessees
operating on the Skidoo Mines Company property, shipping to outside smelters at Salt Lake
City, Needles, and Keeler, and to Johannesburg, Rhyolite, Beatty, and Skidoo mills. January
and February of 1911 each netted only about $8,000 from the Skidoo, but the last year's
production had totalled $108,000. [277] July recorded the largest run in the life of the mine--
$18,000.
Another five-cent dividend was paid by the company in October 1911, and again in May
1912, by which time it was reported that the company was maintaining an approximate
production of $14,400 a month and earning net profits of about $4,800. [278] A blow to
production fell in January 1913 when the pipeline froze and burst in several places,
necessitating the shutdown of the mill and consequent discharge of forty miners. (The
cyanide plant had already been closed for the winter.) Because future operations appeared in
doubt, most men left camp, leaving only a few lessees on the property. Undaunted, the
company began the slow process of hauling in wagonloads of material to repair the pipeline,
but when half the repairs had been accomplished, a more serious calamity befell the
operation when most of the mill structure was destroyed by a fire of unknown origin on 2
June 1913. The loss, was reported at a staggering $50,000, with only one battery of five
stamps being saved. Although parts of the old structure could be reused, a large amount of
new material was necessary to modernize the mill. By October 1913 a new ten-stamp mill
was in commission and a heavy winter yield was expected. Company ore would be processed
the first month and then the mill would turn to steady processing of lessees' ore until all
stockpiled material was cleaned up. [279]
Production progressed well enough that by July. 1914 another dividend could be declared,
proving the fantastic resiliency of the company and the resources of its mine. Another one-
cent dividend in October 1914 brought the total dividends to a reported $365,000. [280]
Thirty-five men were again on the company payroll involved in exploration and development
work. Plans were being perfected for adding another five stamps and increasing production
by fifty per cent, for the Skidoo property seemed destined to continue operations for many
years to come. J. H. Cooper, who took over management of the mine in 1914, said that during
more than half of this year the best sections of the mine were in the hands of lessees who
were profiting highly at the expense of the company. Also during this year pending litigation
prevented work on two known ore bodies of excellent grade. Still the company remained free
of debt with substantial reserves in the treasury. [281] In April 1915 five 1,250-pound stamps
were added to the ten-stamp mill, along with two Deister concentrators. In December the
cyanide plant was housed and insulated with paper, and an oil-fired boiler was installed to
heat the cyanide solution. Leases were not being renewed, the owners determined to run the
mine themselves.

The town of Skidoo still supported a small population, although several lots were being
offered for sale. It was still reached by a horse stage from Ballarat costing $34 per person.
Upon completion of the Trona Railroad it was possible to go directly from there to Skidoo,
bypassing Ballarat completely. Freight from Johannesburg was costing $50 to $70 a ton,
although parcel post would bring it for $21 a ton. Accordingly coal, barley, canned goods,
and every other type of freight imaginable that could be compressed into fifty-pound lots was
being sent by mail! [282]
Skidoo's days were numbered, however, and in September 1917 it was reported that the
Skidoo's rich vein had pinched out and the mine had closed down permanently, coincident
with the demise of Rhyolite and Greenwater about this time. Current prices for iron and steel
remnants made the prospect of salvaging them attractive, so that by October Trona was
gearing up for bustling railroad activity after receiving word that the contract for dismantling
and shipping the mill, machinery, and pipe from Skidoo would soon be awarded. It was
estimated that 160 cars would be needed for the pipe alone, sold to Standard Oil Company,
which along with other scrap metal would be hauled to Trona by teams and motor trucks.
[283] (Short sections of the pipe left on the ground were later taken out by CCC labor and
used for various purposes.)
xvii) Revival of Mining in the Area in the Later 1900s
When Edna Perkins visited the site of Skidoo in 1922 on her trip through the Mojave Desert,
several buildings were still standing along one wide street and a mass of stoves, broken
chairs, and cooking utensils were strewn around. A neatly-piled wait of bottles, five feet high
and several feet wide, still stood behind the saloon. "Old Tom Adams," an old desert
prospector, was the sole inhabitant of the area, guarding his mine and Skidoo. [284] The
peacefully slow decaying process of the site was only slightly interrupted in 1923 by the Eric
Von Stroheim Company from Goldwyn Studio in Hollywood, headquartered at Lone Pine,
which began location work in Darwin, Skidoo, and Death Valley generally for final scenes of
"Greed," an adaptation of Frank Norris's book "McTeague."
In January 1926 the Skidoo mines were to be reopened under the management of Ogden,
Utah, men who bought control from Judge William B. Gray of Beatty, a justice of the peace
who had earlier acquired the property when he sued Montgomery in U.S. District Court,
claiming, ownership of ten fractional claims that had been operated as a part of the Skidoo
Mine. Rather than pay a $00,000 judgement, Montgomery had given the mines to the judge,
who later operated them throughout the 1930s. The new company would function under the
name of Golden Glow Mines Corporation. In October the workings consisted of an inclined
shaft 300 feet deep and a 300-foot-deep vertical shaft. The ten-stamp mill and cyanide plant
were still on site. Three years later H.W. Eichbaum, controlling the Emigrant Springs Mining
and Milling Company, tried to revive the Skidoo mines, but with little success. [285]
The Skidoo Mine enjoyed a revival of production, and the nearby Del Norte Mine at the
northern end of the Skidoo gold mining district most of its activity and production, following
passage of the 1934 Gold Act. Whereas prior to that, from about 1837 to 1934, the price of
gold had been restricted to a little over $20 an ounce, it now jumped to $35. Judge Gray, in
the spring of 1936, began employing sixteen men in the mine and mill of Skidoo in removing
ore averaging $30 a ton in gold at the rate of ten tons per day; by summer some thirty other
men were employed on various surrounding' properties. In July a strike was made on the Del
Norte Group of claims two miles north of the old Skidoo Mine, and Gray entered into an
agreement with the U.S. Smelting and Refining Company of Salt Lake City to sample the two
mines. The Del Norte was subsequently taken under option by Roy Troeger, whose cyanide
mill at the Keeler gold mine could process the ore. Two years later the group of six claims
was still under bond to the Panamint Milling Company, of which Troeger was secretary and

manager. They had been developed to the extent of ten shafts from ten to fifty feet deep and
many long trenches. Six men were employed. In 1939 a Morris Albertoli and John Rogers of
Mojave leased the mine, employing ten to twelve men and producing twenty to twenty-five
tons of gold ore daily. Later that year Rogers and Joe Stivers, also of Mojave, purchased
Albertoli's one-third interest and formed the Del Norte Mining Company, operating the
property until 1942. The $30-a-ton ore they mined was treated at the Skidoo mill. It was
hauled by truck to the fifty-ton ore bin, crushed to 1/4-inch size by two jaw crushers,,
reduced to 16-mesh by stamps, and the coarse gold concentrated and removed. The pulp was
then thickened, the slimes going to waste and the sands leached. [286]
Back in June 1937, according to one newspaper account, a lease with an option to purchase
the Skidoo Mine had been given to some eastern interests by the Gray and Worcester Mining
Company, which for the previous eighteen months had been making regular shipments of a
good-grade milling ore to Journigan's Mill in Emigrant Canyon. A memo found in the
monument files stated the sale was to Colorado parties. Whoever it was, their projected plan
of operations included relaying the Telescope Peak pipeline with a four- or five-inch-
diameter pipe, in the old ditch, at an estimated cost of $100,000, in order to economically
treat the large bodies of milling ore still available in the Skidoo Mine and some recently
developed on the Inyo and Del Norte groups of claims. According to the Journal of Mines
and Geology Roy Journigan leased the Skidoo Mine in January 1937 and with a crew of five
removed a small amount of ore from the old stopes, which he treated at his plant in Emigrant
Canyon. Meanwhile Roy Troeger, who held interests in the Del Norte claims, continued
efforts to push through reconstruction of the pipeline, hoping to attract Mojave capital to his
Golden Queen and Inyo claims. The pipe would have two terminuses--one at the old Skidoo
mill and the other at a new 300-ton mill to be located near the Del Norte Mine, which would
be worked by an open-pit method. [287]
In March 1938 it was announced that the Golden Queen Mining Company of Mojave, a
subsidiary of Goldfields Consolidated, a British mining firm, and owners also of American
Potash and Chemical Company, had taken over 60% ownership of the Inyo Group of claims
at Skidoo owned by Roy Troeger.288 With permission supposedly granted by the Department
of Interior for construction of the pipeline, the Golden Queen imported twenty-five miners
and placed them on the job of development, intending to prove the ore bodies before
beginning a major construction program. Materials for camp buildings were ordered from the
Lone Pine Lumber and Supply Company, and the first truck shipments were made
immediately. New York interests also joined in the venture.
By 1940 there was a renewal of mining activity in the Argus Range and in the Skidoo District
in Inyo County. The Del Norte was being actively developed and the Del Norte Mining
Company was preparing to operate its mill on ore from the mine, including its own plus
lessees' ore, and a minimum of 300 tons monthly from the nearby Gold King Mine. The
Skidoo Mine was still being worked by lessees and ore treated at the Journigan Mining and
Milling Company plant in Emigrant Canyon. All operations shut down in December for the
winter months, with about $90,000 having been taken off the Skidoo property since the last
May. The Del Norte Mining Company mill at Mojave had processed in the last eight months
approximately 7,000 tons of ore from the Del Norte, Gold King, and other mines in the
district. [289]
From 1942 to 1969 the Del Norte property as a whole was essentially inactive. In the early
1950s the Del Norte Group of six claims was only sporadically worked, Troeger still owning
and maintaining the Del Norte and Inyo groups of mining claims with their large deposits of
low-grade gold ore. Prior to World War II these could be profitably mined, but the War
Production Board had caused a cessation of gold mining during the war and since that time
the government had held down the price of gold to such a degree, while other prices had

gone up, that it was unprofitable to mine. Troeger, who also owned the Skidoo mill and
appurtenances that he had purchased from Gray, was holding on to the property hoping the
price of gold would rise or the price of commodities fall. The twelve claims of the Skidoo
Mine were still owned by W. Howard Gray. [290]
Also in the early 1950s (1949-56) a tungsten boom hit the Skidoo area. There were large
deposits of low-grade ore but no material of commercial quality. Although several hundred
claims were located, and in the process many scars left on the hillsides, the flurry was mainly
promotion-oriented with little or no output. The last measurable production from the Skidoo
Mine took place about 1941, while the Del Norte lasted until about 1954. In the early 1970s
when gold was at $38 an ounce and low-cost open-pit operations afforded the best
opportunity of producing gold profitably, Mineral Associates of Battle Mountain, Nevada,
obtained a lease/purchase option on the old Skidoo gold mining property, and Amberson
Construction Company of Nevada conducted drilling operations. In 1970 the Del Norte
Group was leased by Carl Dresselhaus and Mrs. Virgina Troeger to Bell Mountain Silver
Mines, Inc., of New York, who undertook an extensive sampling program of the low-grade
gold deposits on the property and then proposed to mine and crush the ore, recovering gold
by cyanide heap leaching in an open pit, but this was not successful. The work resulted in
thirty shafts and seven open cuts sampled over a four-acre area. [291]
(b) Present Status
The old Skidoo townsite and mill are reached via an unimproved dirt road leading east off
the Emigrant Canyon Road at the north edge of Harrisburg Flats, approximately 9-1/2 miles
south of the intersection of that road and California State Highway 190. In the course of the
next seven miles this eastward-trending road turns north and then westerly before ascending
to the high plateau housing the deserted townsite. Time, weather, vandals, and modern
mining activity have all taken their toll of the area, which is marked by an interpretive sign.
Open shafts, adits, and stopes dot the hillsides and ridges, posing a grave threat to careless
sightseers. Only a very few structural remnants remain, in the form of collapsed ore bins and
stone building or tent foundations. Liberal quantities of the usual junk cars and assorted metal
debris can also be spotted.
Only one structure of determined significance remains--the Skidoo Mines Company quartz
stamp mill. The attractively-verandahed company office building that stood on the hilltop
above the mill burned a few years ago. Still sitting on the Del Norte Mine site, on the next
ridge north, are the vats and the large pit utilized in its short-lived leaching operation.
The present Skidoo-Del Norte Group of mining claims consists of thirty-one unpatented,
contiguous, and often overlapping lode claims. Located during the mid-1920s and 1930s they
overlie the historical, early 1900 workings and are included within the boundaries of the
Skidoo Historic District. The group covers approximately 600 acres of land, and, stretching
diagonally across the ridges from the northwest to the southeast, encompasses the old Skidoo
mill and part of the townsite. The Skidoo-Del Norte Group was closed to further mineral
entry in 1976, and the claims are being contested by the Department of the Interior. One mile
north of the townsite near the head of a wash are the nine patented Contact and Gold Bird
claims.

Illustration 192. Skidoo townsite. Date unknown, but post-March 1907.

Photo courtesy of G. William Fiero, UNLV.
Illustration 193. Skidoo townsite, 1916. From Dane Coolidge Collection,

courtesy of Arizona Historical Foundation.

Illustration 194. Skidoo Mines Company camp, 1916? From Dane Coolidge
Collection, courtesy of Arizona Historical Foundation.
Illustration 195. Skidoo main street, 1916? From Dane Coolidge Collection,

Illustration 196. Skidoo townsite, 1916? From Dane Coolidge Collection,

Illustration 197. View east of Skidoo townsite, 1978. Photo by Linda W.

Greene.

Illustration 198. Ruins of Skidoo mill. Photo by Linda W. Greene,

1978.
Illustration 199. Stamps in Skidoo mill. Photo courtesy of G. William Fiero,

UNLV, 1972.
i) Skidoo Mine and Mill

The abandoned townsite of Skidoo, the nearby Skidoo Mines Company stamp mill, and the
surrounding ruins are some of the monument's most important historical resources. Located
in 1906 and flourishing for the next ten years, Skidoo owed its existence primarily to one
mining concern--that run by E. A. Montgomery and the Skidoo Mines Company. This one
man financed the entire operation, initially expending over $500,000 on the property. The
money came from his purchase of 400,000 shares of treasury stock at $1 per share and an
additional loan of $150,000. The ore produced from the Skidoo Mine came from two fairly
narrow vein systems ranging from eighteen to twenty-four inches in width and sometimes up
to four feet, and averaging anywhere from one-third to one-half an ounce of gold per ton.
The ore was mined by overhand stoping, with timber used only sparingly. By May 1908 the
Skidoo stamp mill was in operation, powered by water delivered to the site from springs near
Telescope Peak about twenty miles south via a gravity-pressure pipeline built at enormous
cost, hardship, and frustration. The ore was collected on the tunnel levels and trammed in
trains of mine cars by mules directly to ore bins in the upper part of the mill. A description of
the mill operation in 1911 states that the water pressure upon reaching the Pelton wheel in the
plant was about 300 pounds per square inch due to its being reduced at two or three points
enroute. This wheel, assisted by one or two gas engines (40 h.p. and 18 h.p.), ran the mine
and mill machinery, the latter consisting of two Blake jaw crushers, two five-stamp batteries
of 1,050-pound stamps, built by Hendy, and one five-stamp battery of 1,300-pound stamps
built by the Union Iron Works. This latter set was the one bought and erected by company
lessees about a year after the other two batteries started, and which was then sold to the
Skidoo Mines Company. Below the apron plates of the mill, were three Deister tables that
during the month collected a limited tonnage of sulphide concentrate worth about $450 per
ton. The tailings went directly to dewatering and percolation tanks. The earlier tailing, held in
ponds, was sporadically elevated and run through extra cyanide tanks. The mill, including its
cyanide annex and concentrators, cost about $60,000, while the twenty-mile-or-so long
pipeline cost from $250,000 to $300,000.
Illustration 200. Kennedy Mine near Skidoo, 1916? From Dane Coolidge

Illustration 201. Remains of heap cyanide leaching process, Del Norte Mine
site. Photo by Linda W. Greene, 1978.
Illustration 202. Digging up Skidoo pipeline south of Wood Canyon,

probably by CCC crew. Photo by T. J. Williams, courtesy of DEVA

NM.
By 1911 a total production of over $500,000 had enabled the repayment of the original
$150,000 loan and the. payment of two $50,000 dividends. By January 1913 the mine had
produced almost $1,000,000 and paid six dividends aggregating $325,000. The fire that year
reduced the mill capacity to only ten stamps, although the cyanide plant still operated.
Despite the problems of this year another dividend was paid, bringing the total to date to
$365,000, amounting to $385,000 by January 1915. The total ore milled by that time had been
74,380 tons with a gross return of about $1,250,000. In December 1917, about the time the
mine was shut down and the mill dismantled, the state mineralogist listed the mill equipment
as ten 850-pound stamps and five 1,150-pound stamps plus amalgamation tables. These last
five stamps (possibly 1,250 pounds instead) were said to have been added around the spring
of 1915.
From 1908 until its shutdown in 1917 the Skidoo Mine produced a total of 92,479.5 tons of
ore ($1,344,500), with returns averaging $14.54 a ton and 90% recovery in the mill.
According to the mine manager the mine had not been worked out by 1917 but had to close
due to litigation, disputes with lessees, and bad management. The mine was then inactive
until about 1935 or 1936 when it was reopened and worked for five years as the Silver Bell
Mine. The period from 1940 to 1947 was relatively quiet, and production from 1948 to the
mid-1950s was sporadic. During 1940 to 1942 when the Del Norte Mining Company mined
about 3,000 tons of ore from the Skidoo Mine, it was treated at the Skidoo mill, which had
been acquired by surface easement.
The State Division of Mines's estimate of $1,500,000 as the value of Skidoo ore produced
through 1916 approximates that given by the USDI Regional Bureau of Mines. The latter
states that the actual value of all gold and silver reported to them as coming from this mine
during 1908 to 1917 was about $1,600,000. Applying present-day values for gold and silver
this would mean a total output of $2.5 million.
ii) Del Norte Group
The Del Norte Group, not worked, as far as can be ascertained, during the early 1900s, was
mined by means of an open pit during 1937-38 with no economic success. Between 1971 and
1975 Bell Mountain Silver Mines, Inc., proposed installation of a heap cyanide leaching
process. The site was graded and a neoprene apron laid in anticipation of mining a proposed
10,000 tons of rock, crushing it, and piling it on a prepared pad lined with plastic sheeting. A
cyanide solution would then be sprayed on the heap to dissolve the gold, which would then
be collected as it drained off the pad. The solution would then be passed through specially-
treated charcoal filter cylinders to extract the dissolved gold, which would then be sent for
refinement. Only 5,000 tons of quartzite were ever placed on the pad, and the project came to
naught because of troubles in crushing the rock to the desired size.
iii) Skidoo Historic District
Although Skidoo's meteoric rise to prominence was contemporary with that of Greenwater,
far more has been written about the latter, because it was a bona fide boom town.
Characterized as having few parallels in its "sudden rise, great outlays, small returns and
quick decline," it played out its life in sharp contrast to its sister city on the western edge of
the Panamints. More law-abiding and attracting a more conservative element than
Greenwater, Skidoo's only black mark in the annals of history was her refusal to forgive Joe
Simpson for his rash act one pleasant spring day. Unfortunately, because this sort of "shoot-
'em-up" action with its final inevitable result has always held more romantic appeal than
quiet and honest hard work, this one deed has been publicized more than Skidoo's lucrative

gold production.
Illustration 203. Scar of Skidoo pipeline route, across Harrisburg Flats can
be seen best in distance heading north toward Skidoo. Photo courtesy of
Illustration 204. Masonry support for Skidoo pipeline, 112 miles southeast
of town. Photo courtesy of William Tweed, 1975.
Two unique items are associated with Skidoo's mining heyday. First, the town possessed the
only milling plant in the desert operated almost completely by water power, making it one of
the most economical operations around. Its cost of mining and milling reached a miraculous
$7 a ton, below that of any of its neighbors. Today the mill's basic structure remains in place
cascading down the hillside just west of the townsite. Most of the machinery has either been
removed by salvage operations or has succumbed to weathering and decay. The ten-stamp
battery still remains and is of much interpretive value. The structure is, however, dangerous
for inquisitive visitors, the timbers appearing shaky and infirm. Secondly, the construction of
the pipeline was a phenomenal engineering feat; its scar can still be seen crossing from
Skidoo over Harrisburg Flats and Wood, Nemo, and Wildrose canyons to the Telescope Peak
area. Some interesting remnants of the line remain, such as masonry troughs, at least one
round pillar that supported the pipe as it passed over washes, and broken iron clamps.
Although the line was frequently susceptible to breakage during periods of expansion and
contraction, and totally useless when the water supply from the mountains was low, these
problems were overcome by the dauntless tenacity of its builders and a little auxiliary help
from gas engines.
The townsite of Skidoo was entered on the National Register of Historic Places in April 1974
as being of local significance, its inclusion based on its importance as a representative

example of the last gold mining towns in Death Valley flourishing during the early twentieth
century, and as one of the few mining towns in the region that produced significant amounts
of gold ore, primarily by undertaking the uncommon large-scale mining of narrow ore veins.
The stamp mill on the edge of the townsite, built by the Skidoo Mines Company, is a
comparatively-rare surviving example of an early twentieth-century stamp mill and is the
only gold-mining mill of this size located in a National Park Service area. Its stamp batteries
and much of its other equipment are still in place. Skidoo is now considered to be of regional
significance because of its production record, the presence of the mill structure, and the
innovative manner in which a water supply was brought to the area to serve the town and run
the mill. The Skidoo National Register form will be revised to include the pipeline route, the
Saddle Rock and Tiny mines, and the Telephone Spring arrastra site.
The frame stamp mill structure, with its concrete base, was constructed against a steep
hillside so that, although it is equal in height to a five-story building, no part is actually more
than three stories high. Of the four levels of construction, the upper two appear to be
structurally sound while the lower ones are in poor condition. Exterior sheathing and roofing
are of corrugated metal. The plank floor of the structure is decaying, the wooden floor girders
are loose and cracked, and the heavy wood columns supporting the structure are deteriorated,
with several pulled out of alignment. The mill framework has been weakened through the
years by the action of the stamps, age, deterioration, and the removal of machinery for scrap
by literally dragging it out through the walls.
Due to the growing realization of the importance of mining history within areas administered
by the National Park Service, and in an attempt to provide a better theme balance in the
interpretation and preservation of historical sites, it is recommended that the first task at
Skidoo be to resolve the ownership question on the mill property and, if it can be acquired,
the second task should be to accomplish emergency stabilization with eventual limited
restoration. A Historic Structure Report, especially an Architectural Data Section, should be
funded for the mill, although it is doubtful if much more historical data can be found than has
been included in this study. Blueprints of the mill plant would be an invaluable research and
interpretive aid if they could be located. Opportunities in this area for on-site interpretation of
more modern mining methods and of ore-processing techniques using a gravity feed system
should be exploited. Skidoo's distance from the visitor center makes management of the site a
problem, especially from the aspects of protection of resources and visitor safety. The area's
importance, however, demands that an attempt be made to not only successfully fulfill these
obligations but also accurately and completely interpret the town, mill site, and pipeline
ruins.
deva/hrs/section3b2s.htm

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION III:
THE WEST SIDE
(20) Saddle Rock (Saddlerock) Mine
(a) History
The famous Gold Eagle strike in January 1906 that precipitated the rush to Skidoo resulted
from the discovery of free gold on the Saddlerock Claim by John L. Ramsey and John A.
Thompson. By 23 February the Palma lode claim had been discovered and at various dates
throughout that year the claims included in the Saddle Rock Consolidated Mine--the Saddle
Rock, Chespeake Fraction, Pima, and K. K.--were located. [292] Because Ramsey and
Thompson kept the news of their new discoveries to themselves for the next two months or
so until they, had finished staking all the claims they wanted, and were therefore the only
prospectors in that particular area for awhile, it is probable that they were the original owners
of the property.
At the end of 1906, or in early 1907, the Saddlerock Group, reportedly including only three
claims and bordering the famous Skidoo Mine on the west, was purchased by Sherwood
Aldrich of Colorado Springs and Hector Mckenzie and Russell F. Sutherland of Rhyolite for
$25,000 cash. At this time the property's principal ledge, varying from three to five feet in
width, was giving returns of $41 to the ton. [293] By June 1907 Aldrich's company, the
Skidoo Saddle Rock Mining Company, a South Dakota incorporation, was developing the
property by means of three tunnels (two being dug under contract) and two shafts. The
company-worked tunnel was now in over fifty feet and the other two extended for about
thirty-five feet. The thirty-foot main shaft was disclosing ore similar to that on the Skidoo
Claim, "and it is. the opinion of all who know the property that the Saddle Rock will develop
a mine second only to the Skidoo." [294] Unnamed Nevada mine promoters were backing the
company, but keeping their future plans for the operation cloaked in secrecy. Encouraged by
the ore showings so far, they were attempting to get the most work done in the fastest
possible manner, and therefore were paying miners wages far above the ordinary scale. The
only building on the property so far was a blacksmith shop. [295]
By the middle of the summer the Saddlerock shaft extended down sixty feet, and sixty tons
of ore lay on the dump. The shaft was sinking in solid ore its entire width, but assay returns
from the ledge, which could be traced along the surface of the claim for nearly a mile, were
still being kept secret. Two more shafts were being sunk on other ledges, and three tunnels
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were attempting to open up the ore shoots at depth. A camp had been established, and
arrangements were being made with E.A. Montgomery for water, hopefully enabling erection
of a mill later in the fall. [296]
When the Palma and Saddle Rock Combination were surveyed in 1907, the former had a cut
and tunnel and the latter was developed by several cuts, tunnels, and shafts. [297] By April
1909 the Saddlerock still had excellent ore showings but had not been worked since the first
of the year. [298] In August the Skidoo Saddle Rock Mining Company applied for a patent
on the K. K., Pima, Thespeake Fraction, Saddle Rock, and Palma gold- and silver-bearing
lodes, veins, and deposits. [299]
From 1910 on up to the present day, information pertaining to the Saddlerock Group is very
piecemeal. The next reference to the property is a notification in 1928 that the State of
California had deeded to the Sterling Bros. the Palms (Palma) lode claim and the Saddle
Rock, Chesapeake [sic] Fraction, Prima (Pima), and K.K. claims. [300] In an attempt to
revitalize mining activity in the Skidoo region by successfully working the rich deposits of
gold known to exist on this particular site, H.W. Eichbaum and associates (William Corcoran,
Bourke Lee, and Jess Hession) in 1929 organized the Emigrant Springs Mining and Milling
Company, incorporated for $100,000 and including the Pima, Emigrant Fraction (Palma?),
Saddle Rock, Chesepeak [sic] Fraction, and K.M. [K.K.] mines near Emigrant Spring. The
company had $25,000 available for immediate use toward construction of a new mill,
purchase of machinery, etc. Reportedly over thirty old-time prospectors, including Shorty
Harris, arduously constructed a road during the heat of the summer to the mouth of
Eichbaum's Emigrant Springs Mine tunnel, blasting it out of solid rock from the bottom of
Emigrant Canyon 1 miles up the steep slope to the property. The strike here reportedly
yielded ore assaying up to $10,000 per ton. Ultimately machinery was transported on burros
to the mine site, where one tunnel had already reached the main ore body. Stoping was soon
to commence, with initiation of the milling process projected for 1 January 1930. [301]
In 1938 the Emigrant Springs (Saddle Rock) Mine consisted of four patented claims and
twelve held by location, and was owned by the Emigrant Springs Mining Company, H.W.
Eichbaum, president, and Mrs. Eichbaum, secretary. Gold values ranging from $4 to $6 a ton
were being found on the property, which was being developed by three tunnels and five
shallow shafts. The mine was thought to have good potential as a large, low-grade gold
deposit, but was idle at this particular time. [302] William C. Thompson of San Fernando,
California, purchased the Saddle Rock property from a Helene West in 1945. Five patented
claims were involved, producing ore assaying $30 a ton in gold. Earlier in the year
Thompson had bought Shorty Harris's gold and tungsten property in the Goldbelt area further
north. [303] Records in the monument mining office files show that in 1959 the Saddle Rock
Mine consisted of sixteen gold claims, four of which were patented. By 1962 the four
patented claims were included in the Harry Hamlin estate and had seen no production within
the last twenty-five years. The current owner, David L. Dotson, purchased the property from
the Hamlin family in 1967 for a reported consideration of $1,000. [304]
(b) Present Status
Located on the eastern slope of Emigrant Canyon in the Panamint Range, about 1-1/4 miles
east of Emigrant Spring and at an altitude of 4,800 to 5,400 feet, the Saddle Rock Group
today consists of two adjacent, irregularly shaped parcels of land. They are reached by a 1-
1/2-mile-long unimproved jeep trail leading easterly from the paved Emigrant Canyon Road.
An attempt to locate the site was made by the co-author of this study. He is uncertain,
however, whether or not he actually reached the subject claims. The area had recently
undergone heavy washing and as. a consequence the claim boundaries were difficult to
ascertain. Only one adit was spotted. During a survey of the site in 1972 the only extant

building was an outhouse on the Pima Claim, although nearby were the scattered remains of
several collapsed wooden frame buildings. Some shafts and an adit were also visible. [305]
Illustration 205. Remains of mining activity on Saddle Rock property. Photo

by John A. Latschar, 1978.
Illustration 206. Adit, Saddle Rock mining claim. Photo by John A.

Latschar, 1978.
A second site examination in 1972 disclosed two 75-foot-deep shafts in fair condition for the
first 25 or 30 feet but appearing extremely dangerous below that point. Two 50- to 150-foot
adits and some open cuts had been driven on the K.K. and Pima claims, and the latter site
also contained a 60-foot adit. The leveled remains of the old mine camp were seen near the
center of the property. [306]
The significance of the Saddle Rock Group today lies in its being the site of the initial gold
strike responsible for the creation of Skidoo and the evolution of the surrounding mining

district Although passing through the hands of several owners, some of whom spent a
considerable sum on development work, from the early 1900s on up to the 1960s the mine
itself has had no production record and seems to consist only of exploratory workings. The
site is considered locally significant and eligible for inclusion within the revised boundaries
of the Skidoo Historic District.
deva/hrs/section3b2t.htm

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION III:
THE WEST SIDE
(21) Nellie Grant and Uncle Sam Mines
Little information has been found on these mines, permitting only a brief survey of what
were some of the very earliest mines in the Wild Rose area. The Nellie Grant and Uncle Sam
mines, in the vicinity of Emigrant Spring, were located by W.L. Hunter, whose early presence
in the area is attested to by a newspaper statement to the effect that Rose Springs District was
the same where Messrs. Hunter & Porter have been operating for a long time
past, and where we are satisfied from all accounts there are numerous silver
ledges as promising as any in the whole country. Among them are the Nellie
Grant, belonging to Hunter & Porter. . . . [307]
Hunter & Company were working the Nellie Grant Nos. 1-3 in 1874, as well as the Uncle
Sam Nos. 1 and 2, North Corner Nos. 1 and 2, the Theodore Wibbeth, and the Silver Bluff.
Several men were at work, with development being subsidized by proceeds from the ore.
According to the Inyo Independent
The following assays, made by Mr. J.L. Porter and F.F. Thomas, will satisfy any
judge of ores as to value: Nellie Grant No. 1, four assays, respectively, $459 62,
$659 57, $754 and $479 11; No. 2, $274 81. North Corner, three assays, $212 05,
$150 82 and $403 69. Silver Bluff, $180 84. Wibbeth, three assays, $801 33,
$493 58 and $95 81, silver per ton. The ore was sold to M.W. Belshaw and Co.'s
furnace on the 24th instant. The amount sold was fourteen mule loads, the
product of three men for two days, and was from the different mines as follows:
Nellie Grant, five parts; Uncle Sam, one part; North Corner, one part; Silver
Bluff, two parts. The whole crushed and sampled as one lot yielded $323.54 per
ton, silver. Mr. Porter has been at these mines for the last ten days, and he says
as far as developed they are the best average prospect that he has ever seen. All
are free milling ores, and the country is of such a nature as to admit of large
teams going to the mines without any road making. [308]
Mining was facilitated by a plentiful supply of water, but wood had to be hauled about
twelve miles from Telescope Peak. [309]
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It has been a common occurrence and a prevailing frustration throughout this study that just
when this writer feels some progress has been made toward sorting out the many disparate
references to a mine, further information turns up that completely invalidates the conclusions.
A Nellie Grant Mine appears on the 1877 Wheeler Survey Map Sheet 65D. An 1883 location
notice states that an Argonaut Mine was "situated about four and one-half miles South, from
the Mouth of Emigrant Canon at what is known as Hunter & Porters rock house near
Emigrant Spring & is immediately South of the Jeannetta Mine and is a relocation of the
Uncle Sam Mine." That same year a notice of location far the Jeanetta Mine was filed noting
"This location is on the West side of Emigrant Canon . . . thesame is near Emigrant Spring
and is a relocation of the Nellie Grant Mine." [310] By 1884 a local newspaper was referring
to the. "Mohawk, Blue Bell and Argonaut mines, formerly known as the North Star,
Garibaldi, and Nellie Grant." [311] The Nellie Grant was described here as one of the
properties owned by W.K. Miller, J.M. Keeler, and N.J. Medbury. According to Palmer, in
Place Names the Nellie Grant was located south of Emigrant Spring. However, a notice of
location for the Susan B. Anthony Mine, located on 1 April 1886 by M.M. Beatty and Jos.
Danielson, describes it as being north of Emigrant Spring and formerly known as the Nellie
Grant. Then on 1 January 1888 Paul Pfefferle and Jos. Danielson filed a notice of location for
the Maud S. Mine, "on a line with Emigrant Springs in Emigrant Canon and was formerly
known as Susan B. Anthony or better known as Nellie Grant. [312]
An 1889 article on mining mentions the Nellie Grant, "with its big body of free ores" and a
nearby spring that furnished enough water for a large mill. [313] In 1896 a Nellie Grant Mine
"situated in Emigrant Springs Canon in Wild Rose Mng. Dist. Formerly Known as Emigrant
Springs Mine" was relocated by Charles Anthony. [314] In 1906 a proof of labor was filed on
an Argonaut Mine owned by W.L. Skinner, but whether this has any relation to the Nellie
Grant is conjectural. [315] Further records on the mine were not pursued by this writer.
deva/hrs/section3b2u.htm
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Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION III:
THE WEST SIDE
(22) Junietta Blizzard and Virgin Mines
These properties in the Wild Rose District were also located by W.L. Hunter of Lone Pine
around 1877. [316] Interests in them were acquired by W.K. Miller and N.J. Medbury, and
the three pursued a course of strenuous development work:
The Junietta has a six-foot ledge which gives an average assay of $50 per ton.
There are 100 tons of assorted ore now on the dump that will yield $100 per ton.
The Argonaut [Uncle Sam?] joins the Junietta on the south. . . The Blue Belle
[Garibaldi] is situated about six miles distant from the two former mines. The
Blizzard and Virgin are close to the Blue Belle. The former claim has a four-foot
ledge of fine horn silver ore. [317]
The 1884 Report of the Director of the Mint mentions the Virgin as carrying high-grade ores,
and states that the Genette [sic], "the best developed of the group, has a shaft 100 feet deep,
with a 4-foot vein of free-milling chloride of silver ore . . . and assays from 50 to 100 ounces
per ton of silver." [318] In this year Medbury and Miller transferred to J.M. Keeler a one-
half interest in the Blizzard and Jeanette mines. [319] No more information was found on
these properties, primarily because there was no time for a strenuous search of county records
pertaining to them. It can be assumed, however, that Milo Page's assessment of their lives is
accurate:
At Emigrant Springs there was also a group of silver mines, yielding ore of high
grade, owned by Wm. L. Hunter and J.L. Porter, of Cerro Gordo fame. These,
like the Garibaldi claims, received the usual amount, or scarcity, of
"development." [320]
deva/hrs/section3b2v.htm
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Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION III:
THE WEST SIDE
(23) Tucki Mine
(a) History
Record books of the Wild Rose Mining District contain a Notice of Location for a Tucki No.
1 Mine, "located about 3 miles NE of Skidoo," dated 12 April 1909, and filed by Henry W.
Britt (or Birtt; writing illegible). By the location given it would appear that this is the same
property later located by John Millett, Samuel E. Ball, and Charles G. Walker in September
1927 encompassing a group of claims about 2-1/2 miles southwest of Tucki Wash and 4
airline miles north-northeast of Skidoo. If so, the area's early activity must have been
sporadic and inconsequential, for no information on it has been found. By October 1927 an
Edward R. Attaway was deeded a one-fourth interest in the Tucki and Tucki Nos. 2, 3, and 4
mining claims. [321]
Specific details even on these more modern mining operations at the site are negligible until
the 1930s, when a few newspaper articles appear recounting progress there. In 1937 Ed
Attaway and Sam Ball, at least, were working the gold mine and trucking their ore to Death
Valley Junction for shipment to the smelter. By 1938 ore from the Tucki Mine was being
treated by Roy Troeger in the fifty-ton cyanide plant of Keeler Gold Mines, Inc. [322] Four
months later, in August, Attaway and Ball gave a lease/bond agreement on the property,
referred to as the Tuck-I Mine, to the Lane Development Company of Hollywood for a total
consideration of $25,000. According to the newspaper article on the transaction, the two
lessees had been working the property for the past fourteen years and shipping ore running
$100 to $700 per ton. Roy Journigan became part owner of the mine, along with Ball and
Attaway, by April 1939, and these three proceeded to lease the property to a Felix Castro,
Fred Bunting, and Fred Mastagan. [323]
A year later the Tucki, still owned by Attaway, Journigan, and the Sam Ball estate, was
handed over in another lease/bond agreement to Warnken, Potter, and associates. Working six
men, Potter began securing a return of about $846 in gold every two weeks. By 1951 the
Tucki Mine included four unpatented lode claims owned by Journigan and Attaway.
Workings comprised an inclined shaft and several drifts. The earliest openings on the
property were the two adits northwest of the shaft. Total gold, production to that date is
unknown, but from August 1940 to April 1941 lessees had sold $5,200 worth of ore
http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/deva/section3b2w.htm[7/26/2008 3:07:49 PM]

averaging $20 per ton, with a gold content ranging from $12 to $60 per ton. Immediately
prior to 1940 ore recovered at the mine had been sent to Journigan's Mill in Emigrant Canyon
for processing; after that year it was treated in a small cyanide plant on the property. The
Tucki was idle in the early 1950s and continued that way for the next several years,
Journigan evidently deciding to keep the property in abeyance while waiting for an increase
in the price of gold. [324] Activity continued in suspension throughout the 1960s, with only
occasional visits to the site by Journigan each year.
Early in 1974 Russ Journigan relinquished the Tucki No. 4 and 44 mining claims adjacent to
the Tucki Mine, retaining only the Tucki, Tucki No. 2, and Tucki No. 3 property originally
located in 1927. At this time he and his wife held complete title to each of the three claims on
which most of the development and production work had been done through the years. In
1975 the Journigans and the Barnetts, affiliated as the Tucki Mining Company, decided to,
reopen the mine and begin construction of a gold recovery plant to leach oversized material
from the old tailing dumps and process it by the carbon filtration method. The process was a
complicated one: material from the source dump below the plant was fed via a chute into a
10-1/2-inch jaw crusher and then into an 18-inch cone; from there the crushed ore was
conveyed by dump truck to the vat storage bin. A solution of the old tailing material would
be circulated through activated charcoal cartridges, there being one cartridge for each of the
four concrete leach vats. A sand/gravel bed in the floor of each vat was to filter the pregnant
solution. Counter-circulation of sodium hydroxide would strip the gold from the cartridges,
and it would then be precipitated. The two-man operation required 1,000 gallons of water per
day, and this had to be transported by truck from Panamint. Springs, thirty-four miles to the
west. The water and solution were stored at the site in 12,000- and 18,000-gallon swimming
pools. A front-end loader emptied the vats by removing their steel end gates, a single one
being unloaded and reloaded in less than a day. Allowing a percolation rate of eight days,
production was projected at twenty-five tons a day. [325]
Although this operation was expected to take four years, only a few dozen ounces of gold
were actually recovered. The crusher and other miscellaneous equipment were finally
removed in March 1976. By May Journigan was leasing the mine to Barnett and a partner for
a percentage of the gross; these latter two contemplated continuing the leaching process using
zinc instead of carbon in the refining of the ore. They were also hopeful that by driving a new
adit to intersect the main inclined shaft they could open the lower workings and stope the
upper ones and still make the operation pay. By the summer of 1978 Journigan had evidently
acquired new financial backing and anticipated continuing mine operations, but work was
suspended during the monument moratorium on mining.

Illustration 207. Tucki Mine, 1975, showing leaching operation and mine
camp. Photo courtesy of DEVA NM.
Illustration 208. Tucki Mine, 1978. Cabins in ramshackle condition and

much debris on site. Photo by Linda W. Greene, 1978.
(b) Present Status
The Tucki Mine is located on Tucki Mountain and is reached by an unimproved 10-mile-
long dirt road from Emigrant Wash. It has been basically an underground operation that has
produced some ore from shallow stopes. The last recorded production was in December 1971.
Although no figures for total production have been found, mine receipts from gold bullion
delivered in 1941 amounted to almost $18,000. [326]
Today the site contains cabins, concrete pads, and sheds ranged along the east side of a
narrow gully, and assorted mine workings covering the west hillside. The residences still
contain furniture and household goods and the sheds and workshops are full of small supplies
used in the leaching process. The workings themselves include a fairly modern large ore bin,
four fifty-ton leach tanks, measuring nine feet by twenty feet by six feet, and further south
against the hill the ruins of a chute and a concrete platform that once held a building
connected with the crushing operations. Sprawled over the hillside are the remains of older
diggings--adits, an inclined timbered shaft, and an old ore chute.
The Tucki Mine is not considered eligible for inclusion on the National Register, possessing
no associative significance and no buildings, structures, or objects of historical importance.
deva/hrs/section3b2w.htm

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION III:
THE WEST SIDE
(24) Telephone Spring
(a) History
Telephone Spring is located toward the north end of Telephone Canyon in the northern
Panamint Range, about four miles northwest of Skidoo and slightly over three miles directly
north of Emigrant Spring, on the southwest slope of Tucki Mountain. The canyon, actually
more of a wash, derives its name from the Rhyolite-Skidoo telephone line, constructed in
March 1907, that passed through here on its way to the telephone station that had been
established at Stovepipe Springs (old Stovepipe Wells). By 1909 this wash had been graded
to accommodate a light freight road between Rhyolite and Skidoo that shortened the trip to
about forty miles, twelve to fifteen miles less than by the old route via Emigrant Spring.
[327]
Although entrance to Telephone Canyon is now possible via a washed-out and barely
discernible road entering the Emigrant Canyon Road about 1-1/2 miles south of its junction
with California State Highway 190, during the Skidoo era the trait undoubtedly led from the
canyon directly onto the flats toward the sand dunes and Stovepipe Wells. In 1910 Telephone
Canyon was suggested as one segment of "Alkali Bill" Brong's proposed auto service
between Rhyolite and Skidoo. Under this plan, two men would be kept busy at Stovepipe
cutting mesquite with which to surface the road so that autos could, pass. The Skidoo Mines
Company would then, under contract, construct the auto road through the canyon, a modicum
of safety being afforded by its accessibility to the phone line in case of trouble. Two men and
two cars were expected to make the trip, in eight hours, each carrying three tons of perishable
supplies daily in both directions. The service could also include mail and passengers.
Whether this service was ever, actually implemented is unknown. [328] Trails leading off the
Telephone Canyon road ended at various small mining operations along the slopes of Tucki
Mountain, [329] while a well-defined branch road leads off in a southeasterly direction
toward the Tucki Mine about nine miles further up the road.
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Illustration 209. View east toward wash of mill ruin at Telephone Spring.
Note arrastra and diversion channel to right leading muddy mixture of
crushed ore and water to pond disposal area behind embankment in lower
left corner. Note also masonry water tank support in center and other stone
foundations to left of picture. Photo by Linda W. Greene, 1978.
Illustration 210. Arrastra gold mill at Telephone Spring, 1934, "still in use."
Photo by A.E. Borell, courtesy of DEVA NM.
(b) Present Status
The Telephone Spring area at one time supported a small mining operation, possibly during
the Skidoo era, but more probably during the revival of mining activity in this region during
the 1930s. Strangely, no mention of who built the large arrastra whose ruins are found here,
or when, has been found by this writer. According to the caption on a monument photo of the
structure, it was definitely operating in 1934.
The mill lies on the edge of the wash, and therefore is quite susceptible to erosion.
Nevertheless, the site, embracing a large arrastra basin with a flume or drainage channel
leading off toward three tailing dams, a shallow cement trough for holding a water tank, some
leveled terraces overlooking the arrastra, and several machinery pilings and stone foundation
walls, appears in remarkably good condition. Farther upstream (south), on the west side of the
wash, are some stone tent foundation levels and a crude shelter set against the wall and
fashioned from F.W. Woolworth packing crates. Purple glass and fragments of insulator from
the telephone system have been found on various parts of the site, indicative of activity prior
to 1920.

It is conceivable that the packing crate shelter and stone foundations in Telephone Canyon
are indicative of limited settlement in the area, dating from the pre-1917 period of activity at
Skidoo when the route through here served as an important link in the Skidoo-Rhyolite
transportation and communication system. It is the writer's opinion, however, that the mill
was probably a later addition of the 1930s, a conjecture based on several factors: the
surprisingly undamaged condition of the dams and stone walls; the fact that the operation was
machine driven and fairly extensive in size; plus the later date on the monument photo of the
arrastra. The lack of information available on the mill is its most puzzling aspect.
The Telephone Canyon ruins contain another good example of a machine-driven arrastra used
within the Panamint Range in the 1930s. It is difficult to determine whether the site was as
complex an operation as the one at Warm Spring since all its machinery, has long since been
removed. The mill's location within Telephone Canyon, which has interpretive significance
itself as the route of a freight road and phone line between Skidoo and Rhyolite--the latter
project being one of the more interesting engineering feats of Skidoo's heyday and one on
which little has been written--justifies the recommendation that this stretch of the canyon
containing the mill and tent foundation levels be left to benign neglect.
deva/hrs/section3b2x.htm

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION III:
THE WEST SIDE
(25) McLean Spring
A brief mention should be made of the McLean Spring site, slightly over seven miles east of
the Stovepipe Wells Hotel and adjacent to Burned Wagons Point. According to one writer
who visited the scene, a faint trail could be discerned passing south of the spring, and also in
the vicinity were three wooden footbridges, indicating semi-permanent occupation or at the
very least fairly heavy travel through the area. This same source states without hesitation that
a "trading post" existed here in the early 1900s to cater to prospectors, presumably crossing
over into the Panamint Range or merely passing between the northern and southern sections
of the main valley. [330] Wooden bridges would certainly be necessary if people were
attempting to carry on business over any extended period of time on this sandy plain that can
become quite sticky and intractable, especially during rainstorms. Burr Belden also asserts
that historically a trail led south from old Stovepipe Wells to Salt Creek and McLean's Well,
and from there a path ascended the Panamints via Blackwater Canyon. [331] No mining
camp paper or other source found by this writer mentions a supply point at McLean Spring,
but some operation of more than temporary status appears to have existed here as evidenced
by the wooden bridge remains. They should be left to benign neglect.
http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/deva/section3b2y.htm[7/26/2008 3:07:54 PM]

Illustration 211. Bridge to trading post (?) standing at McLean Spring

around 1902. Photo courtesy of G. William Fiero, UNLV.
deva/hrs/section3b2y.htm
http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/deva/section3b2y.htm[7/26/2008 3:07:54 PM]

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION III:
THE WEST SIDE
(26) Lemoigne Mine and Junction Camp
(a) History
i) John Lemoigne Arrives in Death Valley
The stark, simple beauty of Death Valley has often captured the imagination and the hearts of
unwary visitors and held them in its spell for their lifetime. Such an unwitting victim of this
desert magic was Jean Francois de Lamoignon, born in February 1857 at Lamoignon, France,
and educated in England, Paris, and Germany as a mining engineer. [332] As seems to be the
case with all Death Valley folk heroes, controversy and irreconcilable discrepancies surround
every aspect of his life in the region. Initial disagreement arises over the date of the tall,
white-bearded, genial Frenchman's arrival in the Death Valley region and the impetus behind
his long journey. While some sources suggest that he served as a sailor before coming to
America to work in the mines around Darwin in the early 1870s, it has been most commonly
assumed that he arrived here around 1882 to 1884 at the behest of Isadore Daunet, who,
hearing about the young mining student through mutual friends, suggested that he take over
supervision of the new borax works in the southern part of the valley. [333]
By the time Lemoigne arrived in this country, however, Daunet had taken his own life,
depressed by the failure of both his business venture and his recent marriage. [334]
http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/deva/section3b2z.htm[7/26/2008 3:07:58 PM]

Illustration 212. Map of Lemoigne Canyon.
Once in this country, and possibly forced to stay by a lack of money, Lemoigne quickly
became Americanized and acculturated, dropping his aristocratic name and donning the garb
and life-style of a Death Valley prospector, although never completely losing his distinctive
aura of education and intellect. Reportedly meeting some Indians in the Cottonwood area of
the Panamint Range and learning from them the location of a silver-lead mine at which they
fashioned bullets for their muzzle-loaders, he filed on this property, known as the Bullet
Mine, about 1882, although one source stated it was not located until 1887. [335]
Lemoigne covered a lot of territory in his peregrinations throughout the California and
Nevada mining districts, prospecting from Barstow, California, east toward Virginia City and
Ely, Nevada, and west toward the high Sierra Nevadas. He seems to have had fairly good
luck, for his name is connected with several claims in the Death Valley region alone: the
Uncle Sam Lode in the Panamint Mining District, located 11 April 1880 (which, as
mentioned, would seem to imply that Lemoigne did arrive prior to Daunet's ill-fated borax
venture); the Independence, located on 14 January 1884, and the Alaska, discovered on 24
January 1884, both in the Union Mining District; the Washington, Robespierre, and
Lafayette, located 28 April 1885, in the Deep Spring Mining District; and the Egle and Union
mines, two relocations on 3 January 1887, and the Bullion, Stare, Hop, and Ouray, discovered
4 February 1889 in the Furnace Creek Mining District. [336] In early 1890 Lemoigne and
Richard Decker were involved together in a chloriding operation at the Hemlock Mine near
old Panamint City, though five years later he was working his lead mine and talking some of
erecting a smelter for his ore near Keeler. By 1896 he had filed location notices for three
quartz claims in Cottonwood Canyon. [337]
ii) Lemoigne Properties
It is rather difficult because of the variety of locations given to determine the exact extent of
Lemoigne's holdings. His lead mine, which remained active through the 1950s, was located
in present-day Lemoigne Canyon. According to Crampton, Lemoigne's silver prospect,
complete with shack, was located north of Skidoo, and it was this property that actually
supported him and paid his bills and grubstakes. [338] This is at variance with Southworth's
assertion that "He [Lemoigne] was known to depend entirely upon his highgrade silver
property in Lemoigne Canyon whenever ready funds ran low." [339] George Pipkin states

that Lemoigne opened the "LeMoigne Silver Mine at the extreme north end of the Panamint
Mountains in Cottonwood Canyon," and also discovered lead "in what is known today as
LeMoigne Canyon northwest of Emigrant Springs. LeMoigne's silver mine could have been
the 'Lost Gunsight Lode'. . ." [340] The 1896 location notices indicate that he did have
property in Cottonwood Canyon, and, indeed, evidence of mining activity was found here in
1899 where
the ruins of an old log cabin stand near to where considerable work has been
done in former years by some prospectors. A large pile of lead ore lies upon the
dump. Cuts have been run and shafts sunk. [341]
In 1897 Lemoigne's property was mentioned as one incentive for construction of a

transcontinental route from Kramer Station on the Santa Fe and Pacific line to Randsburg and
on to Salt Lake City that would tap the untouched mineral resources in the Panamint Valley
area. It would, it was argued, facilitate shipping from the Kennedy Antimony Mine at Wild
Rose, the Ubehebe copper mines, and would put within reach "the apparently inexhaustible
'low-grade'--worth $50 per ton, with lead accounted at 54 per lb and silver at 70 per oz.--
argentiferous galena ores of Cottonwood, known as the Lemoigne mines." [342]
In 1899 Lemoigne found a large body of high-grade lead ore on his property, but was still
hindered by transportation problems and hoping for completion of a railroad into the area so
that large quantities could be shipped at a profit. The lead mine was producing so well in
1904 that it was reported that Lemoigne had gone to San Francisco to negotiate its sale: "This
property is said by experts to be the biggest body of lead ore ever uncovered on the coast."
[343] Reportedly any grade of lead, up as high as 75% even, could be obtained by
handsorting, the silver content varying from 15 to 83 ozs. and gold from $5 to $20. [344] The
sale was not consummated, however, and perhaps this was the basis for the oft-repeated tale
of how old John, reasserting his often-voiced contempt for negotiable paper, turned down
several thousand dollars for his mine because he was offered a check instead of cold hard
cash.
Lemoigne was reputedly a very simple, honest man with no particular need or desire for life's
luxuries. Money was relatively unimportant and only necessary to finance his long
prospecting trips or to grubstake one or another of his friends. Since it appeared that he
would be returning periodically to his lead mine, Lemoigne proceeded to erect a stone cabin
there. Frank Crampton recalls:
Often I stopped at the lead prospect, almost as often as at the silver prospect Old
John worked, alternately with the lead [the mine near Skidoo). In the old stone
cabin (house I presume might be better) he passed some of his time particularly
when the weather was cold. He had built the stone house soon after he
discovered the lead outcrops and realized they were good possibilities of ore. It
was winter he told me when the stone house was built and water could be had
from a creek bed that flowed some water. In the spring when the water either
was insufficient, [sic] after his first winter at the lead prospect he went up the
canyon and built himself a shack. In the shack was the shelf of classics, French,
German, English, which he dusted every day and often when I remained a few
days with him he would read one of them, as I did also. [345]
iii) Lemoigne Castle at Garlic Spring
In addition to the monetary sustenance afforded him by his mine, Old John also thrived on
the goodwill of a host of fellow miners in the surrounding desert region, who considered him
a gentleman and true friend. Their ready offers of food and friendship were reciprocated by

John's grubstaking offers. Sometimes this generosity brought amazing and unwelcome
results.
Illustration 213. John Lemoigne, about 1915. From Dane Coolidge

Illustration 214. John Lemoigne, about 1915. From Dane Coolidge


Illustration 215. John Lemoigne, no date. Photo courtesy of DEVA NM.
One of the stranger stories connected with John Lemoigne and that sounds as if it might have
enjoyed some slight embellishment at the hands of Frank Crampton, who first reported it,
concerns a construction project at Garlic Spring on the old road between Barstow and Death
Valley, where Lemoigne was camped around 1914. Two men whom he had grubstaked
brought him a contract to sign, having not only located a mine but also attracted a buyer.
Firm persuasion was required to secure Lemoigne's reluctant signature on the necessary
instruments, and his worst fears were soon realized when to his acute embarrassment a steady
flow of grubstake profits began pouring in. Because of his strong distrust of banking
institutions, Old John persuaded the local storekeeper to take charge of these funds, but that
individual soon became nervous because of the large sums he was being entrusted with and
the proximity of Barstow and its rough-neck railroad men and other strangers who might be
tempted to avail themselves of these riches in an ungentlemanly manner.
To remedy the situation the storekeeper's wife suggested that she be allowed to construct and
furnish a large house for John in the area and thereby utilize the money. Consent was
reluctantly given the lady, who proceeded to supervise the erection of "Old John's Castle," a
monstrosity that daily grew more unwieldly and unattractive. What she lacked in expertise in
architectural design and construction, she compensated for in flamboyance and general bad
taste. The large, two-story square building soon sported turrets, a spire, dormer windows,
gables, and a multitude of chimneys. A covered porch surrounded the bright red structure on
four sides, and the whole was accented by green-trimmed windows with blue shutters.
Dozens of mail order catalogs were perused, resulting in acquisition of heavy oak furniture, a
completely furnished library, a huge kitchen with hot and cold water, wallpaper, and fine
carpeting. Pre-dating Scotty's Castle, this structure reportedly displayed none of the latter's
fine attributes, and was considered nothing more than a white elephant by its owner. The only
way to forget such a structure is to blow it off the face of the earth, and that is precisely what
Old John did one night with the aid of several boxes of dynamite. [346]
iv) Controversy Surrounding Lemoigne's Death
That incident, if true, was about the only undignified moment in Lemoigne's life, which came
to an end tragically in 1919. In death as in life Lemoigne has been the subject of considerable
controversy. Many cannot even agree on the date of his demise, while, as Southworth writes,
the number of people who claimed to have found and buried John Lemoigne reads like a
Who's Who of the desert region. Why Old John was heading toward Furnace Creek Ranch,

or away from it, is not definitely known, although reportedly he had not been feeling well for
some time and was journeying there to seek medical advice. Whatever the reason, he never
reached his destination. According to Crampton he and Shorty Harris found the body lying
under a mesquite bush about nine miles northwest of Furnace Creek Ranch near Salt Well.
Apparently overcome by the heat or a sudden heart attack, Lemoigne had been unable to
untie his burros, who perished with him. Proving his personal involvement in the event,
Crampton says, are pictures he took of Old John and one of his burros as they lay when
found. Reporting the incident at Furnace Creek Ranch, Crampton and Harris returned with
Harry Gower, Oscar Denton, Tom Wilson, and a couple of other Indians for the burial, with
Gower carving a grave marker. [347]
According to Harry Gower, however, it was Death Valley Scotty who found Lemoigne
eleven miles north of Furnace Creek and returned to the ranch to report it. Upon receiving the
message at Ryan, Gower contacted the coroner at Independence and was told to go ahead and
bury the body. Arriving at the scene with an Indian companion, Gower found the body
partially eaten by coyotes and John's gold watch hanging in a mesquite bush. Because of the
hardness of the ground and the intense heat, the grave was only dug about two feet deep and
was quite narrow. Lemoigne was wrapped in a blanket and lowered into the grave, over
which a mound was erected and marked with stones and a board. Gower later sent the
coroner the watch and a bill for $40 to cover costs of the burial detail. Gower states he was
told later that Scotty felt he should have gotten the money, but no words ever passed between
the two on the subject. Cower evidently did have some strong feelings about Crampton's
declared part in the whole affair:
The guy who is going to have a tough time getting squared with me is the
alleged author who claims to have been associated with Le Moigne, and buried
him on the desert. If he gains a bit of notoriety by his statement I have no
objection as I got paid for my work. I'm sore because I doubt if he ever had the
guts to dig a hole two feet deep in Death Valley in August. [348]
Adding further confusion is Scotty's version:
In June 1918, I found him [Lemoigne} stretched out dead. He must have been on
his way to Furnace Creek with his burros. I dug a hole and buried him right there
by a clump of mesquite. Then I went on to Furnace Creek to give the notice.
Cost me twenty dollars for feed for my string of mules. Gower got the ten-dollar
fee for burying old John when the work was already done. I got nothing! [349]
In 1922 when Sarah Perkins traveled through Death Valley, she by chance stumbled upon a
sun-bleached board set in the sand. Written on it in pencil, she said, were the words "John
Lemoign, Died Aug. 1919." Nearby were the skeletons of two burros and a coffeepot beside
a fireplace. This supports Gower's contention that he buried John in August 1919, and pretty
conclusively disputes Southworth's romantic statement that "in deference to Old John, who
always believed his burros were human, each body was buried in a separate grave." [350] At
the time of his death John Lemoigne's estate was valued at about $10.00 after all expenses
were paid. [351]
v) Later History of the Lemoigne Mine
Because no heirs were known to exist, Beveridge Hunter and Bill Corcoran relocated
Lemoigne's eight mining claims, soon, disposing of the property to a W.J. Loring and
associates. Because of the area's remote location, Hunter and Corcoran realized they would
either have to sell the mine outright or enlist the cooperation of someone with the investment
capital necessary to turn the property into a paying concern. A Brandon & Co. of Boston had

an option on the group, but Brandon was killed before a sale could be consummated.
Corcoran and Hunter then managed to interest Harry C. Stemler and Associates of Tonopah,
who were in some way connected with the Loring interests, in the property, but they insisted
on visiting the mine before making a firm decision. Despite a harrowing experience during
the return from the mine, during which Stemler and Corcoran almost died from thirst and
exhaustion, the former decided to take a bond on the property. The claims deeded to him in
Lemoigne Canyon were the Blossom, Captain, Captain No. 2, Captain No. 3, Hunter,
Atlantic, Pacific, and Sunshine. [352]
In August, despite the heat, Corcoran was told to take charge of development work and
intended despite the 132-degree temperature to begin a force immediately at three places on
the ledge; ore would be hauled to Beatty by tractor across the floor of Death Valley.
Incentive to begin operations was provided by an engineer for the Loring interests who
declared that the ore in the mine would average 61-1/2% lead for the full length of the three
claims, and who also estimated that there was $2,500,000 worth of ore in sight. Development
work already consisted of a twenty-five-foot tunnel previously excavated by Hunter and
Corcoran and a twenty-five-foot-deep shaft, plus several cuts made to keep track of the
vein's course and of the consistency of its values. [353]
The eight claims acquired by Stimler were later quitclaimed to the Interstate Silver Lead
Mines Corporation of Nevada, but by 1923 a W. R. McCrea of Reno and a John J. Reilly,
who once leased on the Florence Mine at Goldfield, were developing the property, on which
they held a lease with option to buy, and were driving a crosscut tunnel to intersect the rich
ledge. [354] In May 1924 it was thought that the main lode was discovered when a rich
strike, "bigger than anything before encountered in any of the workings at the mine," was
made on the Birthday Claim west of the old workings. [355]
By June Corcoran had purchased more machinery for the mine and, in addition, all the
buildings and pipelines belonging to Carl Suksdorf at Emigrant Spring, with plans underway
to make this one of the biggest lead-producing mines in the western United States. A year
later John Reilly had organized the Buckhorn Humboldt Mining Company and had
purchased the Lemoigne Mine from Corcoran and Hunter for a substantial amount of cash
and stock. McCrea became the company's manager and principal owner and, later, president,
after Reilly's death in March 1925. Immediate plans were made to construct an eight-mile
auto truck route to the Trona-Beatty Road in order to facilitate shipping to the smelters. Four
leasers were also working on ground near the company property, though by April the number
had increased to ten, forcing two trucks to leave every day loaded with shipping ore.
Property of the Lemoigne South Extension Mining Company (composed of Messrs. Turner,
Burke, McDonald, Clark, and Smith) adjoined the Lemoigne Mine proper and was
uncovering ore running up to 80% lead. [356]
Development was still being steadily pushed by the Buckhorn Humboldt people in the spring
of 1926 to uncover the large amount of high-grade ore in sight as well as the vast quantities
of low-grade milling ore that seemed to be present. Several lessees were at work, notably on
the Miller Lease and the Dollar Bill Matthews ground. By May only four sets of leasers were
operating, and the number was evidently reduced to three by June. [357] In 1926 the
California Journal of Mines and Geology described the mine as located in the LeMoigne
District and still owned by the Buckhorn Humboldt Mining Company. It was under lease to
L.P. (?) McCrea, M. L. Miller, and associates of Beatty, Nevada. A twenty-five-foot tunnel
had been driven west in the canyon north of the main camp and was intersecting an ore lens
from which 150 tons of ore had been shipped running 50% lead and three to five ounces of
silver per ton. South of these workings on a ridge above Lemoigne Canyon a 165-foot tunnel
had developed a lens from which 100 tons of ore had been shipped averaging 50% lead with
five ounces of silver per ton. The ore was being hauled by truck to Beatty at a cost of $18 per

ton. Two men were employed at the mine. [358] The property must still have been active in
1928, because in May of that year Margaret Long mentions a road that was washed out and
would have to be regraded by the next truck through to Lemoign." [359]
McCrae and the Buckhorn Humboldt Mining Company continued to hold the Lemoigne
Mine from 1937 through 1948, although by 1938 the twelve claims were reported as idle.
[360] Bev Hunter later refiled on the property, subsequently leasing it to W. V. Skinner of
Lone Pine, who produced a little ore in 1953. By 1962 Roy Hunter was evidently attempting
some sporadic mining activity at the old mine. Total production from the property was said to
have a gross value of approximately $38,000, realized from the shipment of over 600 tons of
ore containing 30% lead, 7% zinc, and 4 ozs. of silver per ton. During its active lifetime up
to 1963, the Lemoigne Mine was developed by about 600 feet of workings taking place on
three levels and one sublevel, which were connected by a vertical shaft, and by three stopes.
The shaft on the property had been extended to about eighty feet in depth. [361] Again in
1974 mining activity resumed on the site, and by December 1975 a Harold Pischel was
working on a previously unexplored hillside looking for sulfide ore. Material reportedly
carrying 14 ozs. of silver per ton was being stockpiled at the adit entrance. [362]
(b) Present Status
The Lemoigne Mine is located in Lemoigne Canyon, the southernmost canyon of the
Cottonwood Mountains, which form the northerly extension of the Panamint Range. The
claims, ranging in elevation from 4,950 to 5,700 feet, are reached via a jeep trail, crossing an
alluvial fan, that is often subject to severe washing and that trends north off of California
State Highway 190 approximately three miles east of the Emigrant Ranger Station. The claim
area is reached after about 9-1/2 miles of very rough 4-wheel driving. This writer was unable
to personally view the mine because the road into Lemoigne Wash was barely visible
following a series of heavy downpours in the area during the early fall of 1978. The site was
visited by. the LCS crew in 1975 and the following account of structures found is based on
their data and on that collected during an archeological reconnaissance of the area. [363]
Near the junction of the North and South forks of Lemoigne Canyon are the remains of a
campsite appearing to date from the 1930s. Only a leveled tent site and assorted debris were
found. On up the road at the entrance to the Lemoigne claim the trail forks again into two
short smaller canyons, both showing evidence of occupation by man. The southern or left one
contains a relatively new corrugated-metal structure with a nearby pit toilet, a metal trailer,
and the only structure of real historic significance in the area--the rock cabin built by John
Lemoigne in the 1880s. This latter is a partial dugout, carved into the bedrock and lined with
wooden cribbing. The front is part stone and part wood, with flattened five-gallon metal cans
being used for paneling in some areas. Shelves are built into some of the walls, which tends
to verify this as Old John's home:
When Jean arrived in America, he had with him volumes of the classics in
French, English, and German, which he kept on shelves in the stone cabin he
built below his lead prospect in a canyon west of Emigrant wash . . . . [364]
The cabin structure itself is intact but filled with garbage and debris. Crampton states that
when he visited Lemoigne's lead property around December 1919 the cabin had already been
rifled of everything of value. [365] Beyond these buildings the road leads to an active mine
adit surrounded by some five other small adits dating from an earlier period.

Illustration 216. View showing tramway, mine dumps, and ore bin in fork
of Lemoigne Canyon. Photo courtesy of William Tweed, 1975.
Illustration 217. Foundations of building and debris at site below ore bin in
picture above. Photo courtesy of William Tweed, 1975.

Illustration 218. Stone dugout of John Lemoigne in Lemoigne Canyon.

Photo courtesy of William Tweed, 1975.
Illustration 219. Leveled site at Lemoigne Canyon junction camp. Photo

The northern canyon fork leads up past the site of at least four leveled habitation sites, about
eight feet square, either for tent houses or wooden buildings, set against a cliff and about one-
tenth of a mile below a one-chute ore bin. Wooden boards, stove parts, and old bedsprings
were found scattered through the area. The ore bin is in a narrow box canyon and at the foot
of a rail tramway descending on a very steep incline from a mine tunnel on the ridge above.
The tramway was controlled by a gasoline-powered winch still in place at the entrance to the
tunnel.
The Lemoigne silver-lead-zinc Mine was probably first worked in the late 1880s, though the

exact location date was not found by this writer. The mine was only sporadically worked by
Lemoigne, who spent most of his forty years in the Death Valley region searching for
minerals and performing assessment work for fellow miners. A newspaper article in 1923, in
fact, mentioned that Lemoigne had confined his development of the area to shallow surface
holes. [366] According to a recent study of the claims, they have been developed through the
years by about 1,300 feet of workings. Most ore removed was high-grade, the many low- and
medium-grade pockets being considered economically infeasible to mine during the 1920s
when the mine saw its highest production rate. According to a 1976 report, the total value of
all metals recovered at the Lemoigne Mine, based on January 1976 prices, would be about
$116,000. [367]
The historical significance of this site is not based on the volume of ore produced at the mine
or on its monetary value. Its importance lies in its early discovery date and especially in its
associations with John Lemoigne, considered by many to be the dean of Death Valley
prospectors. It is not that Old John is completely forgotten--his lead mine is shown on the
USGS Panamint Butte quad at the end of a canyon that also bears his name. His gravesite is
marked on the Chloride Cliff quad just south of the Salt Springs jeep trail. (Attempts to locate
the site by this writer were unsuccessful, though the wooden cross was still in place in
February 1973.) It is simply that he is often overshadowed by the braggadocio of such
highly-publicized wanderers of the desert as Death Valley Scotty and Shorty Harris.
Leomoigne was a completely different breed, more attune in tastes and life-style to Pete
Aguereberry, the other transplanted Frenchman in the valley who, like Old John, stayed to
pursue a quiet and uneventful life in the desert they both loved so well.
Lemoigne's biographer, Frank Crampton, expressed his appraisal of the man this way:
Old John typified the breed of prospectors and old-timers and the Desert Rats
who centered on Death Valley. Few, if any, did any prospecting of any
consequence in the valley, they were not looking for non-metallics but for gold,
silver, lead, copper or one of the other of the lesser metals. Death Valley was not
the place where metals were found in paying quantities and the breed knew it . . .
. Old John was the best of them all. He had the knowledge of a highly educated
man, and the fortitude to accept the fate that had befallen him when he arrived at
Death Valley and learned that Daunet was dead. But the greatest of all attributes
was that he loved the desert, and Death Valley best of all, and without effort
adapted himself to it. Old John Lamoigne [sic] deserves imortality [sic] He was
the epitome of them all and represents the best of a breed of men who are no
longer. [368]
Because the Lemoigne Mine was the scene of some of the earliest mining activity within the
monument and the home of John Lemoigne until his death in 1919, the mine area and the
stone cabin that Lemoigne built are considered to be locally significant and eligible for
inclusion on the National Register. The leveled tent or house sites and ore bin in the box
canyon probably date from the 1920s era of mining activity when the mine was being
developed and was shipping ore. Some sort of camp had to have been situated here to house
the Buckhorn Humboldt Mining Company employees and the various lessees. Based on the
1975 LCS research notes, these structures are not considered significant.
An interpretive marker near the stone cabin identifying the site would be appropriate. The
tent foundations and old ore bin should be mentioned as probable vestiges of early twentieth-
century activity in the area. An exhibit at the visitor center might dwell further on Lemoigne's
life, emphasizing his long tenure in the valley, his knowledge of the classics, and his degrees
as a mining engineer--traits which set him apart from his desert comrades.

Attempts were made by this writer to determine the extent of mining enterprises in
Cottonwood Canyon further north where Lemoigne had filed on some quartz claims in the
late 1880s. An arduous all-day hiking trip failed to turn up any signs of such activity. A
monument employee, however, stated that about 1976 the remains of two buildings were
found at Cottonwood Springs. One corrugated-steel and tin shack contained a wood-burning
stove and a set of bedsprings. No evidence of mining was seen in the immediate area, and no
prospect sites are shown on the USGS Marble Canyon quad.
Illustration 220. Grave of John Lemoigne near Salt Springs road. Photo
courtesy of G. William Fiero, UNLV, 1973.
deva/hrs/section3b2z.htm

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION III:
THE WEST SIDE
C. Cottonwood Mountains
1. Hunter Cabin
a) History
William Lyle Hunter, born in Virginia in 1842, came to the Death Valley region in the late
1860s. Marrying a girl from Virginia City, Nevada, Hunter subsequently settled down to a
life as stockman, miner, and explorer. During the Cerro Gordo excitement he drove a large
train of pack mules, realizing a considerable profit from this venture. Exploring widely in the
surrounding region during these years, Hunter was among the first to penetrate the Ubehebe
section (referred to then as part of the Rose Springs Mining District) in 1875, locating some
valuable copper claims there. He and his compatriots are said to be responsible for changing
the name of the area to "Ubehebe." In the lush green hills and forested area south of the
Ubehebe District, where a variety of springs provide an abundance of water, Hunter grazed
the mules and horses he raised and no doubt used in his pack trains. This green swath later
became known as Hunter's Ranch Mountain, and was still being used many years later by his
grandson Roy as pasture land for his cattle. Among other discoveries made by Hunter and his
partner John Beveridge were those of the Belmont silver Mine east of Cerro Gordo and the
Beveridge District in 1877. [1]
http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/deva/section3c1.htm[7/26/2008 3:08:02 PM]

Illustration 221. Map of Hunter Mountain.
In 1897 Hunter and Reuben Spear, with whom he worked the Ulida Mine, were still
performing development work "on old claims at 'Hunter's ranch.'" [2] The property was at
this time crossed by an early mining trail leading east from Keeler to the Ubehebe region.
Traversing the Inyo Range south of Cerro Gordo, it crossed the head of Panamint Valley "and
finally ascends a superbly wooded and amply watered upland for many years known as
Hunter's Ranch." [3] From the area of today's Lee Pump trails led to Saline Valley to the
north, to the Lee Flat Mining District to the southwest, and on to Furnace Creek to the
southeast via Cottonwood Canyon. Another reference to what is believed to be this area
mentions the "several good camping grounds around the nut-laden trees and bunch grass of
Hunter's Ranch." [4]
By 1900 Hunter and his family were living at George's Creek south of Independence, where
he died in 1902 at the relatively young age of 59. In 1907 water from Hunter Ranch Creek
1/2 mile above Hunter Ranch was filed on for use by the Ulida Copper Company, which
intended to pipe the water to its Ubehebe mine. Another location was filed five days later
requesting 100 miner's inches on Hunter Ranch Creek 1-1/2 miles above "Indian Garden," the
water to be piped to the Ulida Copper Company property for mining purposes. [5]
Three early survey maps were found, two of which show an irregularly-shaped plot of
ground labelled "Hunter Ranch." The earliest map, dated 1924, presents a confusing array of
buildings. It shows, for instance, a "Hunter Ranch" plot, complete with house, nearby Indian
camp, and an extensive reservoir system, located between a ranch to the east (probably
Steininger's) and another site referred to as "Scott's Old Ranch." The accuracy of this survey
is extremely doubtful. Actually what is designated as "Hunter Ranch" on this map seems to
refer to what is the Lower Grapevine complex today, with the "Scott's Old Ranch" site
located about where the present swimming pond is (see Illus. 222). The township lines shown
support this assumption.
A 1927 survey again shows a Hunter Ranch in the vicinity of an "Indian Gardens" as
mentioned in the water location notices filed by the Ulida Copper Company in the early
1900s. Otherwise, the same features are noted as in 1924: a house, an Indian camp site, and
the reservoir. No corral complex is shown. On the same plat is the layout of the old
Steininger place. The plot referred to on the earlier map as Scotty's old ranch appears on this
survey but is unnamed, suggesting that an attempt was made to correct the earlier survey (see
Illustration 223). [6] Some puzzling questions remain, however. Julian Steward, in his study
on the Indian populations of the Great Basin/Plateau area does not mention the Hunter
Mountain region as being home to any particular group of Death Valley Indians, although the
presence of "Indian Gardens" might indicate that some occasionally occupied the lush area to
avail themselves of the pinyon nuts and cooler air (see Illustration 223). An Indian camp did
exist near Death Valley Ranch during construction of the castle, however, to house the Indian
laborers. As late as 1955 Hunter's Ranch was sporadically utilized as a cattle ranch. [7]
b) Present Status
Hunter Cabin is located on Hunter Mountain on the west side of Death Valley immediately
inside the National Monument boundaries and about 3/4 mile south of the Hidden Valley
road that passes via Jackass Canyon to California State Highway 190. Although not inspected
by this writer, the site was visited by the LCS crew in December 1975. Development at the
site consisted of a one-room log cabin constructed of pinyon pine and measuring
approximately twelve by twenty feet, a spring twenty yards uphill that had been opened up
into a watering trough, and a primitive corral about one hundred yards northeast of the cabin.
Visitors obviously have used the area in the past as a campground.

Either a "Hunters" or a "Hunters Ranch" is located on the "Itinerary of Scout made by Co. D,
12th U.S. Infantry, Commenced April 30th and ending May 25th 1875," the "Itinerary of
Scouts made by Co. "D," 12th U.S. Infanty [sic] during May, June, July and August 1875,"
and "Route marched by Co. I, First Cavalry, Commanded by Capt. C. C. C. Carr, First Cav.
from June 8th to June 25th [1875]." [8] According to Levy, however, the present Hunter
Cabin was built by a "packer" named John in 1910, using materials salvaged from an earlier
cabin at Lee Pump. [9] That place, however, is west of Jackass Spring, while the ranch site
shown on the military reconnaissance maps is definitely east of this waterhole, implying that
some sort of ranch layout existed at this precise location as early as 1875. The ranch area as
far as can be ascertained was primarily used for grazing of the mules and horses that Hunter
used in his pack trains or supplied to the army. [10] It is doubtful that it was ever occupied
for any extended period of time, but was instead used mostly as a line camp.
Illustration 222. Map dated 1924 showing "Hunter Ranch." From history
files, DSC.
Illustration 223. Map dated 1927 showing "Hunter Ranch." From history
files, DSC.

Illustration 224. William Lyle Hunter cabin located just inside monument
boundary northeast of Hunter Mountain. Later lived in by Bev Hunter.
Photo by Wm. C. Bullard and Dan Farrell, 1959, courtesy of DEVA NM.
Illustration 225. Corral complex at ranch, 1959. Photo by Wm. C. Bullard

and Dan Farrell, courtesy of DEVA NM.
The Hunter Ranch complex is of more than passing interest for several reasons: first, because
it was built by W. L. Hunter, father of one of Inyo County's foremost pioneer families and a
founder of the Ubehebe Mining District; secondly, because of its location along an early
historic military route from Camp Independence to Nevada, which later became a heavily-
traveled trail into the mining areas of northern Death Valley, and because of its reputed status
as a supplier of horses to the army troops; and thirdly, because of its interesting construction

of pinyon pine logs. Because insufficient data exists to properly evaluate the ranch's role in
Death Valley history or to justify placement of it on the National Register, it is recommended
that it be accorded treatment of benign neglect. Camping in the area should be discouraged in
order to lessen the dangers of fire and vandalism.
Hunter Ranch is one of only two small early homestead or ranching cabins viewed by this
writer during survey trips to Death Valley, the other being the Nevares Cabin near Cow
Creek. The Hunter cabin appears more rustic than the other, being built of pinyon pine logs
squared on three sides to ensure a tight fit. Some of these have been spliced together because
they were not long enough to extend the entire wall length. The cabin rests on a stone
foundation on the downhill slope and directly on the ground on the other three sides. Other
features of construction include: a one-by-two plank floor, square-cut corner log joints, rag
chinking, a corrugated-iron roof resting on a pole frame, and a board-and-batten gable.
Although somewhat protected by its location in a thick pine forest, a few conditions are
leading toward the cabin's ultimate demise: decaying logs, an unstable floor, a loose roof,
insect infestation, and water seepage from the nearby spring.
deva/hrs/section3c1.htm

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION III:
THE WEST SIDE
C. Cottonwood Mountains (continued)
2. Ubehebe Mining District
a) Copper Veins Attract Attention
Located in one of the most remote and beautiful corners of the monument, the initial claims
of this area were first discovered in the summer of 1875 by W. I. and J. B. Hunter, Thomas
McDonough, and J. L. Porter. The Ubehebe mineral district, about thirty-five miles northeast
of Keeler, includes an area about eighteen miles long by thirteen miles wide, bounded on the
west by Saline Valley, on the south by spurs of the Nelson Range extending east to Hunter
Mountain, on the east by the Cottonwood Mountains, and on the north by the southern end of
the Last Chance Range. Two smaller mountain systems span the area north to south, the
Ubehebe Range on the west being separated from the Dutton Range on the east by a two-mile
wide valley containing the dryed-up lake bed known as the Racetrack. The exact derivation
of the name "Ubehebe" is unknown, although it is thought to. be Shoshonean, meaning "big
basket." It has been variously translated as "basket in the rock" or "basket in the sand." [11]

Illustration 226. Map of Ubehebe Mining District.
The principal find of the 1875 explorations in the area was an enormous eighty-foot-wide
ledge of copper, referred to as the Piute Lode and showing ore assaying 15% to 67%.
Immediately after its discovery on 2 July, Porter began experiments to determine the best
method of ore reduction, ultimately concluding that it could be smelted profitably right on the
grounds. [12] The famous Cerro Gordo Mine near Keeler was in a very prosperous condition
at this time, and probably encouraged by its success and the general air of prosperity in the
area, M. W. Belshaw, operator of a smelter at Keeler, purchased at least a portion of Hunter
and Porter's Ubehebe properties that year and proposed erection of a smelting furnace on the
edge of Saline Valley before early spring. This goal was never achieved. [13]
For many years thereafter little work was performed on the large and promising copper veins
of the Ubehebe district, the problems characterizing all desert mining--lack of water and
wood near the deposits, their isolation from rail centers and supply points, the difficulties of
constructing and maintaining adequate roads through a hostile environment, the
uneconomical methods of ore removal and transport--being present here in abundance.
Reportedly the famous New York artist Albert Bierstadt became interested in the Ubehebe
mines around 1886 and spent several days examining them. Although he made definite plans
to purchase some property, for unknown reasons the deal was never consummated. Perhaps
he too realized the many factors still militating against the success of mining ventures in the
region. [14]
Not until the late 1890s did activity surface again. In 1897 a W. J. Ryan of Denver,
representing Mr. N. O. Moore, one of the country's leading mining experts, bonded the
copper mines of A. F. Mairs and J. F. Welsh for $15,000, with the promise that active
development would commence immediately. True to his word, by early March Ryan had
departed for the mine with a load of provisions and supplies to sustain the eight-man crew he
intended to set to work on a large vein that showed promising amounts of gold as well as of
high-grade copper. [15] Undeterred by the area's remoteness, Moore was overly and
prematurely optimistic in his assurances that a railroad would penetrate the area if the copper
deposits proved as extensive as they appeared. The first serious mention of a railroad
connection again concerned the Randsburg Railway, which at this time stretched from
Kramer station on the Santa Fe and Pacific only as far north as Johannesburg. If the line was
extended to Keeler via Ballarat, it had been suggested, it could service also the Wildrose and
Lemoigne Mine areas. A thirty-mile wagon road constructed from the Cottonwood
Mountains south to some agreed-upon point on the line would then open up the Ubehebe
copper region and provide the necessary incentive for developing these mines whose ores
were carrying from 20% to 60% copper and from $6 to $32 per ton in gold. 16]
In addition to this suggestion for a possible railroad connection to the Ubehebe, a proposal
was made two years later that residents of the Owens Valley region unite in construction of a
road across the Inyo Mountains to the borax, copper, and gold deposits of " the Saline Valley
and Ubehebe regions. Another possibility mentioned in 1899 was that the Carson and
Colorado Railway would eventually be extended into the Panamint Valley and tap the
Ubehebe region along 'the way. Despite the prevailing lack of transportation facilities,
however, development was proceeding in the 1890s on the one big copper mine in the
Ubehebe, whose workings already included a seventy-five-foot tunnel and a thirty-seven-
foot-deep, shaft with crosscut. Water had to be piped in from a nearby spring and the ore
transported to the railroad over a rough wagon road, probably west through Saline Valley.
[17]
b) Boston Capitalists Become Interested

Around the late 1890s and early 1900s many Boston capitalists became interested in the
copper mines of the Ubehebe region and the adjacent Saline Valley, probably as a result of
the record price for copper (19-1/4¢/lb.) reached in 1899. In that year a representative of
certain Salt Lake City parties, after a detailed preliminary examination of the Ubehebe area,
reported to his employers that the copper deposits in the Saline Valley region--primarily the
Ubehebe, Sanger Group, and Hunter and Spear properties--appeared to be of sizable value.
One of these capitalists, a Mr. Scheu, came to the area to inspect the property firsthand and
took options on a great number of locations in the district. Subsequently all parties from
whom options had been acquired were summoned to meet with Scheu and an S. H. Mackay
and transfer the subject properties. The syndicate purchasing them was reportedly capitalized
for $75 million, and intended to hire miners and begin development at once to determine the
depth and extent of the ore bodies. A railroad connection was deemed essential for the
success of. the venture. A 1,000-ton-per-day-capacity reduction plant was even anticipated if
water could be found; otherwise the ore would be shipped to smelters. An initial sum of
$5,000 was paid toward purchase of the Sanger Group, with other transactions to follow. The
ultimate outcome of the whole venture, however, was that Scheu and Mackay embezzled
some of the money due the Eastern backers, disgusting the Boston group to such a degree
that they washed their hands of the whole enterprise. [18]
In 1901 George McConnell and his associates bonded a group of mining claims at Ubehebe
to a Boston syndicate for $125,000. About a half dozen groups of claims here, in fact, were
under bond, for amounts varying from $25,000 to $50,000, when a financial panic of sorts
enveloped the Boston commodities market, and the deals were never concluded. Copper
prices reached rock bottom in 1902, when only 11¢/lb. was offered. Due largely to this
copper slump, in that year the approximately eighty copper, gold, and silver claims in the
Ubehebe, located within a radius of about six miles of each other, were only touched by
assessment work, though results were still encouraging. [19]
A description of the Ubehebe area in 1903 again mentions its inaccessibility, despite which
regular assessment work on all the main ledges and deposits had been regularly performed for
the past several years. One pleasing aspect of mining in the district was that the mountainous
terrain permitted mining by drift tunnels rather than shafts and hoisting methods, which was
much more economical and a great deal less time consuming. The mineral-bearing zone was
reached by only one wagon road, stretching from the Inyo Mountain Range across Saline
Valley, its primary drawback being the extreme heat encountered along its course during the
summer months. Properties in the north end of Ubehebe were at this time producing ore
assaying $12 to $18 in gold, carrying some silver, and ranging from 5% to 20% in copper.
Ore in the middle sections carried 4% or 80 lbs. pure metal to the ton, while the southern
section was mostly idle. Railroad access was still necessary for realization of the region's full
potential, and it was remarked at this time that if the Los Angeles, Daggett and Salt Lake
Railroad was constructed, a forty- or forty-five-mile spur could open up the whole Ubehebe
to the world market. As had been stressed often before during discussions of possible routes
into the area, the best way to spark the interest of Eastern mining capitalists was to be able to
offer better ingress and egress routes than the rough trails currently in use. [20]
c) Rising Copper Prices Benefit Ubehebe
Starting about 1904 the price of copper and of shares of copper-producing companies began a
slow but steady rise. By 1905 the Ubehebe copper district was industriously active, and
several properties were producing: the Spear brothers and W. L. Hunter had made three ore
shipments returning 26.24% copper, $8 in gold, and 3 ozs. of silver per ton from their Ulida
property; R. G. Paddock and H.L. Wrinkle of Keeler were beginning development of thirty
claims; and S. H. Reynolds owned a group of claims from which he was procuring a more
than satisfactory showing. A new record price for copper of 19-3/4¢/lb. was reached in 1906,

and future prospects appeared bright indeed. Several factors were responsible for this
dramatic change in the market: an increase in the amount of copper needed for electrical
conduction purposes, the escalation in the building of trolley lines, the electrification of steam
railroads, and the pressing need for copper in China and throughout the Far East for
recoinage use after the Russo-Japanese War.
Finally consumption had overtaken production and created a strong demand both here and
abroad for immediate delivery:
At the price copper is selling at the present time, it is no wonder that the
mammoth copper properties of Saline valley and the Ubehebe districts are
claiming the attention of mining men from all parts of America. These properties
are reported as carrying a very high percentage in copper, and the only reason
and drawback that keeps them from ranking as the foremost- copper properties of
America, is their isolated position, lack of water, and being owned by people
who have not sufficient means to enable them to build plants and furnish cheap
transportation facilities. Men of capital are sending their agents here to
investigate, and in every instance they seem to be much impressed by the
magnitude and high values of the properties. If copper continues to hold to nearly
the high figure it has attained, we feel confident that in the near future, the mines
will be in charge of people who have ample means to bring the product of these
properties in touch with the market. [21]
One of the large mining transactions that took place at this time was the sale of the Sanger
and Mairs copper-silver-gold properties to a New York businessman for a reported $200,000.
Coincidental with the impetus to copper mining provided by the advance in prices was the
rising enthusiasm for the metal among the desert community, and on the East Coast
especially, generated by the discovery of rich lodes such as those at Greenwater that created a
new town practically overnight. Some of that bonanza camp's most prominent backers, such
as John Salsberry from Tonopah, Jack Gunn of Independence, and Arthur Kunze also sent
prospectors into the Ubehebe area. [22]
Almost instantaneously Ubehebe mining properties began to move. McConnell and associates
again bonded some copper properties to a Salt Lake City firm; A. F. Mairs received a
payment for his property adjacent to Saline Valley and also bonded seven claims to Goldfield
people; a Salt Lake group was employing eight men on the Ulida Mine; a Mr. Whittier and
associates discovered and filed on the Rio Pinto Group or Lost Spanish gold and silver mine
north of Hunter's Ranch; the Guggenheim Smelter Company of the American Smelter Trust
Company purchased forty of W. A. Sanger's claims, intending to erect a smelter twenty miles
away in Deep Springs Valley; Goldfield people took a $100,000 option on a group of claims
owned by John Miller, one of the pioneer locators in the area; and Senator Nixon and George
Wingfield even acquired an interest in some area copper claims for $70,000. Except for six
treacherous miles, a decent road now existed from Montana Station via Steininger's Ranch
(later Scotty's Ranch near Grapevine Canyon), providing access to the region from Rhyolite
and Greenwater. [23]

Illustration 227. Advertisement for Lost Spanish Mine, Ubehebe Mining

District. From Bullfrog Miner, 24 May 1907.
d) Townsites are Discussed and a Mining District Formed
The spring of 1907 saw the systematic continuance of development in the Ubehebe area.
Although as many as two townsites had been proposed, so far the only population centers
were the small camps and groups of prospectors scattered here and there one-quarter to four
miles apart from each other. Jack Salsberry, in the meantime, had bought Sanger's group of
claims and was in the throes of trying to create a decent auto road from Montana Station to
the site he had chosen for a town directly northwest of the Racetrack playa near the entrance
to his mine property. This action probably contributed more than any other single factor to
the influx of influential people into the area, not only from the neighboring towns of Salt
Lake City and Rhyolite and Goldfield, but eventually from as far away as Boston and
Philadelphia. Suddenly the desirable mining locations in the Ubehebe were accessible to all.
"Mr. Lockhard says that you would almost think, from the people that are met in Ubehebe,
that you were in the Bullfrog district," remarked one newspaper article. [24] The sixty-two-
mile trail from Rhyolite was well traveled, and several large teams constantly moved over
Salsberry's road to Bonnie Claire. A corps of surveyors from the Tonopah and Goldfield
Railroad were busy determining the most feasible route to the area, and four engineering
outfits were already in the region surveying properties. Two townsites, Ubehebe and Saline
(Salina) City, were reportedly being platted eight miles apart to house the population of fifty
or so miners. Already a warehouse and corral had been erected at the latter site, and water
would be piped in as soon as possible. The desire of the people in the area to form their own
mining region separate from the Big Pine District was voiced in the spring at a meeting held
in the Saline Valley salt works that culminated in formation of the Ubehebe Mining District.
[25] Boundaries of the district, whose recorder's office was established at Saline City, were
delineated thusly:
Commencing at Waucoba Peak, thence southerly along the summit of the Inyo

range past Cerro Gordo Peak to Hunter Ranch trail, thence along Cottonwood
creek to Lost Valley, thence northerly along the trail to Surveyors' Wells, thence
northeasterly along Death Valley dry wash to northeast corner township 10 south,
range 41 east, thence westerly on north line township 10 to Waucoba Peak. [26]
e) Ubehebe Copper Mines and Smelter Company Determines to Construct Railroad into
Area
Several large properties were now operating in the Ubehebe: the Meyers; the Los Angeles
Group; the Spears Group and Ulida; the Paddocks, Rooney, Wooden, and McConnell
holdings; the Lakeview Group owned by Rhyolite people; the Joseph Cook (Crook)
possessions, including the Wedding Stake; and the Valentine Group of fourteen claims. The
newly-organized Ubehebe Mining Company, capitalized at one million shares, had bought
the six Rio Pinto (Lost Spanish Mine) claims about ten miles from the new Saline City, plus
the water right to Hunter's Springs. [27] The Sanger and Mairs properties, options on which
were held by the Fitting Company, were some of the most notable claims in the district.
Water was available several miles from the mines and was hauled in by wagon at $1 per
barrel.
The largest and best-known mine in the Ubehebe area, as well as the most highly developed,
was Jack Salsberry's property, operated by his newly-formed Ubehebe Copper Mines and
Smelter Company, which opened offices in Baltimore to promote company stock in the large
Eastern commercial centers. The mine was actively supported by a variety of Eastern
capitalists who made several inspection tours to the area over Salsberry's recently completed
road to Bonnie Claire. After one such jaunt the following comment was noted:
To many readers, Ubehebe is an unheard of camp, yet it is like many other

sections in the state that are wonderfully rich in minerals but have not been
brought especially to the attention of the people simply from the fact that those
owning the properties are not looking for notoriety or endeavoring to boom their
district. They are there to develop and mine their properties and secure
substantial results to those interested in common with them and not for the
purpose of advertising. [28]
Encouraged by the optimism and generosity of their supporters, Salsberry and Ray T. Baker,
the two principals in the new company, conceived a plan of constructing a railroad to their
mine from Bonnie Claire and of erecting a smelter there to reduce the ore before shipment.
Persuading the prestigious banking and brokerage firm of Peard, Hill & Company of
Baltimore, Maryland, to underwrite the bond issue for the project, work on a permanent
survey of the proposed route was started with Salsberry receiving assurances that all bonds
would be placed before 15 November and grading commenced shortly thereafter. The bonds
were to be sold largely in Europe. It was planned that the forty-eight-mile-long standard-
gauge track would head down Grapevine Canyon past the present site of Scotty's Castle, wind
around Ubehebe Crater, and eventually reach Salsberry's mine near the 'northwest corner of
the Ubehebe valley. The one million dollars worth of railroad bonds would be floated as a
separate company to comply with the law, but in reality would belong to the Ubehebe Copper
Mines and Smelter Company, thus greatly increasing its assets. The railroad would also haul
ore for other mines in the area and thus hopefully soon become a regular dividend payer.
Cost of the project was estimated at $800,000. In anticipation of the line's arrival, a well had
already been sunk on Salsberry's new townsite to a depth of 155 feet, and as soon as water
was reached, the site would be platted and the selling of lots would commence. [29]
Suggestions for opening up the area in another manner and from another direction included a
proposed change in the Keeler-Skidoo wagon road route, bringing it through the Panamints

further north at Townsend Pass and thus closer to northern mining properties. By fall 1907
the Kimball Bros.' Bullfrog Stage & Transfer Company started a regular weekly service to
Ubehebe City, running the twenty-two miles to Grapevine the first day and the next forty
miles on the second day. Corrals and buildings for the stage company were in process of
erection at Bonnie Claire and Ubehebe, and stations were being established along the route.
The stage leaving Ubehebe on Wednesday would arrive at Bonnie Claire in time to meet the
Clark trains from Bullfrog and Goldfield. Four horses were to be used on the road, whose
condition was described as "very bad." [30] Two survey crews were busy preparing townsite
maps. Twenty tents were already on the ground, as were two saloons and a grocery store.
Application for a post office was forwarded to Washington. Having failed in the well project,
plans were being made to pipe water in from nearby springs. [31] Meanwhile Salsberry was
sinking wells at various points along the Ubehebe wagon road for use by the big freight
teams passing back and forth between Bonnie Claire and Ubehebe. He was also. buying coal
lands in southern Utah and taking options on others to provide coke for the smelter he
proposed. to erect near his Ubehebe Mine. [32]
f) Work Continues Despite Panic of 1907
The influx of Eastern and European visitors and investors to the area continued over the next
several months, despite the hard times and depression leading up to the Panic of 1907.
Although copper mining was still very strong in spite of the slump, a prophetic opinion was
voiced at this time by a certain veteran desert prospector, Jim Titus, who ventured the
observation that
It is the prevailing opinion that the predominant metal in the district is copper,
and while some fine copper ore has been discovered on the surface, I think it will
be found with deeper exploration, that gold, silver and lead will be the leading
values. [33]
Properties in the area were being worked despite the tight money situation, with a force of
about twenty-five men hoping to hold on until the financial situation across the country
eased. In November Salsberry was reportedly working seventeen men on his company's
claims, and expected to increase the force upon the arrival of new machinery. Several other
companies in the area also were employing good-sized forces on annual assessment work.
The townsite, meanwhile, was undergoing a construction spurt; water was being hauled in
barrels from springs six miles away. Salsberry and some Rhyolite associates were also
operating the Ubehebe Lead Mining Company, Ubehebe Sunset Copper Company, and the
Ubehebe Contact Company, comprising a total of forty claims in the district. An Inyo Copper
Company also existed. [34]

Illustration 228. Ubehebe Mining District, 1908.
The bubbling optimism centering around the proposed Bonnie Claire & Ubehebe Railroad
continued, although initial construction was still in abeyance until all bonds were sold.
Despite the money-market depression that had delayed the start of development, it was
promised that the route would be in operation before mid-summer of 1908. Arrangements
were still reportedly being made to erect a fine hotel and several residences and business
houses at the terminus of the line at Saline City. Salsberry never saw fulfillment of his dream,
however, for the closing of banks and consequent termination of a ready money supply
scuttled the project entirely. Although a camp of Saline evidently did exist for a short while,
it never became the prosperous railhead and mining center envisioned by its founder.
g) Mining in Ubehebe Hampered by Isolation and Transportation Problems
A 1908 report on California's copper resources lists several claims as still active in the area
(note that the western boundary of the Ubehebe Mining District was somewhat nebulous,
extending west across the Saline Valley toward the east slope of the Inyo Mountains):
Valentine Group--fourteen claims halfway between Keeler and Ubehebe. Owned by I.

Anthony and D. Pobst of Lone Pine.
Navajo Chief Claim--one-quarter mile south of Dodd (Dodd's) Spring. Owned by W. T.

Grant of Olancha and George McConnell of Independence.
Eureka Claim--One-eighth of a mile south of Dodd Spring. Contained 80-foot shaft and 100
feet of drifts. Owned by Jacob Stininger [sic] of Tule Canyon. Originally discovered in
1880s.
Trail Claim--at Dodd's Springs. Owned by W. T. Grant and George McConnell.
Dodd's Springs Claim--on same ledge as Trail Claim. Owned by Grant and McConnell.
Ulida Group--eight prospects in Dutton Range. Owned by Spear Bros. and William L. Hunter
of Lone Pine. Adjoined by Keeler, Olancha, and Spear claims on northeast.
Copper Knife--one-quarter mile east of Racetrack. Owned by Grant and McConnell.
Anton & Pobst Claims--five claims sixteen miles east of Keeler, with twenty-foot tunnel.
Owned by John Anton and David Pobst of Lone Pine.
Silver Hill--seven miles east of Independence. Owned by J. C. Roeper of Independence.
Green Monster--continuation of Silver Hill prospect, with 300-foot tunnel and two crosscuts.
Owned by D. C. Riddell of Gilroy, Ca.
Copper Tail--adjoined Green Monster. Owned by Roeper.
Copper Point--one mile northeast of Green Monster. Owned by Max Fausel.
Inyo Copper Mines and Smelter Co.--owner of nineteen claims at southern extremity of
Ubehebe Mountain. Camp was on old Ubehebe trail and workings one-half mile east of
Bonanza property. Claims on which the most work had been pushed so far were the
Excelsior, Fairbury, Fairbanks No. 4, Ormonde, Ormonde No. 2, Kenilworth No. 1,
Kenilworth No. 2, Pluton and Ajax (Alta). R. G. Paddock of Keeler was managing the work.

(Evidently this company's development did not ultimately amount to much.)
At the northern end of Ubehebe Mountain were the older claims on which work had just
recently resumed. The Sanger Group controlled by John Salsberry, consisted of the Tip Top;
Star, at the base of Ubehebe Mountain; Copper King one mile west of the Star and owned by
W. A. Sanger of Big Pine; Prince Group four claims also owned by Sanger & Son; Bluejay,
on the east side of Saline Valley and owned by A. Mairs of Independence (its only recorded
production was in 1915 when Mairs shipped copper and silver ore); Red Bird owned by F. A.
Mears of Big Pine; and the Good Luck Group owned by R. Lockhardt & Penrod of Rhyolite.
In the southern part of the Ubehebe Mountains were the Wedding Stake and Red Bear
claims, owned by J. H. Crook and Sam Baysdon of Keeler. Other properties in the region
were the Roberts & Derat and Woodin & McConnell claims the Lake View Group of eight
claims one-half mile from the Lost Burro and under the same ownership, carrying gold and
copper and located on the east slope of Tin Mountain, owned by W. D. Blackman of Rhyolite
and associates; and the Scott Group of twelve claims near Dodd Spring, carrying gold, silver,
lead, and copper, and owned by W. Scott and Mr. Titus. [35]
Despite the fact that improved machinery was facilitating mining operations in the early
1900s and that the high prices being paid for copper enabled the expenditure of more money
in the search for it, the miners of the Ubehebe region were still hampered by several
deficiencies: no ready water supply existed near many of the mines, which had to obtain
water either from Dodds or Grapevine springs or from a new well on Tin Mountain; access
was still difficult, the auto road to Bonnie Claire being the only decent route other than a
thirty-five-mile trail to Keeler and Darwin and a long, hot wagon route from Alvord; and no
smelter had yet been built in the area. As a consequence, tons of ore had to be stockpiled on
the dumps to await cheaper transportation, the wagon haul making mining of any but the
best-grade ore highly impracticable. Despite the problems, extensive development continued
through the winter of 1907, into early 1908, with the Watterson-Smith lead and silver mine,
considered the biggest undeveloped property of its kind in California, promising so well that
two loads of provisions were hauled in to support a complete summer campaign. Another
Ubehebe Mining Company was incorporated in Bishop, California, with W.W. Patterson.
Other properties that might have been included in the Sanger Group were the later Copper
Queen No. 1, one-half mile north-northwest of Ubehebe Peak, the Copper Queen and Copper
Queen No. 2, and the Bonanza (I-lessen Clipper) filed on by George Lippincott, Jr., in 1951
and located on the road between Racetrack Valley and Saline Valley about 2 miles from its
junction with the road to the Lippincott Mine. According to McAllister the old Ubehebe
pack-train trail from Owens Valley crossed the Bonanza property before intersecting the
Racetrack Valley road to Bonnie Claire. Special Report 42, pp. 47-48. This report should
definitely be studied for detailed information on other mines in the Ubehebe area (Watterson?
) of Bishop as a principal in this company that owned 5 claims in the Ubehebe area. [36]
Plans were still being formulated for a railroad connection with the area, the fact that none
ever succeeded certainly not being due to a lack of effort on anyone's part. By the fall of
1908 the vast reduction works at Ely, Nevada, were in need of large quantities of lead ores
for fluxing purposes, and it was suggested that this problem could be solved by projecting an
Ely & Goldfield Railroad, financed by F. M. "Borax" Smith, C. B. Zabriskie, and others, to
Goldfield and then southwest down the valley between the Magruder and Slate ranges,
swinging around Tin Mountain and passing down its west slope into the Ubehebe region.
Another plan four months later to open up the immense bodies of low-grade rock that could
not be profitably shipped by wagon was to outline a route from Cuprite, north of Death
Valley, through Lida to Silverpeak, with an extension of the line running into Ubehebe. [37]

None of these tentative propositions ever bore fruit, however, and the declining price of
copper and lack of investment capital in the first decade of the twentieth century, in addition
to the need for improved transportation facilities, precluded any extensive, large-scale
development work in the area, although a large number of promising prospects were being
systematically checked. Arlie Mairs, operator, of the Blue Jay copper claims only twelve
miles from the loading terminus of the thirteen-mile-long Saline Valley salt tramway, was
solving his transportation problems by 1914 by shipping his ore via that contrivance. W. W.
Watterson and Archie Farrington, operating the Ubehebe Mine, approached the problem from
a different angle. Realizing that the transportation of ore by animal power would never be
economically profitable, they decided to employ a ball-tread auto tractor provided by the
Yuba Construction Company of Marysville for four trial trips at company expense. The
distillate-burning engine would haul ore wagons loaded as trailers over the fifty miles to the
Tonopah & Tidewater station at Bonnie Claire in a four-day round trip.
Such a tractor was envisioned as being more economical than trucks for hauling large
amounts of ore because the latter required a separate truck and driver for each load and
because often unloading over bad stretches or unusually high grades was necessary. The
tractor, on the other hand, could haul loaded wagons over these difficult stretches one at a
time with no unloading. It carried no load on its own wheels except the engine and a driver,
making the Caterpillar-type machine so lightweight that it could be turned in a narrow road at
sharper angles than trucks, which were often too top-heavy and unsafe on narrow roads with
hard grades. [38]
h) Variety of Metals and Nonmetals Contribute to Ubehebe's Production Record
By 1916 several silver claims in the vicinity were still being worked, but tungsten strikes
were also being made, having been first discovered on the dumps of old copper prospects.
Most of these were located south of the Racetrack in the area of Dodd and Goldbelt springs.
Because of low prices for this commodity around 1920, the tungsten mines were shut down,.
Throughout the 1920s and 1930s the Ubehebe Mine was one of the most active mining
operations, with part of it, the Butte Claim, being a principal lead producer in 1930. [39]
Recent copper activity in the region has occurred only at the Sally Ann Mine near the playa,
but no production resulted. The principal metallic deposits in the area are the lead-silver-zinc
properties stretching from the Ubehebe Mine in the northern section to the Shirley Ann Mine
near Big Dodd Spring. Nonmetallic occurrences include, besides asbestos, four talc lodes
(Homestake, Quackenbush, Keeler, and Ubehebe) whose reserves are thought to be
substantial but whose productivity is limited by their remoteness.
Miners and prospectors were first attracted to the Ubehebe area in the late 1800s by the
presence of copper ore, but it soon became evident that the isolation of the deposits made
them almost impossible to work profitably. Exact figures on early production of the metal are
difficult to determine because of the scanty and nebulous descriptions of these first properties.
Many small mines probably kept no systematic records because they maintained no steady
production. Because the only road adequate for shipping ore from the Ubehebe led to the
railroad at Bonnie Claire, Nevada, most material went there, where it was often combined
with Nevada ores, a practice tending to cloud the Ubehebe's actual production record. Also
hampering the determination of productivity from each site was the tendency of early
shippers to neglect to state the individual sources of the ore they moved. The first actual
recorded production from the area was from the Ubehebe Mine, which shipped 491 ozs. of
silver in 1908. From that year up to 1951 the metallic content of 4,788 tons of ore mined
from the Ubehebe Peak area could be broken down as follows: 332 ozs. gold; 44,729 ozs.
silver; 120,180 lbs. copper; 2,657,559 lbs. lead; 164,959 lbs. zinc. Annual lead production
from the region has been less than 145,000 lbs. The annual copper production since 1930 has

been under 1,000 lbs., while silver production usually did not exceed 3,700 ozs. a year. Gold
has been recovered almost entirely from the Lost Burro Mine. The record for longest
productivity in the area is held by the Ubehebe Mine, although it experienced a quiet period
between 1931 and 1946, while the Lippincott Lead. Mine. has undergone the most continuous
mining in recent years, from 1938 to 1952. [40]
i) Other Ubehebe Properties
The following is a list of a few other Ubehebe area properties not specifically mentioned
earlier. This list is by no means a complete summary of all mining activity in the area:
Red Bell Group--four claims owned by Charles del Bondio and associates in the vicinity of
the Racetrack playa. Bullfrog Miner, 15 June 1907.
B & B Group--gold and copper claims in the Goldbelt Spring section, owned by Len P.
McGarry and Rhyolite associates. Bullfrog Miner, 14 September 1907.
Big Gun Mine--near Racetrack, owned by George McConnell. Inyo Independent, 29

November 1907.
Emerald Group--copper and lead claims near Wedding Stake, owned by J. P. Hughes.
Bullfrog Miner, 1 February 1908.
Randolph--four miles from Lost Burro Mine and adjoining Racetrack, owned by McConnell,
Dr. Woodin, and W. Grant. Bullfrog Miner, 20 February 1909.
Raven Mine--lead and silver property five miles north of Dodd Spring, owned by J. Crook
and A. Farrington. Idle in 1926. Eakle et al., Mines and Mineral Resources p. 102; Journal of
Mines and Geology 22 (October 1926):496.
Alvord Group--tungsten claims five miles west of. Goldbelt Spring. Located by William
Elliot and Ray and Ross Spear of Lone Pine in 1916. No production and little development.
Eakle et al., Mines and Mineral Resources p. 127; Journal of Mines and Geology 37 (April
1941):310.
Monarch Mine--tungsten claim between Dodd Spring and Goldbelt Spring, located in 1915
by Monarch Tungsten Co. of Denver. Eakle et al., Mines and Mineral Resources p. 127.
Butte Group--six claims midway between the Racetrack and Dodd Spring. Assessment work
only. Owned by R.C. Spear, E.L. Spear, and Hunter of Lone Pine. Eakle et al., Mines and
Mineral Resources p. 67.
Settle Up Group--five miles north of Dodd Spring, idle in 1926. Report 22 of the State
Mineralogist 22 (October 1926).
Sally Ann Mine--copper mine on west slope of range east of Racetrack playa. Five lode
claims owned by James Arnold, Orval Huffman, and Sally Ann Smith of Compton, Ca.
Worked late 1947 to mid-1948. Copper deposit, known in 1905 and as early as 1902 when
referred to as Copper Knife Mine. Mine camp consisted of cabin and two tent frames at edge
of playa. Journal of Mines and Geology 47 (January 1951):37; McAllister, Special Report 42,
pp. 46-47.
Blue Boy Group--six unpatented lode claims within 1/2 mile of east side of Racetrack on
steep slope. Probably dates from around turn of century. Slight development. Walter Gould,
"Mineral Report for the Blue Boy, Blue Boy #1, Blue Boy #2, Blue Boy No. 3, Copper King,

and Homestake Lode Mining Claims in Death Valley National Monument, California, 13
June 1978," p. 1.
Homestake--about one to two miles south of Racetrack on road to Lippinott Lead Mine.
Located 1934. Staked for talc. Gould, "Mineral Report," pp. 1, 3.
Tin Mountain and White Top Mountain--some copper prospecting activity was taking place
on Tin Mtn. by 1908 on the property of John Miller, one of the early locators in the district.
In the 1940s Huntley Industrial Mineral, Inc., owned asbestos property about three miles
south of Tin Mountain in the general area of the prospects shown just northeast of Burro
Spring on the Tin Mountain USGS quad. In the early 1960s roads had been bulldozed to
several non-producing mines in the area worked by weekend prospectors. Anderson Minerals,
Inc., at that time claimed placer locations in the Tin Mountain area and near Burro Spring
and was intending to develop fluorspar. The Lawrence Asbestos and Fluorspar claims located
on the north slope of White Top Mountain two miles northeast of Burro Spring have been
explored by several lessees over the years, but have produced only a few hundred tons of
asbestos and fluorspar. Much scarring in the area has resulted from dozer prospecting and
road building. The property consisted of three fluorspar claims, thirty-two asbestos claims,
and a millsite under, location by R.H. Lawrence of Mojave. In 1970s the lessees proposed to
develop the fluorspar deposits and ship the ore to Barstow via truck. Today the area consists
of bulldozed prospects and a miner's shack. Wright H. Huntley, pres., Huntley Industrial
Minerals, Inc., to T.R. Goodwin, Supt., DEVA NM, 27 July 1949; District Ranger,
Grapevine, to Chief Ranger and Supt., DEVA NM, 15 October 1963; Supt., DEVA NM, to
Dir., WRO, 1 April 1971; LCS Survey by Henry Law and Bill Tweed, 3 December 1975.

Illustration 229. Miner's cabin in White Top Mountain area. Photo courtesy
of William Tweed, 1975.
Illustration 230. Tin Mountain mining area. Photo courtesy of G. William

Fiero, UNLV, 1973.

Ubehebe Peak--M.S.&W. Inc., of Bishop located Jarosite lode mining group of 111 claims
on west slope of peak in late 1960s or early 1970s. Samples taken reportedly showed high
copper and molybdenum values. It was intended to diamond drill the property. Supt., DEVA
NM, to Dir., WRO, 1 April 1971
j) Sites
(1) Ulida Mine and Ulida Flat Site
(a) History
Whether or not the Ulida Mine, situated in the Dutton Range about three miles north of
Hunter Mountain, is the site of W.L. Hunter's original discovery that opened up the Ubehebe
area to mining has not been conclusively determined by this writer. McAllister maintains that
it is, and places the mine's discovery date at 1875 or before. According to observations made
by Lt. Rogers Birnie, Jr., during his 1875 survey of the Death Valley region, eight locations
had been filed in the Ubehebe area by Hunter in that year, and whether by coincidence or not
the Ulida Group did initially encompass eight prospects: the Ulida, Sorbia, Sardine, H.M.
Stanley, Kabba Riga, Virginia, Maryland, and Hunter. A 1906 notice states that the Hunter &
Spear Mines "were the first found [in the Ubehebe area] and are comparatively the best
developed. A later 1907 article, however, stated the property had been located only twenty-
five years earlier. [42]
In partnership with the Spear brothers by 1902, Hunter had opened up the large outcroppings
on the property, which also yielded gold and silver, by means of two 150-foot-long tunnels,
one above the other, and had accomplished some minor stoping. Around 400 tons of ore were
recovered, hand sorted, and packed on mules the seven or so miles to the Keeler wagon road
over which they were hauled to town and then shipped to the smelter. The Spearses are
reported to have shipped out sixty tons of ore returning gold and copper values of $600 a ton.
[43] Upon Hunter's death in 1902, Reuben Cook Spear acquired the property.
The mine evidently remained idle for the next four years or so, its remoteness making it
unprofitable to work. Then a Salt Lake City group, composed of Samuel A. King, Alfred
Mikesell, Raymond Ray, and a Mr. Dalton of New York, rediscovered it and procured an
option on twenty-one claims. Ore with a high gold and silver showing as well as substantial
copper values was developed. [44] Ray and Mikesell subsequently turned their option over to
the firm of King (Judge William H.), Burton, and King (Samuel A.?), who in 1907 sold the
mine for a cash consideration in the neighborhood of $45,000 to $55,000 plus a sizable
amount of stock shares in the Ulida Copper Company, incorporated for $5,000,000 by New
York and Salt Lake City capitalists. The mine assets now consisted of a seven-foot vein of
ore averaging 14% copper and from $3 to $10 in gold. Much iron was present in the ore,
making it ideal for smelting. [45]
In April 1907 the Ulida was described as the "queen bee of the camp [Ubehebe}," [46] the
property's development now being guided by the Ulida Copper Company, which immediately
applied for 100 inches of water from Hunter Ranch Creek to be diverted to their property in
the Ubehebe Mining District by gravity force. [47] In June development work at the mine
was proceeding so satisfactorily that a sign was said to be hanging out on the property
advertising "Forty Men Wanted." The adjoining Los Angeles Copper Group had also been
incorporated into the company's holdings and was opened up at this time. [48]
For the next few months a large force of men kept busy performing assessment work and it
was intended to keep at least five men working in the tunnel all winter. At a distance of about

250 feet in, a great strike in a blind lead was encountered, producing ore samples running
35% copper and $100 in gold. By March 1908 the strike on the Ulida ledge was reported as
carrying values up to 60% copper, $14 in gold, and over 200 ozs. in silver to the ton. [49]
Work was continuing to crosscut the vein and drift with it to the main contact.
In the summer of 1908 one of the groups visiting the Ubehebe area over the new Bonnie
Claire road was a party consisting of Robert Wood, a London mining expert for the Ulida
Copper Company; J.N. Dalton of Boston, president of the company; Samuel A. King of Salt
Lake City, a company director; and R. C. Spear of Lone Pine. The company had incurred
some indebtedness that it was now paying off, and under the supervision of a new local
manager the development work was expected to become more extensive in a short while.
Over six thousand dollars had already been expended in the mine by the company, which was
sure this would evolve into one of the West's great copper properties. [50]
In 1912 Reuben Spear and his son Bev worked some outcroppings a few miles above the
Ulida tunnel, hauling the ore by muleback the few miles to the wagon road to Keêler. In 1916
notice was printed of the discovery of tungsten by the Spear brothers on their Ubehebe
copper property. Whether this refers to the Ulida Mine is not known. From here on,
information on the property is scanty. P.E. Day and Cliff Palmer relocated the Ulida as the
Morning Star Mine in 1935, and four years later W.G. Walker filed on it as the Walker Mine.
From 1947 to 1949 Edna Horstmeier kept up assessment work on the claim. [51]
(b) Present Status
i) Ulida Flat Site
A very faint set of tracks leads from the Hidden Valley road west across Ulida Flat to the
range of hills bordering its western edge. Here, near the mouth of the narrow gulley leading
up to the Ulida Mine, are low stone foundation walls built into the hillside. They support
leveled platform areas on which tents were probably erected. Several tin cans and 1-1/2-inch-
diameter metal rods litter the site, on which purple (light and dark) glass can be found. Also
seen were dark brown bottle fragments and parts of a typical turn-of-the-century light-blue
glass medicine bottle.
ii) Ulida Mine
The mine adits are located at the top of the gully directly above the Ulida Flat Site at an
elevation of about 5,600 feet and are reached by a steep and rugged 1/2-mile burro trail.
Tumbling down the ravine in the immediate vicinity of the mine are rusty tin cans of assorted
sizes. The workings consist of a main adit entrance with nearby waste dump, and another
caved-in adit with dump on the hillside immediately above. The main adit entrance is
particularly striking because the rock face around the wooden entrance door is a vivid
greenish-blue color, while the piles of ore stacked up near the entrance are of this same
brilliant hue. In front of the door and north of the tram tracks is a shallow vertical shaft only
about twenty feet deep. Assessment notices are bolted to the adit entrance door.

Illustration 231. Ulida Flat Site, to northwest. Photo by Linda W. Greene,

1978.
Illustration 232. 00 Main adit entrance, Ulida Mine. Vertical shaft to right
near posts. Photo by Linda W. Greene, 1978.

Illustration 233. Larger of two stone smelters at Ulida Mine.
Immediately downhill from the mine are three stone items: furthest east are the ruins of what
appears to be a large, elliptical-shaped oven or smelter, about nine feet in diameter and with
remaining rock walls about 4-1/2 feet high. Forty feet west of this toward the mine and at the
base of the main waste dump is another smaller structure of the same type, only about five
feet in diameter. This also appears to be a smelter operation. Between these two structures is
a stone forge 3 feet high and 3-1/2 feet long. A small burro shoe was found on one of its
edges.
i) Ulida Flat Site
it is this writer's belief that the Ulida Flat tent site was probably inhabited by miners working
the Ulida Mine and possibly others in the vicinity that adjoined the Ulida holdings.
According to newspaper articles of the early 1900s several people were working in the area
on the same lead, the Ulida vein being very clearly defined for a distance of at least three
miles. The site appears to be large enough to hold about three tents. It will be incorporated
into the Ulida Mine National Register nomination.
ii) Ulida Mine
The Ulida Mine, one of the oldest mines in the vicinity, was one of the early claims, if not
the first, filed on by Hunter and one whose development, along with that of other properties
in the district, eventually resulted in formation of the Ubehebe Mining District. For this
reason and because of the presence of two early stone smelters on the site and an associated
tent camp nearby, this property is considered eligible for inclusion on the National Register

as being of local significance.
(2) Goldbelt (Gold Belt Spring and Mining District)
(a) History
First occupants of the Goldbelt Spring area were probably Saline Valley Panamint Indians,
one seven-member family reportedly appropriating the site as a winter village despite its
relatively high elevation. [52] The initial mineral discovery that precipitated a small rush to
the neighborhood was that of free gold made by Shorty Harris in the closing months of 1904.
Utilizing the same route followed into the Ubehebe region--via Willow Spring to Surveyor's
Well and then up Cottonwood Canyon--eager prospectors staked the first locations on the
northeast slope of Hunter Mountain. Access to the area could also be gained over a forty-
mile trail from Keeler via Lee Landing (Lee Pump), skirting Hunter's Ranch, and then
heading northeast to the new camp. Harris, L.P. McGarry, E.G. Padgett (Pegot or Paggett),
Joseph Simpson, and W.D. Frey were credited with the first strikes.
Development of the area started immediately and culminated the following January in
establishment of the Gold Belt Mining District, with A.V. Carpenter as recorder, and
embracing the territory stretching from the Ubehebe District on the west eastward to the north
arm of Death Valley and from Tin Mountain south to Cottonwood Canyon. Ledges averaging
four feet in width and containing a high grade of free-milling ore in addition to copper stains
were the source of this perceived wealth. Samples taken to town returned assays of $8 to
$176 in gold, plus smaller silver values. The presence of fuel and water in abundance was
considered extremely conducive to mining operations. One early location °was referred to as
the Gold Nugget Group, assaying from $38 to $240 in gold, but neither this nor any of the
other reported seventy claims in the district received any extensive development work at this
time. Nonetheless plans for a townsite were already forging ahead. [53]
In February 1905 it was stated that sufficient capital had been secured to thoroughly explore
the district, this support probably having been obtained from the San Francisco parties who
bonded the Goldbelt mines about that time. [54] No information has been found relative to
the ultimate extent of the Gold Belt Mining District camp, nor has its exact location been
determined. By 1905 the camp was described as abandoned, the only work in the area having
been performed on thin veins and lenses. [55]
Despite the obvious slackening of mining activity in the Goldbelt area, a few of the original
locators stuck fast to their claims, confident that a great future yet lay ahead if the extreme
hardships imposed by lack of transportation facilities and insufficient working capital could
be overcome. Len P. McGarry, for one, 'general manager of the Bullfrog West Extension,
continued assessment work on his claims, which were showing gold values of $10 to $150
and as high as 36% copper content, at least through 1910. [56] Only a scattering of notices
for new claims in the vicinity exist for the next few years. Most information concerns the B &
B Group, about ten miles south of Salsberrys camp, and owned by McGarry, some Rhyolite
associates, and W.S. Ball, B.T. Godfrey, and H.W. Eichbaum. These men were also
interested together in twenty-four other locations in the area, mostly situated about twelve
miles southeast of Salsberry's headquarters. In 1907 the B & B contained a shaft and an
approximately 200-foot-long crosscut tunnel intended to reach the main ledge, which showed
assays from $6 to $622 at a depth of 18 feet. Another promising group was the Snowbound,
carrying 12% copper values. [57] At the start of 1910 the B & B had been developed with a
280-foot tunnel and was still achieving high gold assays of $620. The Snowbound was also
receiving annual assessment work, the two properties now owned by Annetta Rittenhouse of
Los Angeles, H.W. Eichbaum of Venice, L.P. McGarry of Pioneer, and W.S. Ball of
Rhyolite. [58]

A revival of sorts hit the area around 1916 with the commencement of tungsten mining
encouraged by its acceleration in price at the outbreak of World War I. Again it was Shorty
Harris who first found the ore near Marble Canyon, about one mile southeast of Goldbelt
Spring, shipping out a few hundred pounds worth about $1,500 in early March. Subsequent
locations were centered in the region south of the Racetrack near Dodd and Goldbelt springs.
Keeler was the closest shipping point, but though the route from Keeler to Lee Pump was
now fit for auto traffic, only a trail still led from there to the mine locations. [59] In 1941 the
Shorty Harris Tungsten Mine, composed of two claims three miles south of Goldbelt Spring
and ten miles east of Dodd Spring, was owned by Bert Hunter of Olancha and E.G. Mason of
Los Angeles. The only other data found on this gold and tungsten property concerns its
purchase by William C. Thompson of San. Fernando, California, who also owned the Saddle
Rock. Group near Skidoo and the Lost Burro Mine in the Ubehebe. New access roads had by
now opened up the previously untapped property, and new machinery had been purchased for
its immediate exploitation. [60] Either no production or only a very small amount resulted
from these efforts in open cuts and a twenty-foot adit.
From the 1940s through the 1960s various small talc and other mineral operations existed in
the Goldbelt area, but they were only sporadically active. The closest talc property whose
workers might have resided at the camp site near the spring is the Quackenbush, but it is also
possible that operators of the Calmet #1 through #27 wollastonite claims, about one-half mile
northwest of the spring and owned by U.S. Minerals, occupied some of the cabins. This latter
operation was envisioned as eventually developing into an open pit operation. Its thirty-one
unpatented claims were located from 1959 on, and the #1 to #23. claims were worked as late
as 1976 by Joe Ostrenger of San Fernando. In the 1960s the Goldbelt Spring camp was under
lease to Sierra Talc, a company involved in exploration and development of several old
claims in the surrounding area. (According to Belden, Mines of Death Valley, p. 65, Goldbelt
Spring was an active mining camp in the 1960s.) The mill site was later obtained by William
B. Grantham who quitclaimed it to Victor Materials Company, the present claimant.
Illustration 234. Milk cow in garden of Goldbelt Spring community. 1959.

Photo by Wm. C. Bullard and Dan Farrel, courtesy of DEVA NM.

Illustration 235. View of Goldbelt Spring community, looking

southwesterly. Photo by Linda W. Greene, 1978.
Illustration 236. Loading or sorting structure, Calmet Mine. Photo by Linda

W. Greene, 1978.
(b) Present Status
Goldbelt Spring is located about 4-1/2 airline miles northeast of Hunter Mountain at the head
of Marble Canyon, the northern branch of Cottonwood Canyon. The presence of this valuable
water source and its rather sheltered location made the site a natural spot for a small
settlement. Today the ruins of what was once a moderately extensive mining community rest

in the gully running from the spring to Marble Canyon. From their architectural style (or lack
thereof) and meager furnishings, the three extant houses appear to date from no earlier than
the 1930s or 1940s and probably have been occupied by talc miners, although no record of
who actually built them has been found. One structure has already collapsed and another one
burned. A root cellar and privy are also on site. Up toward the spring, to the southwest, is a
small complex of fencing and corrals and a metal water tank. The spring, surrounded by a
grove of rose bushes, lies about JOO feet above the bottom of the wash and is currently being
utilized by the National Park Service as a burro trap.
No evidence of an early 1900s mining camp was found on the Goldbelt Spring site, the
houses there now appearing to be of a later construction date. Because the 1905 Gold Belt
Mining District saw little actual production or development, it is doubtful that permanent
structures such as these were built at that time. The few talc camps existing within Death
Valley National Monument will take on added importance as their numbers dwindle. Never
constructed with long-term habitation in mind, their plywood walls and composition paper
roofs fall easy victim to vandalism, fire, and natural weathering. The Ibex Hills talc mines in
the southern part of the valley, in contrast to those in the Goldbelt area, possess greater
production records, documented histories, and more physical remains of educational and
interpretive value on site. For these reasons, the residential areas associated with them, such
as the extensive one at Ibex Spring, are important also and should be accorded treatment of
benign neglect.
Despite a lack of detailed information on both the Gold Belt Mining District and the Goldbelt
Spring mining camp, it is recommended by the writer that the latter merits preservation as a
representative type-specimen of a talc camp, displaying sufficient integrity of location,
setting, and materials to provide an accurate portrayal, of the types of structures and methods
of construction typical of communities occupied by talc miners in the Death Valley region
during the 1940s through the 1960s. Reconstruction attempts at the Goldbelt Spring site are
not advisable for several reasons:
1. the history of the site as far as is known does not warrant such an expenditure of time and
money;
2. no photographs have been found showing the community's original appearance;
3. adequate supervision could not be maintained over the restored area; and,
4. the site's remoteness and consequent low visitation rate do not justify the expenses
involved.
It is recommended by this writer that the Goldbelt Spring camp be preserved and efforts
made periodically to arrest deterioration of the remaining structures. For those visitors who
venture into this secluded corner of the monument, it is an eye-opening experience to
suddenly discover this small community nestled in a lonely wash in the middle of such
solitude. Under these conditions it is impossible not to attempt to visualize what life would
have been like here and what sacrifices were made by those talc miners and their families
who lived here in such isolation during comparatively modern times.
(3) Ubehebe Mine
(a) History
The Ubehebe Lead Mine actually began operations as a copper property, but its activities

were somewhat overshadowed in the early newspaper accounts of mining in the area by those
on the immensely wealthy and highly publicized copper properties of Jack Salsberry that lay
nearby. The Butte Nos. 6-10 and West Extension Butte No. 3 were actually located in late
1906 through 1908, while the nearby Copper Bell Claim Group was not officially recorded
until the late 1920s and early 1940s. Initial accounts of the property did not begin to appear
until around the fall of 1907 when it was mentioned that "Messrs. Smith and Watterson of the
Inyo County bank [Bishop] have sent in supplies and are about to begin operations on an
extensive scale. [61]
In the course of pursuing annual assessment work on their claims, located one mile northwest
of the new town of "Ubehebe," one of the owners picked up quite by chance a large rock
sample that proved to be galena; further investigation- uncovered a four-foot solid ledge of
this ore. Immediately the efforts of the eight men employed on the property were divided,
four being put to work on the copper veins and four on development of the new galena ledge.
During the assessment work, forty tons of lead ore were removed, running about $60 in silver
per ton, a strike momentarily topping Salsberry's mineral showings. [62]
The Watterson stope was the first of five ore bodies opened up on the property, sometime
after 1906, ultimately producing 700 to 800 tons of high-grade ore that was shipped to
smelters. By February 1908 the eight-foot solid vein of lead was perceived to run entirely
through the mountain, and was accordingly being opened up with drifts on both the Saline
and Racetrack valley sides, making this one of the biggest and most-promising lead prospects
in the district. Already over 250 tons of ore were on the dumps awaiting shipment. [63]
In March 1908 Archibald Farrington bought a one-third interest in the property for $6,000,
while the other two partners, Smith and Watterson, were considering plans for construction of
a road across the mountain range from the west to enable hauling of ore from the mine and
salt from the Saline Valley deposits to Bonnie Claire. The new partnership incorporated as
the Ubehebe Lead Mines Company, whose development work at the mine so far consisted
primarily of one twenty-five-foot tunnel, all in ore, with a face showing of 70% lead and a
high silver content. Two shifts were removing ten tons a day that were then teamed to the
railhead at Bonnie Claire. [64]
A summer-long campaign on the property was planned, and in preparation for the isolated
stay, two teams hauled 26,000 pounds of grain, groceries, and mining supplies to the site to
sustain the crew during the long months ahead. A contract was also let at this time for
hauling the ore recovered during the winter to the railroad at Bonnie Claire. In July it was
reported that Watterson and his associates had organized the Ubehebe Mining Company to
operate a group of 5-1/2 claims on which a tunnel had been excavated extending fifty feet
and from which 1,000 tons of shipping ore were now available. [65] A month later the
property was described as "easily the biggest undeveloped property of the kind in California."
[66] A trial shipment of ore from the Watterson property sent to a Salt Lake City smelter at
this time returned only $40 a ton on the average. This was not considered pay ore because of
the long, time-consuming trip involved in getting the ore to Cuprite, north of Bonnie Claire
and over sixty miles away. According to McAllister the first recorded production from
property in the Ubehebe District was of silver from the Ubehebe Mine in 1908. [67]
For the next few years mostly assessment work was performed on the claims, and no startling
discoveries were recorded. Development was primarily impeded by lack of water and other
hardships associated with desert prospecting. In an attempt to solve the transportation
problem, Watterson and Farrington made an agreement with a Frank A. Campbell to
transport ores from the district by means of a Vuba ball-tread tractor, beginning with an
initial trial run of 500 tons of ore. The outcome of this novel experiment was eagerly awaited
by other mine owners in the area who were tired of the inadequacies of an animal-powered

transportation system. Because it had heretofore not been worthwhile to perform extended
development work, the depth of ore bodies in the Ubehebe Mine was not known, but the
surface showings were immensely promising. [68]
The auto-tractor project turned out well, and in March 1916 Campbell was not only still
hauling lead ore in the Ubehebe region, but manganese as well from Owl Holes to Riggs
across the southern part of Death Valley. Production from the Ubehebe Mine now was
sporadic, but reached a peak in 1916 when 254 tons of ore running 15% lead were shipped.
[69] By 1917 development at the mine consisted of two tunnels, an upper one 60 feet long
and a lower one 100 feet long, connected by a fifty-foot winze. Two ten-ton-capacity Yuba
tractors still transported the ore to Bonnie Claire in a fifty-two-hour round trip at a cost of $8
per ton. By April the mine's three employees had produced 200 tons of 60% lead ore. [70]
The Copper Bell property, along with the Copper Queen-Blue Jay and Bonanza-Hessen
Clipper, shipped a few tons of copper from 1916 to 1918 when prices were high for this
commodity. The deposits in this mine were fairly high-grade, and much of the copper
production reported from the Ubehebe Mine (over 15,000 lbs.) probably actually came from
the Copper Bell workings, 1,000 feet east of the Ubehebe Mine on a southwest-facing hillside
and controlled by the same owners. [71]
During the fall of 1920 some lead-silver-copper claims said to have been owned for many
years by Arch Farrington were sold to the Arrowhead Rico Company of Tonopah for
$125,000. A small crew went to work, primarily in an upper and lower tunnel. Fifty tons of
ore had been sacked by January 1921 and it was estimated that three truckloads of ore would
be sent to Salt Lake City monthly. The transportation cost would be $15 a ton to Bonnie
Claire and $12 per ton over the railroad to the smelter. Sol Camp was installed as manager of
the mine, which closed with a drop in lead prices. [72]
In 1922 W.W. and M.Q. Watterson and spouses deeded to Archibald Farrington. and J.H.
Crook of Tonopah all their interests in the Smith-Watterson-Farrington mines. This
transaction included the Butte Nos. 7-10, West Extension Butte No. 3, west half of Butte No.
6, Copper Bell No. 1, Copper Bell, and other properties. Crook and Farrington then deeded a
one-third interest in these claims, plus the Copper Bell Nos. 4-6, to Charles E. Knox; smaller
interests in these were later deeded to the Montana-Tonopah Mines Company and to Andy
McCormack. [73]
The next step in the Ubehebe Mine's development was leasing of the property to Fred
Dahlstrom and the Finkel brothers of Tonopah, Nevada, in 1928. The Snyder stope was
opened about this time and turned out to be a very profitable venture. After paying $15 a ton
transportation costs, the lessees netted $55,453 from twenty-five carloads of lead carbonate
shipped to the U.S. Smelting, Refining and Mining Company at Salt Lake City. The ore
averaged about 64% lead, 17 ozs. silver, 704 gold, and 1.7% zinc, and because of its
adaptability for flux, gained for its shippers an additional $1 to $3 per ton bonus. The
maximum annual recorded production of lead and silver for mines in the Ubehebe area in
1928 was attained by the Ubehebe Mine, which produced 1,120,343 lbs. of lead, 1,523 lbs. of
copper, 15,222 ozs. of silver, and 17 ozs. of gold. [74]
Lead and silver mining was much less active in 1929 when lead prices dropped. The
California lead output was down about 600,000 pounds from the previous year, and the
number of miscellaneous shippers in Inyo County had vastly decreased. Principal lead
producers listed in the Ubehebe District were the Estelle (?) and Butte. In these later years
the Ubehebe Mine's production varied from 22 tons in 1929 to 379 tons in 1951. [75] Most
development work was done prior to 1930. The Tramway stope was not mined until the
tramway was installed, and then is said to have produced nine carloads for the lessees, one of

which netted over $5,000. The No. 4 stope, discovered in 1930 and completely gutted by
lessees after that, contained small quantities of molybdenum. Successive lessees after 1930
mostly enlarged the old stopes and cleaned them out in the search for shipping ore. [76] In
1937 Sol Camp returned to the Ubehebe Mine in an attempt to revamp mining operations
because of a rise in lead prices. A contract was let to haul the ore to Death Valley Junction
for shipment over the Tonopah & Tidewater to the smelter at Murray, Utah.
The Archie Farrington Estate owned the property in 1938, but the nine or twelve claims
(figures differ) were under lease to Grant Snyder of Salt Lake City and C.A. Rankin of Los
Angeles who were working a crew of ten. Trucks hauled the ore, reportedly carrying 50% to
60% lead with some silver, to Death Valley Junction, and from there it was shipped to Salt
Lake City smelters. Principal development consisted of a long tunnel with drifts and
crosscuts, with production so far totalling approximately $100,000 in lead-silver ore. [77]
In the late 1940s Snyder was still working the property, which in 1946 consisted of eleven
unpatented lode claims: the Butte Nos. 6-10, West Extension Butte No. 3, Copper Bell,
Copper Bell Nos. 1-3, and the Quartz Spring Claim seven miles east of the mine. Five
principal ore bodies were being worked: the Watterson, Snyder, Flat, No. 4, and Tram stopes.
Facilities and equipment at the mine included a cook- and bunkhouse with three rooms,
furnished with beds, a stove, and table; a small compressor house with a 100-cubic-foot
compressor driven by an auto engine; a small air receiver; a dilapidated blacksmith shop with
an anvil, vise, grindstone, and workbench; four mine cars; one jackhammer; and a tramway
cable. [78]
The maximum recorded annual production of zinc in the Ubehebe District in 1948 was 53,854
pounds from the Ubehebe Mine. [79] Camp facilities in 1949 remained about the same. In
the gulley near the portal of the main tunnel was one house with two large bedrooms and a
kitchen, provided with beds and a coal cookstove, while a partially constructed house nearby
could be completed for a second bunkhouse if needed. This complex adequately served about
five to seven men. The mine workings consisted of two major tunnels, three short ones, and
several cuts and shallow shafts penetrating the steep ridge. The Tram tunnel was located on
the opposite side of the ridge from the camp, about 200 feet above the main tunnel. Ore from
here was transported to the ore bin at the lower tunnel portal by a single-bucket tramway
operated by a ten-horsepower gas engine on top of the ridge. Wheelbarrows brought the ore
out of the tunnel to the tramway terminal. The Ubehebe Group now consisted of thirteen
unpatented lode claims--the Butte Nos. 3-10 and West Extension Butte #3 in the lead zone,
and the Copper Bell and Copper Bell Nos. 1-3 in the copper area to the east--plus the Quartz
Spring Claim. No water supply existed on site, so that during shipping periods this precious
commodity was hauled back from Beatty on the ore trucks and at other times one of the
nearby springs was tapped and water stored in large drums on site. Total production of the
mine at this time was estimated at 5,000 tons, containing 20% to 60% lead, an amount of ore
that at the current 1949 market price exceeded $250,000 in value. Ore was hauled to Beatty,
Nevada, and then either on to Las Vegas for rail shipment to Salt Lake City or trucked
directly to Salt Lake City through Tonopah and Ely. [80]
In 1966 a lease/purchase agreement between the Ubehebe Lead Mines, Inc., and Basic
Resources Corporation was initiated, but development was disappointing and BRC's interests
were later quitclaimed back in 1968. [81] Ubehebe Lead Mines Company has owned the
property ever since. Revised estimates of the total tonnage produced by the Ubehebe Mine
are placed at about 3,500 tons, averaging 38% lead, 7% zinc, 12 ozs. silver, and .02 oz. gold
per ton. The Copper Bell claims have averaged about 16% copper. [82]

Illustration 237. View north of mine workings and aerial tramway,

Ubehebe copper-lead Mine. Photo by Linda W. Greene, 1978.
Illustration 238. View toward southwest of residential area across road from
mine workings. Photo by Linda W. Greene, 1978.
(b) Present Status
The Ubehebe copper/lead Mine is reached via a one-lane gravel access road leading west off
the Racetrack Valley Road about twenty-five miles south of Ubehebe Crater, the mine area

lying off the northwest corner of Racetrack Valley. Dozer activity can be seen at the Copper
Bell Mine site just north of the junction of the Ubehebe Mine and Racetrack Valley roads.
The mine access ends after about one mile in the vicinity of the abandoned mine camp and
main adit portal.
The camp consists of two frame and composition-paper shacks extensively damaged by
weathering, washing, and obvious vandalism. West of the Main Workings is a one-chute ore
bin reached by tram rails, and near the timber-lined main adit are the ruins of some small
corrugated-metal, tarpaper, and wooden mine buildings once housing such functions as the
blacksmith shop and hoisting apparatus. Some concrete foundations are also visible in this
area. Other adits and stone retaining walls are scattered up the hillside toward the ridgetop in
the vicinity of the South Workings, the first stope developed. The tramway cable is still
attached to one support at the top of this ridge. The Tram stope, or North Workings, to which
the cable led are on the opposite side of the ridge and accessible only by foot trail or possibly
by a steep four-wheel-drive climb.
The entire area has undergone extensive washing: bits of rail and pipe sections lie about near
the mine, as do crockery fragments, pieces of glass, and tin cans that have worked down from
the camp site. The several dumps nearby contain nothing of historical significance.
The Ubehebe Mine was first located about 1906 and was worked sporadically up until the late
1960s, having the longest history of production in the Ubehebe region. The discovery of lead
on this property diverted the district's attention from copper and helped promote the
realization that other metals existed in the area in economically profitable quantities. The
Ubehebe is one of two lead mines in the vicinity of Racetrack Valley, the Lippincott Mine
starting operations much later but producing more continuously from the 1940s through the
1950s. Many similarities existed between the Ubehebe Mine and the Queen of Sheba Mine
further south: both were first located around 1906-7; both produced important quantities of
copper, silver, and gold, in addition to lead; both attempted to economically transport ore by
tractor power; and development work on both was limited due to shortages of water and lack
of adequate communication and transportation links, and to other problems that were a direct
result of their extreme isolation. The Queen of Sheba, however, gained the backing of Jack
Salsberry, who made several innovative efforts to solve these problems, and later was taken
over by mining companies that possessed the financial reserves to continue large-scale
development work. The Queen of Sheba is the most important of the three lead mines in
Death Valley, eclipsing the Ubehebe operation both in extent of development and in
production. The Ubehebe and Lippincott mines should be mentioned in any interpretive
program or exhibit on lead mining in Death Valley, but neither possesses a level of
significance in Death Valley mining history to warrant its nomination to the National
Register.
(4) Lost Burro Mine
(a) History
The rich outcroppings of the Lost Burro Mine were first discovered, quite by accident, on 18
April 1907 by Bert Shively while in the process of rounding up some of his burros. Shively,
who had formerly been involved in a lease on Ladd Mountain in Rhyolite, immediately filed
on six claims that showed free gold with surface assays running from $40 to $1,000 per ton.
In partnership with him on the property located about 3-1/2 miles northeast of the Racetrack
and six miles north of the Ulida Mine were W. D. Blackmer, general manager of the Tramp
Consolidated; W.B. Morris, superintendent of the Bullfrog Mining Company; Charles N.

Garden, superintendent of the Tramp Consolidated; and Jack McCormick.
Almost immediately the five discoverers bonded the property for sixty days to a Julius
Lamley (Lemle) of Beatty and associates for $45,000, the new operators intending to work
eighteen shifts a week. For one reason or another their plans did not materialize, and a month
later their option was turned over in the form of a working bond of $50,000 to Thomas
Cornish, a Denver capitalist, and H.B. Lind of Goldfield. By October, however, due to a
complex chain of circumstances, the property had reverted to the original owners. It seems
that upon Cornish's death, his partner Lind, being hospitalized, was unable to make the next
payment on the property within the allotted time. His request for an extension was denied by
the owners, who doubtless preferred operating what was turning into an extremely valuable
property by themselves or leasing it to someone else at a much higher price. The mine was
producing ore reportedly averaging $80.86 per ton in gold, with at least $50,000 worth of the
ore in sight; probably tons more existed under ground that was as yet undeveloped. [83]
The financial depression of 1907 did not halt work at the Lost Burro, by now regarded as one
of the richest claims in the Ubehebe District. It was proposed, however, that some crude form
of treatment, such as mortaring and panning, be used to process the ore and help make ends
meet during this crisis period. A 110-foot tunnel was the extent of the property's underground
workings in the winter of 1907. [84] By early spring 1908 the property was undergoing
another change of ownership, with its appropriation by the Goldfield Consolidated interests
for a reported $35,000. Incentive for the purchase was probably provided by recent assay
results ranging from $300 to $1,450 in gold per ton. [85] By February 1909 the mineralized
zone on the Burro that was being worked included a ten-foot-wide blanket vein with an
extraordinary showing of $15 to $18 in gold per ton from wall to wall, and a very rich
twelve-inch-wide strike that ran through the property and produced samples running well
over $1,000 per ton.
A new sale was now pending for the property involving a reputed $60,000, and rumors hinted
that the new owners would install a mill to handle the high-grade ore. The end of February
saw completion of the deal for $40,000 to mining interests from California, the third sale
concerning the property on which a payment had been made within the last two years, total
cash payments amounting to $9,000. Development at the site consisted of a 120-foot-deep
shaft with lateral workings running along the vein. Several thousand tons of ore, said to be
worth around $30,000, had been stockpiled on the dump. Immediate company, plans called
for shipping the high-grade ore while awaiting completion of the mill. [86]
Once again, in the summer of 1909, the Lost Burro came under option, this time to a Keeler
man for $4,000, but no further mention was found as to whether he made the required
payment. [87] By 1911 Charles Garden and the McCormick brothers were still performing
annual assessment work on the Lost Burro Group, where development now included a fifty-
foot-long lower tunnel that intersected a vein yielding an average of $15 in gold per ton. [88]
Four years later the Montana-Tonopah Company secured the property on a lease and bond
basis, their tests showing that 85% of the gold could be recovered by amalgamation. [89]
Construction was immediately begun on the foundations for a fifty-ton five-stamp mill to be
shipped from Bonnie Claire. Trucks would be used to haul the machinery the first thirty
miles from the railhead over the good sections of the road, and a Caterpillar tractor,
maintaining a top speed of three miles per hour, would be used over the last difficult twenty-
two miles to the mine. [90]

Illustration 239. Miner's cabin and outbuildings, Lost Burro Mine. Photo by
Illustration 240. View west up gully from cabin of additional mine

workings, Lost Burro Mine. Stamp mill ruin is on hill to right. Photo by
In 1917 the mine property was reported to consist of several short tunnels driven along the
vein and intersecting ore averaging $25 per ton; no production of record had yet resulted.
Mention was also made of foundations existing for a five-stamp mill and cyanide plant,
which had never been completed, that was to have been powered by water relayed via a
pipeline from Burro Spring located on Tin Mountain about 7-1/2 miles northeast. The
property, listed as owned by the Lost Burro Mining Company of Los Angeles, W.H. (D?)
Blackmer, president, was idle at this time, but the report said that the property had reportedly
been sold to the Montana-Tonopah Mines Company, of which Charles E. Knox of Berkeley
was superintendent and manager. [91] This was evidently the last year the property was
worked until the 1930s.
In 1928 a notice of deeds filed associated Andy McCormick with ownership of the Lost
Burro and Lost Burro No. 2 mines. [92] According to the present claimant, Mr. W.C.
Thompson, the Montana-Tonopah Company leased the mine from McCormick from 1906

through 1912, after which time McCormick and his partner Phil Day recovered $85,000 in
gold from the property. McCormick continued mining here until 1938, occasionally shipping
small amounts of ore. Thompson also states that he and A.Z. "Shorty" Borden relocated the
original claims in 1942, Borden later quitclaiming them before his death and Thompson then
amending the claims in 1948. Official records, however, show the Lost Burro #1 and #2
claims were relocated by these two men in 1948 along with a Gold Belt Mill Site 1/4 mile
north of the spring and later amended by Thompson as sole owner in 1970. [93] Thompson
continued performing a small amount of mining activity and at one time intended to install a
ball mill above Mosquito Spring to process the Lost Burro gold ore, then averaging $50 per
ton. [94]
(b) Present Status
The Lost Burro Mine is located at the northern end of the mountain range separating Hidden
Valley from Racetrack Valley. It is situated in a draw reached by a dirt track extending a
little over a mile west from the gravel Hidden Valley road. The site is about 1-1/2 miles
south of Lost Burro Gap. Several signs, some warning against trespass and others of a
humorous nature, line the road. The claimant's wood shack is at the mouth of the draw along
which, advancing uphill, are the remains of an ore-processing mill; several adits, some of
which have been used for storage; a one-chute ore bin; and other miscellaneous mine
workings. The wooden shack, with an associated shed, dugout, and outhouse in close
proximity to the northwest, was vandalized sometime toward the end of 1977, and a wood-
burning stove and other objects of minimal value were taken. A large trunk was broken into
and its contents--papers and records--scattered about. The various sealed tunnels leading off
the gully were used for storage of fuses, pulleys, canned goods, old mining equipment, mill
parts, etc. The mine workings consist of two shafts plus the various tunnels. Thompson
evidently built the ore bin himself. [95]
Illustration 241. Ruins of 1917 stamp mill, Lost Burro Mine. Photos by
Much debris in the form of rusted oil drums, tin cans, old chairs, etc., as well as several
lengths of the Burro Spring two-inch-diameter pipeline litter the site. The mill remains
consist of the wooden framework and five or six levels of masonry foundations stairstepping
down the hillside. Various items of machinery connected with the milling operation, such as
a small retort or smelter (?) and sluice box (?), are scattered about over the foundations. The
main underground workings include three groups of stopes connected to the surface by two
adits, while separate workings surround both the east and west shafts. The Lost Burro Mine
lies totally within the Lost Burro *1 and #2 claims.

The significance of this mine lies in its being the only exclusively gold-bearing property in
the Ubehebe District. Considered one of the richest mines in the area, it procured for its
owners several thousand dollars in options. Despite the listing of its official production
between 1935 and 1942 at 255 ounces of gold, it probably produced closer to $100,000
during its lifetime. [96] The mill ruin on the site is quite extensive, although no significant
data has been found on it other than notice of the initiation of its construction by the
Montana-Tonopah people around 1917. No pictures of a completed mill have been found, nor
any production records, so it is unclear how long it actually functioned. Remnants of pipe on
the site are connected with the pipeline project to relay water from Burro Spring, to the
northeast in the White Top Mountain area, to the mine. Broken pipe segments almost
paralleling the route of the present. jeep trail between these two points suggests that the line
was built and utilized for a short while.
Illustration 242. Map showing Tin and White Top mountain mining areas
and approximate route of Lost Burro Mine pipeline to Burro Spring.
Because of the site's status as the largest gold producer in the predominantly copper, lead,
and zinc-producing Ubehebe District, and because of the presence of impressive ruins of a
large stamp mill, whose operation required construction of an eight-mile-long water pipeline,

and of assorted machinery that can contribute to our knowledge of twentieth-century mining
technology, the property is determined eligible for nomination to the National Register as
being of local significance.
(5) Lippincott (Lead King Mine History
The earliest recorded mining activity on the lands now constituting the Lippincott Lead Mine
may have been that associated with the Wedding Stake Group of seven claims "located on the
east slope of Ubehebe range, easily accessible from the Race Track." [97] They were
discovered in December 1906 by Joseph H. Crook, Sim Boysdon, Walter Clements, and
possibly Charles del Bondio. The Inyo Copper Mining and Smelting Company was also
engaging in extensive operations in that vicinity by 1908. The Raven lead and silver property,
sixty miles southwest of Bonnie Claire and five miles north of Dodd Spring, was being
explored from about 1917 through 1926. It was originally owned by J. Crook and Archie
Farrington of Big Pine, and was situated at an elevation of 3,800 feet, which corresponds
with that of the present Lippincott works. According to George Lippincott, Jr., the Lippincott
Mine produced and shipped ore during World War I, which would tend to support the theory
that these two mines were located on the same ore body. In 1926 the Raven was reported as
having 2,000 feet of underground tunnels, but it was idle at that time. The Raven appears to
have been the only silver-lead mine between Ubehebe Peak and Big Dodd Spring mentioned
prior to reports on the Lippincott Mine property beginning in the 1930s. [98]
According to McAllister, the Lead King mining claims (aka Southern Lead Mine in later
years) were held by Phil E. Day in 1934 and quitclaimed to R.B. and L. Walls in 1939. This
property included some old workings near the main tunnel (which may be the 300-foot-long
Raven tunnel) and ground in the Contact Group held in 1935 and 1937 by Roy Albin. George
Lippincott of Goldfield, Nevada, acquired the mine from Walls by a lease agreement in 1942,
later buying it outright in 1944. [99]
In partnership with his sons, George, Jr., and Dick, Lippincott began development work in
May 1942 on the Lead King. Eight men produced ore that was trucked to Goldfield and then
shipped by train to smelters in Murray, Utah. The length of the route and difficulties
encountered by the trucks passing over it necessitated the very selective mining of ore, with
only that averaging between 40% and 63% lead and returning at least 35 ozs. of silver per
ton being economically worthwhile. A new road to Keeler was in process of construction by
the operators to make shipping from a claim carrying only 30% lead ore economically
possible. [100] This rough, steep route passed through the south end of Saline Valley and and
met California State Route 190 near Darwin Junction.
During the second World War the Ubehebe area was utilized as a practice field for aerial
gunnery exercises. by the U.S. Government, thereby causing the temporary cessation of
mining activity there. By 1946 Lippincott's Southern Lead Company had resumed operations
and with a nine-man crew was producing two carloads of lead weekly, which were again
being shipped to Goldfield. Lippincott's son George, Jr., was mine superintendent. [101] The
mine was still producing in 1951 when it was described as consisting of twelve unpatented
claims whose workings included a main tunnel (portions of which antedated Lippincott's
acquisition of the property) 100 feet west of the mine camp on the hillside above and
penetrating to a distance of 625 feet. Drifts and a sixty-foot winze provided access to the ore
bodies. These particular workings had produced 1,000 tons of ore assaying 42% lead and 8
ozs. of silver. Other workings included the Confidence No. 2 tunnel, Taylor shaft, Johnson
tunnel, and Addison shaft, and early in 1951 work had begun on the Inspiration shaft. So far
2,000 tons of ore assaying 25% to 40% lead, 11 to 38 ozs. of silver, 4% to 11% zinc, and
valued a $80,000, had been shipped.

Illustration 243. Sally Ann copper Mine along hillside on east side of The
Racetrack. Photo by Linda W. Greene, 1978.
Illustration 244. Mining camp originally containing three cabins on slope

southeast of workings, Lippincott lead Mine. Photo by Linda W. Greene,
1978.
Although earlier the ore produced at the mine had been treated at custom plants in
surrounding communities, the company in the early 1950s erected its own mill and blast
furnace operation in Santa Ana, California, in the Bonnie Claire District sixty miles to the
east. Here, especially during World War II, lead and silver were smelted for use in storage
batteries. (The Lippincott Lead Company smelter closed down in 1953.) Equipment at the
Lippincott Mine in 1951 included two diesel compressors, a Caterpillar bulldozer, a diesel
light plant, and a camp occupied then by only three men. The most accessible water sources
were Goldbelt Spring, twenty-six miles away, and Scotty's Castle, forty miles away. Big
Dodd Spring was south a distance of only about 4-1/2 miles, but could only be reached by an
arduous trail. Water was never piped to the camp from this spring because of the likelihood
of the line freezing during the cold months of the year and the subsequent difficulties that
would attend its maintenance. The Racetrack playa was used as a landing strip by the mine.
[102]

Illustration 245. Lead King Mine. Headframe over vertical shaft, and
adit. On road along north edge of ridge, Lippincott Mine area. Photo by

Illustration 246. Framework over stope. Note aerial tramway on hillside

above. Located on same road as the above photo. Photo by Linda W.
Greene, 1978.
Illustration 247. Mine camp of six cabins and ore tipple built about 1942.
Light-colored dump, above left, designates road on which Lead King Mine
and other adits found. Photo by Linda W. Greene, 1978.

Illustration 248. Close-up view of cabins and ore tipple pictured above.
Photo courtesy of Henry G. Law, 1975.
In 1974 George Lippincott, Jr.'s, Polaris Battery Company, Inc., was planning further
exploratory work on the Lippincott mining group, formally consisting now of the Lead King,
Lead King Mining Claim Nos. 1, 3, and 4, Lead King #5-#8, and the Lippincott Mill Site.
[103]
(b) Present Status
The Lippincott claim group, comprising eight lode mining claims and one millsite, is located
in the northwest corner of the monument and in the southwest corner of Racetrack Valley
immediately north of the monument boundary, although the Lead King Nos. 3 and 5-8 are
situated partially outside the monument. The property is about thirty miles south of Ubehebe
Crater on the Racetrack Road four miles south of Ubehebe Peak on the north side of a ridge
between Racetrack and Saline valleys.
The site today consists of three main areas. On the north slope is the mine camp of six wood
and tarpaper cabins and an ore tipple constructed by Lippincott about 1942. It is just below
the main tunnel which lies on this slope at an elevation of about 3,750 feet. Another group of
three cabins was erected on the slope southeast of the workings, access to which is via a road
through the middle of the Homestake Talc Claim. The mine workings seen by this writer
along the road on the northeast flank of the ridge consisted of numerous adits and at least two
vertical shafts, plus some tramway remains, all encompassed in an area measuring about
1,600 by 200 feet. Altogether the claim group contains about 2,000 feet of level and inclined
underground workings--the main tunnel, Addison workings, Confidence No. 1, Confidence
No. 2, and Inspiration. [104]
The Lippincott lead Mine is one of two such operations in the Ubehebe area, the other being
the Ubehebe lead Mine at the northwest corner of Racetrack Valley. The Lippincott has been
the scene of the most continuous mining activity in the Ubehebe area since 1942, producing
every year except 1945 when the federal government controlled the area. (According to
McAllister the mine actually functioned from 1938 to 1,952, with no production recorded
only in the years 1939 and 1942.) [105] Total production stands at something over $80,000.

The site does not possess the historical significance necessary to justify its nomination to the
National Register. Its integrity has been further impaired during the last year by the
destruction of two of its buildings by fire.
(6) Ubehebe Keeler and Quackenbush Talc Mines History
The Ubehebe and Keeler mines, located in the range of hills immediately east of Ulida Flat,
and the Quackenbush Mine, two miles further east and about one mile north of Goldbelt
Spring, are of fairly recent vintage, all three having been worked for steatite-grade talc on a
small scale during World War II. In 1945 one James O. Greenan of Reno, Nevada, secured an
option from Roscoe Wright of Gbldfield on four talc claims in the Ubehebe area in which
recent tests had determined the presence of commercial quantities of high-grade talc that
could be used in the production of cosmetics and of steatite grade suitable for high-frequency
radio electrical insulators. [106]
These deposits in the northern Panamint Range and in the Inyo Mountains to the west have
been the source of practically all the California-produced steatite- and pharmaceutical-grade
talc. Smaller in extent than the talc deposits in the southern end of the monument in Warm
Spring Canyon and the Ibex Hilts, the largest bodies in this northern part have been measured
at about 500 by 50 feet. By the late 1960s most of the bodies had been mined out or were
considered unworthy of further investigation. The extent of reserves in these properties is
unknown, but they are believed to be substantial. Their isolation, however, impedes any
large-scale systematic development, and the long haul to market is economically infeasible.
Most recent activity has been of the weekend sort.
i) Ubehebe (Stone Pencil Mine)
The Ubehebe Talc Nos. 1, 2, and 4 unpatented lode claims were located in January 1945, and
the Goldbelt Springs Mill Site filed on two months later. During the 1960s and early 1970s
the Ubehebe was owned or leased by the Sierra Talc Company of South Pasadena, California,
which produced and transported ore from the property. Sometimes referred to as the Stone
Pencil Mine, by the mid-1960s the talc zone, measuring about 500 feet long by 20 feet wide,
had been developed by underground workings about 15 to 25 feet vertically.
Production through 1955 totalled several hundred tons. In the mid-1970s Cyprus Industrial
Minerals Company acquired the Ubehebe talc Mine and is the present owner. Its mining
operations have been hampered by the site's inaccessibility and also by the narrowness of the
access road, which the National Park Service would not allow the company to widen. [108]
ii) Keeler (White Horse Mine)
The White Horse Talc #1, White Horse #2, and White Horse Talc #3-#4 unpatented lode
claims were located in 1943 by Alexander "Shorty" Borden, Bev Hunter, Roy Hunter, and
Hellen Kraft; they are presently owned by Victor Materials Company of Victorville,
California, and Rowena R. and Charles A. Munns of Brigham City, Utah.
The 65-foot-deep vertical shaft on the property was dug in. 1967 by Grantham Mines
Company employees, who soon ceased work because of the unavailability of milling-grade
ore. [109]
iii) Quackenbush (Gold Belt Mine
The Gold Belt Talc #1, #2, and #3 unpatented lode claims were located by Bev Hunter and
A.Z. Borden in June 1944, and the Gold Belt Springs Mill Site filed on by Bev Hunter in
October 1948. Estimated production of the mine through 1955 is 750 tons. William B.

Grantham worked the property in the late 1960s while his company was also investigating the
Keeler Mine. Exploratory excavations, probably on the Gold Belt Talc #1 Claim, failed to
uncover sufficient quantities of ore. Current owners of the property are the Victor Materials
Company and Rowena R. and Charles A. Munns. [110]
Illustration 249. Corrugated-metal cabin with screened sun porch, Ubehebe

talc Mine. Photo by Linda W. Greene, 1978.
Illustration 250. View from corral of mine workings south of cabin,

Ubehebe Mine. Photo by Linda W. Greene, 1978.
(b) Present Status
i) Ubehebe Mine
No mining activity is currently in progress on this property, which is situated at an altitude of

about 5,400 feet. The site includes both a residential and mining area. On the former is one
standing corrugated-metal house with plywood walls and the remains of at least two other
residences. All sorts of debris--old cots, radios, a birdcage, chairs, toys, and appliances--
litter the ground. At the junction of the residential road with the trail to the mining operation

is a small corral. The workings themselves, scattered over a hillside about one-eighth of a
mile south of the road junction, consist of three ore bins, two in good shape and one in ruins.
The largest bin, furthest east, has two dumps associated with it and services a well-timbered
adit. Tram tracks lead to the dumps, and the foundations of a small building (storage shed,
blacksmith shop?) lie near the portal. Only a skeletal framework remains of the middlemost
bin, with fallen timbers and metal flashing strewn down the hillside below. The third ore bin
serves an adit containing both an inclined shaft and a stoped tunnel. The entire hillside is
very unstable and dotted with crater-like depressions and caved-in stopes.
Illustration 251. Small headframe, collapsed shack, and timbered inclined

shaft, Keeler talc Mine. Photo by Linda W. Greene, 1978.Illustration
252.Dozer cut on White Horse #2 claim. Photo by Linda W. Greene, 1978.
ii) Keeler Mine
This property is located about one mile south of the Ubehebe talc Mine at a slightly lower
elevation on the same north-south trending ridge The White Horse Talc #1 and White Horse
#2 claims, situated in the bottom of a narrow, shallow valley, can be easily reached via a dirt
road, while the White Horse Talc #3-#4 claims extend further west and north up the hillside
and are less easily seen. The most extensive development has occurred on the #1 Claim and
consists of a timbered vertical shaft surmounted by a small headframe, a timbered inclined
shaft, and two or three small adits, one of which intersects the inclined shaft. The ruins of a
small collapsed shack are also present. The shafts are completely open and unsafe for
exploration. At the fork of the Keeler and Ubehebe talc roads, on the #2 Claim, is an
extensive dozer cut about forty-five feet long.
iii) Quackenbush Mine
This mine site consists of a number of excavations on a ridgetop at an elevation of about

5,200 feet. No buildings or foundations for such exist, the only extant structures being two
lightweight headframes, both weathered and unstable. One of these is located toward the top
of the hill on the Gold Belt Talc 142 Claim and covers a vertical timbered shaft adjoined on
the northwest by a caved-in stope. The shaft has also caved in not far below the surface. This
area corresponds to the shaft symbol on the USGS Marble Canyon quad map. Downslope to
the northeast of this shaft are two adits, whose portals practically face each other, on a
portion of the Gold Belt Talc #2 and #3 claims that overlap. The second headframe is located
immediately north of the road passing through the site and on to Goldbelt Spring. Since the

mill site at Goldbelt contains several residences, it is possible that the Quackenbush Mine
workers resided there.
Illustration 253. Headframe, Quackenbush talc Mine. Photo by Linda

W. Greene, 1978.

Illustration 254. Stoped adit and headframe, Quackenbush Mine. Photo

(c) Evaluations and Recommendations
No information on the Ubehebe, Keeler, or Quackenbush mines prior to their location for talc
in the 1940s that would imbue the sites with any historical significance has been found. Nor
are there any significant physical remains on any of them.

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION III:
THE WEST SIDE
C. Cottonwood Mountains (continued)
3. Skookum Mining District
a) Death Valley Gold Mining Company Working Property Near Sand Spring
in the mid-1920s a new and, short-lived mining district was organized in the northwestern
corner of Death Valley that this writer has not heretofore found mentioned in any of the
historical accounts on the area. The scanty amount of information obtained, which concerns
only the year between January 1927 and February 1928, does not permit of much detail and
only arouses more questions than it answers.
Sand Spring, about eight miles north of the extreme northwest corner of Death Valley
National Monument, was an important watering hole on the mining route to Lida, Nevada.
Once briefly homesteaded by a daring soul whose only accomplishment in the area was
encasing the water supply in a few lengths of iron pipe, the site was mainly utilized over the
years as an overnight camping spot. In March 1909 some ore specimens extremely rich in
gold were discovered in the vicinity of this spring and were later determined by prospectors
from Goldfield who rushed to the area to be part' of a large porphyry dyke that cut through
the ground here. No further word on development was found. Two months later an important
placer strike covering about 1,200 acres was made seventeen miles south of Tule and six
miles from Eureka Valley, high in the Last Chance Range. Surface material was assaying $9
a ton and $53 after dry washing. Although it was anticipated that capital would be acquired
to finance operations here, no further word of activity emerged for the next eighteen years.
[111]
In January 1927 the Lucky Boy Divide Mining Company, an organization based in Tonopah,
Nevada, and presided over by one Harry McNamara, was working some property owned by
the Death Valley Gold Mining Company "about 100 miles south of Tonopah, and not far
from Death Valley Scotty's ranch in the Grapevine canyon," from which samples were
returning gold values of $22 per ton. [112] According to the Goldfield Daily Tribune the new
strike area could be reached by auto road leading west from Death Valley Scotty's Grapevine
Canyon ranch five miles to a wash, then seven miles further to the Desert Gold (a mine?),
and then finally, after another seven miles, ending at the mine camp. Water had to be hauled
to the spot from either Hot Springs or Sand Spring, both about an equal twelve miles distant.
The article states that this new strike zone located in the Last Chance Range would be called
the Skookum Mining District. [113]
Sol Camp, who it will be remembered was associated with development work on the Ubehebe
lead Mine in the early 1920s and later in the 1930s, was at this time managing the operations

of the Death Valley Gold Mining Company, Inc., based out of Leadfield. A Skookum mining
camp of four houses was already up, and new machinery, such as an air compressor and
drills, and necessary foodstuffs and other supplies were being shipped in from Bonnie Claire.
Development work at this point consisted of 2,000 feet of trenching and the driving of a
tunnel and various shallow exploratory holes. Assays were now yielding $34 to $276 per ton.
[114]
By March 1927 a carload of ore from the new district was ready for shipment to the smelter
in Mason Valley. The charge by rail from Bonnie Claire was not expected to total more than
$4 per ton, and the smelter charge was estimated at around $8. This would ensure a
handsome profit from the ore, thought to be worth approximately $100 a ton. In May 1927
word spread that large deposits of high-grade sulphur had been found on the high west slope
of the Last Chance Mountains, just over the range from the north arm of Death Valley. The
area could be reached by road from Goldfield via Lida, Pigeon Springs, and Cucamonga,
while a good wagon road led up Oriental Wash to Sand Spring on the east slope. It is
probable that this was in the general vicinity of the Skookum Mining District. [115]
b) World Exploration Company Enters Area
In the summer of 1927 the World Exploration Company of Fort Worth, Texas, purchased the
assets of the Death Valley Gold Mines (Mining?) Company in this new district on the west
side of Death Valley, for a reported consideration of $100,000. It was stated in the newspaper
articles announcing the transaction that the property was located in the Chuckwalla
Mountains (?) region, where a sixty-six-foot tunnel had already been excavated. Full water
rights to Sand Spring, fifteen miles away, ensured a good water supply. A new organization,
the World Mining Company of Nevada, was charged with development of the mine, and the
parent company's optimism toward the newly purchased property was unhesitatingly voiced
by its president, Chester R. Bunker, who emphasized that
We are after good prospects anywhere we can find them, and we think this Death
Valley Gold property is one of the best prospects that we have ever investigated.
Our entire resources will be thrown behind this project, and the property will be
developed to fullest extent and with all the energy that our organization is known
to possess. [116]
Later, that month the county surveyor of Esmeralda County, Nevada, filed a plat of the town
of "Snookum" (undoubtedly a misspelling), approximately ten miles south of Sand Spring
and the focal point for mining activity in the new district. [117] Meanwhile, the World
Mining Company was proceeding with its development work now and had just established a
camp and was busy driving two shafts or the Skookum Mine vein. [118] Sol Camp, retained
as superintendent of the Skookum property, replaced the company's jackhammer drills, which
were operated by an air compressor that required twenty-five gallons of water a day, with a
coal auger ordered from Denver, and proceeded to push work on the mine's main tunnel
throughout the summer. A subsidiary tunnel higher on the same mountain was started to
intersect an ore shoot from which surface assays had reportedly been taken yielding $20 to
$500 a ton in gold. [119] Another property being worked by the World Mining group was the
Mother Lode Claim, which was probably the Gold Mother Lode of Death Valley Group ten
miles southwest of Sand Spring that had earlier been deeded to the Death Valley Mines
Company, Inc., by Al Barcherding, James Traynor, Harry McNamara, William F. Logan, and
Frank M. Maloney. [120] Samples from this mine were assaying from $12 to $95 a ton.
[121]
By the fall of 1927 the primary development objective of the World Exploration Company
was attained when the main quartz dyke at the Skookum Mine was intersected by the lower

tunnel at a distance of 500 feet from the portal. A fair grade of milling ore was now being
tapped, with higher values expected as the tunnel was extended deeper into the mountainside.
[122] As this work crosscutting the dyke to encounter the downward extension of the rich
surface showings progressed, a new engine was installed to speed up the development. At the
same time the World Exploration Company was purchasing and installing new equipment for
use at the Skookum Mine, they were also acquiring property in the Hannapah District
northeast of Tonopah. [123]
c) Demise of Mining Operations
Just when it was beginning to appear that the Skookum Mine might be put on a paying basis,
a shroud of silence falls over the entire mining operation. The October 1927 article contains
the last detailed information found by these writers concerning mining activity in the
Skookum Mining District in northwest Death Valley. At the end of 1927 Bev Hunter and his
wife deeded to Albert M. Johnson of Chicago, Death Valley Scotty's patron, the following
segment of land:
bounded on the westerly side by the Ubehebe and Last Chance range of
mountains, on the north by an east and west line drawn through Sand Springs, on
the south by an east and west line drawn through Surveyor's Wells, and on the
east by the State of Nevada. [124]
The reason for selling this incredibly large chunk of real estate is not known, but its purchase
was probably part of Johnson's land acquisition program that began in 1915 when he started
buying up old homesteads and mining claims in the northern part of Death Valley. Over a
dozen years or so he took title to more than 1,500 acres in the Grapevine Canyon vicinity, in
addition to several springs. [125] It would seem by the general description given that this
property might have included, or at least bordered on, the Skookum Mining District, but no
mention of a working mine is made in the transfer deed notice.
In 1928 notice was found of the transfer of the Dan D Nos. 1-4 placer mining claims, situated
in the Skookum Mining District, from their Los Angeles and San Francisco owners to
Continental Sulphur Corporation. [126] Another deed notice concerning these properties two
months later described them as "6 miles in a southerly direction from Last Chance
Mountain," which would place them about directly west of Sand Spring and outside (north)
of the national monument boundary. 127 It is unclear what happened to the mining
operations or companies involved in this area, although it could well be that the rich gold
vein simply petered out. From the scarcity of data available on the Skookum Mining District,
it appears to be simply another Death Valley gold dream that never came true.

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION III:
THE WEST SIDE
D. The Valley Floor
1. Presenting Death Valley to the World
a) Resorts Open in the 1920s
Death Valley, land of terrible thirst, whose strange beauty and unique geology
long have been associated with romance and mystery--and strange tales of
heroism and lingering death--is about to lose its distinction as one of the few
remaining regions of the globe known only to the adventuring trail breaker, the
hardy prospector and the perspiring borax worker.
Soon the eye of the ubiquitous tourist will view with unconcern its legendary
terrors and gaze in perfect comfort and safety upon its grim wonders.
Civilization again extends its frontier--and the goodly company of adventurers
lose one more of the rapidly vanishing 'far places" of the earth. [1]
Illustration 255. Map showing old Stovepipe Wells, Stovepipe Wells Hotel,
Eichbaum Toll Road route, and McLean Spring.
Not until the 1920s did Death Valley's general isolation from the public end and its
http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/deva/section3d1.htm[7/26/2008 3:08:20 PM]

spectacular scenic and historical resources open up not only to the neighboring populace but
eventually to people across the nation and around the world. H.W. Eichbaum accelerated this
chain of events by construction of his Stovepipe Wells resort in 1926 in the upper part of
Death Valley--the first tourist accommodations in the area. Its northerly location and the fact
that it was most easily accessible over the Panamints from the west meant that it attracted
people primarily from southern California and the Owens Valley area. The road leading from
that hotel south toward Furnace Creek Ranch was, however, a fair desert road, and the
opening of Furnace Creek Inn in 1927, offering a whole new segment of the valley to public
view, was an added incentive to journey in that direction.
This later hotel was operated by the Pacific Coast Borax Company, which after the cessation
of mining activity at Ryan became interested in promoting tourist travel to Death Valley in
order to continue operating and making profits off its Death Valley Railroad and its facilities
at Ryan and Death Valley Junction. Important strides were made in encouraging travel to the
area when the company's project gained the support of the Santa Fe and Union Pacific
transcontinental railroads, whose promotional campaigns for package tours did much toward
introducing people to this part of California. The chance to be transported in relative luxury
on the railroad all the way from Los Angeles, and then to be motor bussed to nearby scenic
wonders, meant a comfortable and relatively easy trip for many.
The blessings and approval given to the promotion of tourism here that was offered by
various National Park Service officials such as Stephen T Mather, director, certainly were not
detrimental to the success of the undertaking. Indeed, Mather was an active consultant with
the railroad men and others concerned with the planning phases of the Furnace Creek Inn
operation.
Usually it required only one exposure to the valley's awe-inspiring vistas and strange
geological formations, and perhaps one day of basking in the temperate climate (further
warmed by the knowledge that one's friends elsewhere were suffering winter's hardships), to
convince people that here was truly another magnificent winter playground. The chance to
view Mt. Whitney, highest point on the continent, and at the same time marvel at its lowest
elevation, Badwater, on the floor of Death Valley, was an opportunity not to be missed.
According to Harry Gower, an engineer for the borax people for almost fifty years, this
venture into the tourist business was not an easy one for the company or its employees:
Looking back, however, at the adversities of past years, no one can now imagine
why we were so anxious to get into the hotel business in Death Valley in 1927.
Maybe it looked like a good idea then but certainly in 30 years no great profits
from it have plied up in the Company coffers. The principal headaches and
drawbacks were the short winter season and the consequent bother and expense
of opening up in the Fall, recruiting a staff and then closing down again before
the next period of hot weather. Other problems could be listed, such as
generation and failures of electric power, production of water, operation of the
laundry and the ruinous effect on our equipment of the extremes of the weather,
dust, flash floods, etc. [2]
b) Tourism Increases When Area Becomes National Monument
Increased travel was insured when the area was turned over to the federal government as a
national monument in 1933, for federal guardianship of its vast acreage meant a
corresponding improvement in its roads and facilities. The region's attraction was unique in
that it was most endurable and hospitable during the winter when other national parks were
blocked by ice and snow. Thus it was in a position to absorb much of the tourist trade

crowding into California's sunnier climes. Phenomenal progress was soon made in
constructing and either hard surfacing or oiling new highways within the monument, and in
opening up new trails and water holes to enable ever-expanding exploration of the valley's
resources. Eventually an airport was needed, campgrounds were constructed, and housing for
government employees was added. This rapid development resulted in an increase in
visitation to the area from only a few thousand in 1933 to almost 50,000 in 1936.
Resorts were enlarged to accommodate the visitor influx, Furnace Creek Inn having to add a
second dining room, a larger lounge, and improved furnishings. Furnace Creek Ranch added
housekeeping cottages and more cabins. Even the Amargosa Hotel at Death Valley Junction
enjoyed a profitable business. All three main Death Valley hotels are important and
significant in their own ways. Furnace Creek Ranch is the, oldest establishment, having been
founded initially as a supply point for the Harmony Borax Works, producing food for both its
stock and workers. It was opened for visitor accommodation in 1933. The Stovepipe Wells
resort was built from scratch by H.W. Eichbaum, and first opened its doors in November
1926. Its success helped encourage opening of Furnace Creek Inn in February 1927 by the
Pacific Coast Borax Company.
Since then the different hotels have enlarged and expanded their services and facilities.
Today they are the main supply centers in the area and are smoothly and professionally run
operations, catering to thousands of. visitors annually by providing accommodations, food,
books and literature on the region, and generally performing a valuable service in helping
acquaint visitors with the inspiring beauty and absorbing and romantic history of this once
formidable part of California.
deva/hrs/section3d1.htm

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION III:
THE WEST SIDE
D. The Valley Floor (continued)
a) History
(1) Old Stove pipe Wells
Long before the present Stovepipe Wells resort was conceived of as a viable tourist
operation, the site now referred to as old Stovepipe Wells was a life-saving source of water
in the arid desert land of northern Death Valley. Situated on the eastern edge of the sand
dunes about five airline miles northeast of the present hotel site, these two shallow pits dug
into the sandy floor were undoubtedly originally utilized by the Indian inhabitants of the
valley prior to the memorable trek of the '49ers that opened the country to white penetration.
Their central location would have made them accessible to Indian groups either crossing
between the Amargosa Desert and the Cottonwood Mountains via Daylight Pass, or traveling
north or south along the valley's central axis. Originally unmarked, and its whereabouts often
obscured by layers of blown sand, the well's location was probably first known only through
word of mouth, making its detection by thirsty prospectors wandering up and down the valley
an. often desperate and time-consuming task. Eventually it occurred to some enterprising
individual, who had access to the necessary materials, to stick a length of stovepipe a few
feet into the water source and thus insure easy discovery of the site from all directions. [3]
Heavy usage of the well by white men did not actually occur until the mining booms, in
Rhyolite, Nevada, and Skidoo, California; the intense excitement and awareness of
commercial opportunities they generated initiated a steady and continuous stream of travel
over the intervening sixty miles or so of steaming desert. In such a desert environment all
springs and water sources are cherished, but Stovepipe's location halfway between Rhyolite
and Skidoo seemed to make it a natural waystation for the area also. Sometime probably early
in the 1900s a first attempt was made to make of the wells something more than a brief rest
stop.
Sensing that the increased traffic along here could become a source of revenue, some hardy
businessman or inventive prospector dug himself a cellar space out of the shifting sands,
measuring about eighteen by twelve feet, which he then surrounded on three sides with four-
to five-foot-high walls fashioned from beer bottles stuck together with mud. Several inches
of earth over tarp-covered timbers insulated the roof. from the burning desert sun. Initially
concerned only with dispensing a limited assortment of foodstuffs along with a liberal
amount of beer from the Tonopah brewery (kept reasonably cool in a tub covered with
soaked sacks or tarps), the proprietor soon acquiesced to repeated demands for cool lodging

facilities and installed two beds in his cellar for use by overnight visitors.
The water available from the wells was not what would be termed delightfully refreshing, as
discerned immediately from one man's account of his experiences after drinking the
"poisoned water" of Stovepipe Springs:
My canteens were exhausted when I arrived there [old Stovepipe Wells], and I
disregarded the admonition and drank. The water is very low in the spring, is of a
yellowish appearance and intensely nauseating in taste. Its odor is very
disagreeable, and it can be smelled for half a mile away. Nevertheless, I filled
my canteens, and drank of it while there. As I proceeded on my journey my legs
became unsteady and I found it difficult to continue my usual pace. I lay down
thinking to gain strength, but no improvement was noticeable. The distance
between Stove Pipe and Hole-in-the-Rock is about 14 miles, and I fully realized
that it was by all odds a case of make this or die . . . . Istruggled forward, my
legs becoming more and more uncertain. In addition to this everything was
getting dim before me, and I appeared to be rapidly losing my eye sight . . . . I
could no longer walk and the only means of locomotion left me was to crawl on
my hands, and knees. I was almost blind, too . . . . I was 36 hours in making the
14 miles between the two points, and it looks more like a miracle than anything
else that I am. alive to tell the tale. [3]
Illustration 256. Bottle dugout, old Stovepipe Wells, in the 1920s. From
Margaret Long Collection, courtesy University of Colorado Library,
Boulder.
With the initiation of stage and freight service between Rhyolite and Skidoo in 1906, it
became apparent that a more permanent and better-stocked waystation was needed to
adequately provision and succor the additional travelers. By February 1907 Stovepipe Wells,
in addition to being the one-night stopover on the Kimball Bros. stage route between
Rhyolite and Skidoo, was also the first telephone office in the valley. According to J.R.
Clark, superintendent of construction on the Skidoo-Rhyolite road and one of the proprietors
of the Stovepipe roadhouse,
affairs at Stovepipe are more than satisfactory. There is a commissary tent, a

boarding house, lodging house and several additional tents, a corral and feeding
stable and accommodations in every respect for pilgrims crossing the hot sands.
The spring is now inclosed and the water is consequently much improved . . . .

The water is the only fresh water within several miles . . . . The road house at this
point is an absolute necessity and facilitates travel from Rhyolite, providing a
stopping point at the end of an easy day's drive. [5]
Two months later improvements to the complex were being made, and a feature article on the
station in the Rhyolite Herald's pictorial supplement presented a clear picture of what
services could be expected there:
The rusty stovepipe is gone, and there stands in its place a full-fledged road
house, way down in the depths of the desert isolation. Many a prospector, tired,
worn and weary, has travelled far to the protection of this water hole, marked
only by the single piece of pipe; perhaps many a prospector has drunk from its
slimy waters never to rise again, being too faint, too famished, to consider the
advisability of bailing out the hole and waiting for a fresh supply. The water at
Stovepipe is good., provided it is frequently drawn off, but alike most desert
water holes it soon becomes stagnant and unfit for use. The coming of the road
house has eliminated all the bad features of the water, which is now considered
of the best.
The Stovepipe road house is quite an up-to-date place. The, equipment includes a
grocery, eating house, .bar, lodging house, corral, stock of hay,, grain and
provisions,--a little community in itself where travellers may find rest and food
for themselves and their beasts. Just now, decided improvements are in progress.
A fly is being added to the main tent, walls are being dug, bath room installed,
and a pump is being placed to take care of the water. Hammocks will be added
for the comfort of guests. Good accommodations have been provided for ladies.
Free water is furnished, and every day the place is alive with freighting outfits,
etc. going between Rhyolite and Skidoo. Stovepipe is 25 miles from Rhyolite;
the half-way station. Meals are 75 cents; beds, 75 cents. The telephone. connects
Stovepipe with the outside world, via Rhyolite. [6]
Illustration 257. Stovepipe Wells waystation, taken by Veager and

Woodward on Death Valley Expedition, 1908. Photo courtesy of DEVA
NM.

Illustration 258. Present old Stovepipe Wells site. Photo by Linda W.

Greene, 1978.
Perhaps showing signs of getting carried away with the success of their venture, the owners
of Stovepipe were Seven contemplating eventually turning the area into a winter resort:
The water is believed to possess great medicinal properties, the winter is as a

delightful spring, and with the addition of comfortable bungalows, houses of
entertainment, out door games, on the hard baked sands, and many other features
that might be added, Stovepipe could be made a place where those in delicate
health or suffering from pulmonary troubles, might find permanent relief. If the
sun cure has merit, it could be worked to the limit at Stovepipe. . . [7]
With the gradual decline of Skidoo and Rhyolite as great mining centers around 1908 came
the simultaneous demise of the Stovepipe Wells waystation and its gradual abandonment.
The article above, however, was certainly a portent of things to come, but it was not until
nineteen years later that a young engineer from southern California was able to bring the
project to fruition.
(2) Eichbaum Toll Road Brings Visitors to Death Valley
Herman William Eichbaum, born in Pennsylvania in 1878, received a degree in engineering

at the University of Virginia before the lure of the West brought him to Rhyolite, Nevada,
during its initial bonanza days. Blessed with an open and inventive mind, Eichbaum's
engineering talents soon surfaced with his design and construction of the first electric plant in
that young city in 1906. Soon turning to mining exploration of the Ubehebe and Goldbelt
areas, Eichbaum acquired a taste for prospecting and an appreciation of the beauty and
potential of Death Valley that stayed with him all his life and that eventually determined the
direction of his future endeavors. When Rhyolite faded, Eichbaum went to southern
California where he eventually married a society girl, Helene Neeper, and turned his
inventive talents toward creating popular recreational activities on Catalina Island and at the
seaside resort of Venice.
During his sojourn in Death Valley Eichbaum had envisioned the recreational potential of the
area and had dreamed of constructing a resort among the buttes east of the sand dunes and
overlooking Stovepipe Wells. Now, bolstered by several years experience in catering to the
public., and well-versed in what the public demanded in its entertainment facilities,
Eichbaum determined to make his dreams of opening up Death Valley to tourism a reality.

Rejected by the Inyo County Board of Supervisors when he petitioned to construct a toll road
from Lida, Nevada, into Death Valley via Sand Spring, Eichbaum alternatively proposed a
route over Towne Pass. But still the supervisors were loathe to contribute at taxpayer's
expense to what seemed to them such an ill-conceived venture.
Undaunted even after another application was voted down, this time for a franchise to build
two toll roads at his own expense, and in an effort to alleviate previous objections, Eichbaum
revised his plan to include only construction of a road from Whippoorwill Springs (Darwin
Wash) across the Panamint Valley and over Towne Pass to old Stovepipe Wells. [8]
Supported by a petition signed by several hundred persons, including representatives of the
borax company and even Death Valley Scotty, Eichbaum's application was at last granted by
unanimous vote. [9]
Although getting this far must have seemed quite a project to the young visionary, the hard
work was only just beginning. After three viewers appointed by the Board of Supervisors, in
consultation with an engineer selected by Eichbaum, had decided on the route over Towne
Pass and the best method of building the road, construction work began:
A Mr. Miller, Eichbaum's right-hand-man, was superintendent over a crew of six

to eight men, including a driver, a grader, several rock throwers, and a cook.
Few of them stayed throughout the job . . . . The first road cut was made by a 30-
Caterpillar tractor pulling a seven-foot road grader. Then it was widened to a
passing width. Rocky outcroppings often determined the width of the road as
well as its contour. No blasting was done. As one of the crew described it, they
"kinda detoured around" the rough canyon of the present route toward the
summit. [10]
In spite of frustrations over mud and washouts that often delayed supplies and construction
work, the labor slowly progressed. The floor of Death Valley was reached by spring, and
attempts we're then made to clear and grade the roadbed on through to the east side of the
valley. It, was not long, however, before the futility of combatting the constantly shifting
sands was realized, and the grade had of necessity to be stopped at the sand dunes 4-1/2
miles short of Eichbaum's long-dreamed-of goal. Certification of completion of the toll road
was made on 4 May 1926, after which the county supervisors fixed the toll rates between
Whippoorwill Springs and Stovepipe Wells as follows: $2 for each auto or motorcycle; 50¢
for each occupant of a truck, trailer, wagon, auto, or motorcycle; $1 per head for each animal,
whether driven or led; with rates for trucks, wagons, and trailers to be determined by tonnage.
[11] Revenue from the tolls was put in a fund for road maintenance.
The new road into Death Valley, although rough and containing curves that were often
difficult for cars to negotiate without considerable backing, was acclaimed for providing
direct access to the valley from Los Angeles via Owens Valley, enabling thousands to finally
experience first-hand the oft-mentioned scenic splendors and unrivalled panoramas of the
region. Eichbaum's immediate plans envisioned sightseeing buses leaving Los Angeles each
morning and staying overnight at Lone Pine before continuing on to Death Valley for the
next night's stay. The return trip would then be started the following day back to Lone Pine.
In addition, Lone Pine was visualizing construction of a road west to the base of Mount
Whitney, enabling a one-day ascent of that peak. It was thought that the double drawing-card
of visiting the highest and lowest spots in the United States within the space of only a few
days would be irresistable to tourists. [12]
(3) Construction of the Resort Begins
With the details of tourist travel to Death Valley worked out, Eichbaum's attention could now

focus on construction of his resort, the first unit of which was projected to cost around
$50,000, his intention being to add more facilities as the occasion warranted. After
Eichbaum's original plan to build a hotel in the buttes east of old Stovepipe Wells turned out
to be impractical, an alternative decided on was to initiate construction near the wells
themselves. But even this compromise location was doomed to disappointment:
One day six trucks of lumber for the new development were reported arriving at
the sand dunes; though we didn't believe it we drove up there to see what it was
all about. The proposed route to the Wells lay north of the big dunes and one
truck was out there sunk deep in the sand as the others waited cautiously on firm
ground for Eichbaum's arrival. He showed up finally, had a long look and then
told the drivers to dump their loads where they stood without a chance to reach
the wells one place was as good as another. Thus, the site was selected. . . . [13]
It was Eichbaum's contention that in the temperate climate of Death Valley solid frame
structures were unnecessary, so the premier unit of his resort consisted of modified tent
houses with walls that were beaverboard below and screened on the upper portion, with roll-
up canvas awnings available for any further protection against the elements that was deemed
necessary. Advertising for the resort and the connecting bus service was immediately started
in Los Angeles, stressing such amenities as electric lights, running water, scenic tours, and
topnotch service. The original camp consisted of twenty small cabins or "bungalettes" and
some larger buildings supplemented with army tents. A revolving beacon light on the roof of
the main building served to guide wanderers to the oasis. In these beginning stages of the
hotel's development the toll road ran between the main building and the guest cabins and on
into the sand dunes.
Bungalette or Bungalow City, as it was familiarly known for a short while, opened for
business 1 November 1926, operating on the American plan. The first party of tourists arrived
a few days later. Despite the relative luxuries and modern conveniences available here, the
basic necessities were still important, and in a manner demonstrating remembrance of the
agonies suffered by earlier and thirstier visitors to Death Valley, on 15 November "a crowd of
merrymakers dined and danced in celebration of the formal opening of a new 24,000-barrel
water well," making possible an additional 1,000 gallons of water an hour. [14]
By the end of November the virtues of the area and of the resort were being extolled in a
flowery descriptive tribute by the automobile editor of the Los Angeles Examiner
Death Valley, always mysterious, intriguing and beautiful, until this time has been practically
closed to the general motoring public. Now it can be reached and seen in its entirety and in
absolute safety[,] comfort, and convenience, either by stage or by private car . . . . It
[Stovepipe Wells Hotel] is a city of fifty bungalettes. Their snowy white sides, offset by
green and white canvas sun shades, with green roofs, form a vivid contrast. to the gray-black
sands. At one end of this bungalette city is a restaurant where a former chief [sic] of the St.
Catherine Hotel at Catalina serves tasty delicacies, while radio and Victrolia [sic] entertain.
At the other is a store, electric light plant and baths. Across the street men toil with mortar
and sand, building tennis courts, a swimming pool, which will be canvased [sic] covered and
farther over a nine-hole golf course, plus a landing field for airplanes. This landing field is
important, for when completed Eichbaum proposes to put into service passenger planes from
Los Angeles, with a combination trip that will make a visit to this country most unusual. [15]

Illustration 259. Eichbaum toll road, showing "Bungalow City" and sand
dunes, in the 1920s. From Margaret Long Collection, courtesy University of
Colorado Library, Boulder.
Illustration 260. Stovepipe Wells Hotel. Photo by Linda W. Greene, 1978.
Added entertainment possibilities he failed to mention were the trail rides complete with pack
animals and with old-time famous prospectors as guides; or for those unaccustomed to. such
a rigorous mode of transportation there were large Buick sedans available for sightseeing in
comfort. A stage service employing huge Studebaker cars equipped with the latest
appointments daily left Los Angeles on tours to Death Valley via Lone Pine. A year-round
operation, in the summer the cars took people to Mount Whitney and other scenic spots in the
Sierra Nevadas.
By far the largest and most entertaining social event of the year, eclipsing even the opening
day, was the Thanksgiving turkey dinner to which all the long-time residents of the valley
were invited, the guest list including such notables as Shorty Harris, John Cyte, Bill
Corcoran, Jack Stewart, and a host of others. From this time on the resort became a favorite
rest stop and gathering point for area prospectors, a place where they knew they would
always be welcomed and cared for. [16]
This life Eichbaum had chosen was not an easy one. Despite the widespread and enthusiastic
campaign inaugurated to promote tourism in the area, there were still many who remained
unconvinced that the desert offered much potential for positive enjoyment. This was
especially disheartening to one who was such a firm supporter of the area's natural and
historical resources. Another frustration was the basic mechanics of operating an expanding

complex in such an isolated area. Most supplies were hauled in from Lone Pine, a long and
exhausting trip, while laundry had to be done at Beatty. Because of the salty and brackish
content of the water--from the hotel wells, cooking and drinking water had to be imported
from Emigrant Spring. Hotel employees were hard to keep in this isolated area, the necessary
complement consisting of a clerk, bellhop, cook, two waitresses, and two guides. Some if not
all of these workers were evidently blacks, one woman visitor commenting on the "army of
colored help all dressed in white duck." [17] The. road was kept in shape by a crew of five
maintenance men.
(4) Easter Sunrise Celebration the First of Several New Tourist Services
Probably the biggest boost to tourism in Death Valley was provided by the first Easter sunrise
service for the unknown dead of the valley, organized by the Eichbaums to take place on 17
April 1927 in the sand dunes northeast of the resort. The program included a stirring address
"dedicated to the memory of the courageous men and women who braved the terrors of the
desert in bygone years" [18] and delivered near a large wooden cross set on the crest of the
highest sand dune; 100 schoolchildren strew desert flowers over the dunes, the entire
program closing with a rousing rendition of "Onward Christian Soldiers" as the sun rose over
the Funeral Mountains. [19] The event was so popular and attracted so many people from
Los Angeles by private car and motor tour that the service became a ritual each year. [20]
By late October 1927 plans were being made for an ice plant at the resort, and a new unit of
rooms being contemplated was to have double walls with a six-inch space between through
which cool air would be forced from coils connected to the ice plant. Another ritual repeated
this month was the "desert rat" Thanksgiving Dinner, offering the crusty old-timers a
tantalizing assortment of delicacies ranging from lobster from Catalina Island to a shank of
wild mountain goat in addition to the traditional fowl. How times had changed for the likes
of "Johnny-Behind-the-Gun" and "Shorty" Harris! [21]
Two innovations were introduced toward the end of 1929 and beginning of 1930. On 15
December 1929 the first passenger air service into Death Valley was begun. The 350-mile
plane tour, in a tri-motored six-passenger sedan, provided its patrons with a view of
Yosemite Valley and Mount Whitney before landing on the arid floor of Death Valley. Pack
trains and motor cars with guides met the visitors at the Stovepipe Wells landing field and
conducted trips to some of the various historical sites in the area. [22] Another enterprise
Eichbaum became involved in was the construction of a road to Death Valley Scotty's
Grapevine ranch, which would connect with the toll road near the sand dunes, reducing the
distance to the ranch and Castle to only thirty-five miles from the present eighty-five-mile
route via Beatty and Bonnie Claire. This project opened to the tourist trade not only Scotty's
ranch and Castle but also the Ubehebe area, rich in scenic wonders and mining activity. [23]
This road led north from the sand dunes toward Cottonwood Canyon, ran by the Indian burial
mounds in this vicinity, and then cut across to the western base of the Funeral and Grapevine
mountain ranges, which it followed directly to Scotty's ranch and Castle. The later modern
highway to Scotty's Castle was superimposed over much of this route.
(5) Toll Road Abolished After Creation of National Monument
It is tragic that the man to whom Death Valley owes so much for its popularizing as one of
California's major attractions and most popular winter vacation spots should not have lived to
see the region he loved so well become a national monument. A sudden attack of meningitis
struck Eichbaum at the age of forty-nine and resulted in his death a few days later on 16
February 1932. A year later, on 11 February 1933, the desolate but beautiful valley that had
been the scene of so much hardship and so few rewards for so many became a national
monument.

Although Helene Eichbaum was continuing to run the Stovepipe Wells Hotel and toll road,
cries were now being heard that toll charges were inappropriate for a national monument and
that either the county, state, or federal government should take over the route and remove
them. The loudest objections to the tolls were coming from Inyo County residents who, of
course, utilized the route more often, and from miners who were currently working claims
within the monument and frequently needed to visit them. It was felt that purchasing the road
immediately and continuing to use it for a while would give the state time to thoroughly
study possible alternative entrances into Death Valley from the northwest that might then
connect with other state roads not yet built.
It was hoped at first that the Inyo County Board of Supervisors could be persuaded to
purchase the route, it appearing to be the most logical buyer for several reasons: first, Inyo
County residents were the loudest protestors to the toll second, acquisition of the road would
more clearly define a state route through Death Valley from Shoshone to Independence, thus
financially benefitting towns along the highway; and third, Inyo County was more indebted
than either the state or federal governments to the pioneer road-building work accomplished
by Eichbaum and might be more liberal in the purchase price. [24]
It was the California Division of Highways, however, that finally purchased the 30.35 miles
of toll road from Stovepipe Wells to Darwin Wash for $25,000 in December 1934; the
seventeen miles of the newly purchased road located within the monument boundaries were
subsequently turned over to the NPS. Although the route over Towne Pass was a little too
narrow to be easily negotiated by cars and the grades were a bit too steep, the state decided
that this was still the only logical entrance point into Death Valley from the west. Only slight
changes were made to the route near the summit so that it would be more easily navigable.
The Stovepipe Wells Hotel has gone through several changes of ownership, finally being sold
in 1966 by the General Hotel Corporation to Trevell, Inc., a firm operating stores and filling
stations in Yellowstone National Park. The NPS has now taken over ownership of the resort.
[25]
b) Present Status
The Stovepipe Wells Village complex today offers patio rooms, motel rooms, and deluxe
units with a commanding. view out over the sand dunes toward Death Valley. Also present
near the main building for visitor pleasure are a swimming pool, restaurant, and cocktail
lounge, while across the street are a store, gas station, and a large campground with trailer
hookups. Wells drilled in the 1940s now provide potable drinking water. Here and there on
the grounds are several relics reminiscent of the monument's early mining days, including an
arrastra, ore cars, an old wagon, and even a couple of "mountain canaries."
The Stovepipe Wells resort of today, situated in the north-central end of the monument about
sixteen miles east of towne Pass and adjacent to the sand dunes, is a far cry from the small
tent camp opened in 1926 by Bob and Helene Eichbaum. The rude tent cabins have given
way to pleasant air-cooled rooms, while the rough and narrow Eichbaum toll, road has been
replaced by a stretch of modern paved highway over which visitors can easily speed between
beautiful Owens Valley and the monument. The significance of the Stovepipe Wells Hotel
site lies in its association with Bob Eichbaum who first recognized the potential of Death
Valley as a winter resort and spent thousands of dollars turning it into one of California's
major tourist attractions. Until his efforts were begun, Death Valley was for all intents and
purposes inaccessible to the general motoring public who were deterred by the lack of good
roads and of dining and sleeping facilities in the area.

By expending a considerable amount of time and money on advertising and on initiating

sightseeing tours in this desert region, Eichbaum was able to attract the Los Angeles crowd,
whose utilization of the area as a winter resort, Eichbaum knew, would ensure a prosperous
future for the valley whose beauty he wished all to enjoy. Eichbaum's interest in encouraging
the tourist trade in the area was certainly not mercenary; he probably never totally regained
reimbursement for all his many expenditures. His dedication to good service is shown by the
fact that he even kept a crew at Stovepipe through the summer months when the resort season
was over to provide aid for those inexperienced visitors who might enter the valley and
become victims of the heat. [26]
Because of this and similar altruistic actions on the part of both husband and wife, Eichbaum
was one of the valley's best-liked residents, beloved by tourists and prospectors alike. The
debt owned him by the monument and by Inyo County residents, to whom his business
ventures incidentally brought added profit through increased traffic in the Owens Valley area,
is immense. He truly fulfilled his vision, conceived during his early prospecting days in the
Panamints, "that some day he would go back and open Death Valley, with its beauty, its
mystery and history to the world." [27]
The Stovepipe Wells Hotel site was recommended for inclusion on the National Register as
being of regional significance. The publicizing of the hotel as the first resort in Death Valley
lured vast numbers of tourists there, whose delight in the area and appreciation of its natural
and historical resources eventually led to designation of the area as a national monument. The
present buildings on the site, however, are not historically significant, having been
extensively remodeled and changed over the years. The placement of an interpretive marker
on the resort grounds giving some of the hotel's early history is recommended. The Eichbaum
toll road (present California State Route 190) has been nominated to the National Register as
being of regional significance. Portions of the original trace can still be seen near the modern
resort structures. The old Stovepipe Wells site on the 3-1/2-mile-long unpaved road
connecting State Highway 190 and the Scotty's Castle road, is also eligible for nomination to
the National Register as being of local level of significance. It functioned as an important
early waterhole and later was the site of an essential waystation serving the freight teams,
passenger stages, and pedestrians travelling back and forth between Rhyolite and Skidoo in
the early twentieth century.
(Note: The Stovepipe Wells Hotel and Eichbaum Toll Road have both been declared
ineligible for the National Register by the State Historic Preservation Office due to a lack of
integrity.)

Illustration 261. Map showing Nevares cabin, Furnace Creek Ranch,

Furnace Creek Inn, Corduroy Road, Shoveltown, and Furnace Creek Wash
sites.

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION III:
THE WEST SIDE
a) History
(1) Pacific Coast Borax Company Foresees Tourist Potential of Region
In the 1920s, as it became apparent to the Pacific Coast Borax Company that the emphasis of
borax mining was swinging away from Death Valley for the present, leaving that region with
a still-functioning railroad and comfortable living quarters at °Ryan, it was decided that this
might be a propitious time to start encouraging tourist travel to the area in order to make
some money off these still-usable facilities. Other factors, too, seemed to assure the probable
success of such a venture: first, the main transcontinental railroads were now enjoying a
lucrative business transporting visitors to the various national parks and other scenic
attractions in the West, imbuing Tonopah & Tidewater Railroad officials with the desire to
cash in on some of this trade; second, the apparent success of H.W. Eichbaum's enterprising
venture at Stovepipe Wells further north was a strong indication of the enormous attraction
that this seemingly-hostile but greatly romanticized area held for outsiders; and third, the
delightful temperatures of the valley during the months from October to May would be a
great enticement to people tired of winter's bleakness and cold winds. All these were strong
incentives for initiating some sort of tourist operation that could utilize existing materials and
buildings and that involved only a minimum of additional expenditure. [28]
The primary concern of the company centered around providing adequate and comfortable
accommodations. It was first thought that the natural and easiest solution would be to house
people at Furnace Creek Ranch, and plans were accordingly made to add ten or twelve
bedrooms plus dining facilities to that place. On further thought, however, this locale seemed
too remote from Ryan, and thus impractical as a tourist headquarters. And so, after lengthy
consideration of such alternative locations as Ryan and Shoshone, it was finally suggested by
a consultant knowledgeable in such matters, who had been imported from the Desert Inn at
Palm Springs for just this purpose, that the small mound and former Indian ceremonial area at
the mouth of Furnace Creek Wash would be an ideal site. Not only was a good fresh water
supply available 6,000 feet up the wash at Travertine Springs, but the view up and down the
valley and of the surrounding mountains was breathtaking. The architect Albert C. Martin
was hired to prepare plans for a Spanish-style building, and native Panamint Indians were
immediately put to work manufacturing adobe bricks for its construction. [29]
(2) Union Pacific and Santa Fe Railroads Encouraged to Promote Death Valley

In these early days of auto travel the surfaced highway east from Los Angeles ended at San
Bernardino, with the branch roads to Ryan and Death Valley being so primitive and lonely
that people hesitated to travel them. Taking advantage of this timidity, the Pacific Coast
Borax Company extensively promoted use of its own standard-gauge Tonopah & Tidewater
and narrow-gauge Death Valley railroads. The two transcontinental lines--the Union Pacific
and Santa Fe--were then persuaded to promote package tours to the area during October to
May. Through-Pullman service in standard sleepers would be offered between Caliente and
Beatty and Los Angeles and Beatty on an every-other-day basis, and in either direction.
Initially the Pullmans would be run three times weekly, with the service increased to daily
runs the following year. New cars were added to the lines to handle the anticipated influx of
tourists. Crucero, 220 miles east of Los Angeles in San Bernardino County, was to be the
transfer point at which the Pullman cars would be dropped and switched to the T & T tracks
for the ninety-six-mile run north to Death Valley Junction. From here visitors would ride the
last twenty miles to Ryan via a gasoline-powered combination express and passenger railcar
on the Death Valley line. At Ryan large Union Pacific seven-passenger open touring buses
used in the Zion-Bryce Canyon tours during their summer season would meet the people and
transport them to the Inn. It was advertised that travelers could leave Los Angeles at six
o'clock in the evening and be snugly settled at Furnace Creek Inn the next morning. [30]
According to the T & T's general agent, cost of the entire side trip, including Pullman fares
between Crucero and Death Valley Junction, fares on the Death Valley Railroad between
Death Valley Junction and Ryan and return, bus tickets, hotel accommodations for one night
at Furnace Creek Inn, and meals for two days, was set at an incredible $42.
(3) Furnace Creek Inn Opens to the Public
Construction of the hotel started in September 1926, and its official opening was held with a
minimum of fanfare on 1 February 1927. The structure was only partially finished, and its
number of rooms and furnishings soon proved completely inadequate. A stay at the resort
included side trips by motor bus to such nearby attractions as Dante's. View, the Devil's Golf
Course, Furnace Creek Ranch, Harmony Borax Works, Gower Gulch, and the abandoned
borate camp of (New) Ryan, which still evoked considerable interest despite the cessation, of
mining activities there. At the latter place the highlight of the tour was a grand ride over the
"baby-gauge" railroad, which in former years hauled borax from the now abandoned deposits
to the Death Valley Railroad at (New) Ryan. Open-air cars transported fascinated visitors
through tunnels, along the precipitous mountainside, and even inside some of the mines
where they could actually see tools and equipment left just as they were when mining
operations ended.

Illustration 262. Eleven-passenger Union Pacific tour bus used by Death

Valley Hotel Company. View taken in Furnace Creek Wash. No date. Copy
of print loaned by Stovepipe Wells Hotel, courtesy of DEVA NM.
During its first year of operation, Furnace Creek Inn consisted only of a main building
housing a spacious lobby and pleasant dining room with wings on either side containing
bedrooms opening onto a veranda that encircled the entire building. Day-to-day operations
proceeded under the experienced and watchful eye of Miss Beulah Brown, summer manager
of the Old Faithful Lodge at Yellowstone. Although the area had not yet been designated for
national monument status, such an idea had earlier been proposed, so that both Horace M.
Albright, then superintendent of Yellowstone NP, and Steven Mather were consulted during
the formulation of plans for the promotion of tourism in the valley. The NIPS was not
officially involved in operation of the Inn either, but it was tacitly agreed that it would be
operated in about the same manner as other national park facilities. [31]
The tourist business increased steadily, and in the fall of 1927 five more terrace rooms on
either side of the parking area had to be added. In fact, new construction at the hotel
continued over the next ten years, until the present capacity of about seventy rooms was
reached. The following timetable of events is roughly accurate, though sources tend to
disagree on some points:
1927-
terrace rooms built
8:
1928: ten more rooms added
1929: seventeen-room annex completed for employees who had previously
been housed in tents and cabins behind the hotel swimming pool and
dressing rooms installed
1930: twenty-one-room adobe two-story north wing connected to main hotel;
stone unit built back of kitchen for Chinese kitchen help
1934: lower lounge and recreation room added, plus gardens and pools between
terrace and north wing; twenty-five fan palms planted plus Deglet Noor
palm seedlings from Ranch
1935: four-story central tower unit of twenty-four rooms erected; four ten-room
units built for help up the wash from the Inn

1937: two more buildings for employees built; excavation under dining room for
bar and cocktail lounge
1938: present garage built
1940: new stone service station built south of garage
Local stone was used in some portions of the complex, the rustic stonework and retaining
walls being built by a Spanish stonemason from Madrid, Steve Esteves. [32]
Electric power at the Inn was first generated by four small Kohier units, followed by
installation of a 25-KW-capacity pelton wheel across the wash in 1929. As additional energy
was required, a 100-hp diesel engine was installed at the Ranch with connections to the Inn,
but it proved insufficient for the job. A replacement 225-hp diesel, reinforced by the pelton
wheel, was then used until public utility lines were completed.
Abundant fresh water was available at Travertine Springs just up the wash from the Inn.
Water was channeled in ditches to a settling box and from there conveyed 6,000 feet
downhill in a 12-inch pipe to the pelton wheel at the Inn, which directed it via an open ditch
through the grounds, swimming pool, and gardens, and on to the date palm grove and golf
course at the Ranch. A plant now recycles up to 100,000 gallons of water a day, enabling it to
be used twice. In 1936 a plant experimental station was established at the entrance to Park
Village, where botanic experiments were conducted with the objective of growing native
shade trees for use at desert villages and resorts. The terraced gardens at Furnace Creek Inn
are a spectacular example of what a plentiful water supply and knowledge of planting
techniques can accomplish in an arid region. Domestic water came from Texas Spring to the
northeast and was stored in a reservoir for use by both the Ranch and Inn. [33]
Meanwhile, about 1928 the old mine buildings at Ryan east up Furnace Creek Wash were
converted into the Death Valley View Hotel. In fact, the baby gauge railroad was first run in
connection with its promotion, although later it became an independent tourist attraction on
its own, providing visitors with an unforgettable scenic and educational experience. The
boost to rail travel so greatly anticipated by opening up Death Valley to the public never
materialized, as auto travel became ever more popular. On 1 December 1930 the Death
Valley Railroad filed an application with the ICC for abandonment of its thirty-mile narrow-
gauge system linking (New) Ryan and Death Valley Junction. No objections being made,
operations ceased 15 March 1931. Its tracks were ultimately removed, and in the process one
of the large trestles from the shoulder of the Greenwater Range was dismantled and its
massive timbers used for beam framing in the bar at Furnace Creek Inn. [34] This
termination of service left the Ryan hotel completely isolated, forcing its closure in January
1930. The Gowers, who had been running it, moved to the deserted mill town of Death
Valley Junction, where they remodeled the old company dining room and dormitories into the
Amargosa Hotel, open to the public. This establishment never reached the status of a resort,
but did serve as a pleasant overnight rest stop. The Ryan hotel was now used only as
emergency housing during crowded holiday seasons, such as Easter week of 1936. (New)
Ryan was virtually uninhabited now except for a caretaker, but the baby gauge continued
carrying passengers for twenty more years, being discontinued finally in the 1950s.
(4) Sightseeing in the Valley
Prior to the proclamation of Death Valley as a national monument on 11 February 1933,

highways in Death Valley were constructed and maintained by the county and private
interests, the borax company having been able to accomplish only occasional light work on
them. With the advent of the federal government on the scene, highway work was rushed
through, with much help provided by the CCC, and the approach routes were taken over by
the California State Highway Commission. The state soon completed blacktopping the

surface of a main route from Baker, California, via Death Valley Junction to the east
boundary of the monument. It also surfaced all but thirty miles of the highway from Lone
Pine to the western boundary of the monument. The NPS then hard-surfaced the road
between the east and west boundaries, thereby finishing a safe and comfortable route between
Baker and Lone Pine that became a heavily-used communications link between the Owens
Valley and eastern Inyo County.
This improved roadwork immediately generated heavy auto travel, causing the Union Pacific
to pull out of the tourist trade here in the early 1930s. For a while the borax people conducted
their own sightseeing tours by means of an automobile passenger line known as the Death
Valley Transportation Company, using local cars and employee drivers. This company was
intended both as a motor passenger and freight service operating not only between Death
Valley Junction and Furnace Creek Inn, but also along the Grapevine Canyon road to Bonnie
Claire, Nevada, and on the Daylight Pass road to Beatty. Soon an agreement was concluded
transferring the Death Valley Transportation Company franchise to the Hunter Clarkson
Company, a Santa Fe Railroad subsidiary that previously operated cars out of Santa Fe, New
Mexico. Despite their attempt to provide luxury tours, complete with a fleet of open Cadillacs
driven by men attired in Western garb accompanied by women guides, the market was simply
not there, and the Santa Fe also pulled out after only two seasons, convinced that the delight
people experienced in driving their own cars through the beautiful scenery was a feeling too
powerful to overcome. What little touring service was required was supplied thereafter by
smaller private companies. [35]
Illustration 263. Aerial view of Furnace Creek Inn. Photo courtesy of G.

William Fiero, 1976.

Illustration 264. Furnace Creek Inn showing stonework. Photo by Linda W.

Greene, 1978.
In 1956 Fred Harvey, Inc., took over management of the Furnace Creek Inn and Ranch for
the borax company; since 1969 Harvey, now an Amfac affiliate, has owned both
establishments.
b) Present Status
Today the Furnace Creek Inn and Ranch are the largest resorts in Death Valley, the former
being the more luxurious of the two and operating from October through May. Its sixty-seven
units offer superb accommodations on the American plan, and in addition such services and
recreational opportunities as beauty and barber shops, formal dining room, cocktail lounge,
gift shop, golf, swimming, tennis, horseback riding, and hiking.
Furnace Creek Inn is the only one of the three resorts within Death Valley that has gained
architectural significance by retaining most of its exterior structural integrity.
The basic layout of this Spanish-style complex has changed little, except to increase in size,
since its construction in the 1920s.
The Inn ranks in importance with Stovepipe Wells in not only pioneering in the tourist
industry by opening up an entire new scenic area for public enjoyment, but also shares credit
for enhancing the state's reputation as a beautiful and enjoyable winter playground. The Inn's
associations with the two transcontinental railroads and several touring services during its
early years spread Death Valley's fame widely and finally introduced vast numbers of people
to the central and southern sections of the monument.
The resort also is significant because of its connection with the borax industry and its
promotion of tourist development at Ryan; it was even able for a short while to prolong that
town's existence as well as that of the narrow-gauge Death Valley Railroad. Because of their
interest in keeping tourist routes open to and throughout the valley, the borax employees
were largely responsible for constructing and maintaining the monument roads during these
years.
Due to its continuing role as a tourist facility that for over fifty years has helped promote

California's attractions as a winter resort area, and because of its architectural and site
integrity, the Inn appears to meet the criteria of eligibility for the National Register as being
of regional significance. The resort should be marked by an interpretive sign briefly
presenting the structure's history.

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION III:
THE WEST SIDE
4. Furnace Creek Ranch
a) History
(1) Greenland Ranch Supplies Food to Borax Workers and Serves as Mule Train Depot
The industrial phase of Death Valley history began with the discovery of borax there by
Aaron and Rose Winters and the subsequent purchase of their claims by William T. Coleman
in the early 1880s. After establishing a location for his open-air borax refinery about 1-1/2
miles north of the mouth of Furnace Creek, Coleman next addressed the need for a supply
point to provide essential provisions for his mules and for his workmen at this plant and at
his Amargosa works. [36] A logical place for this operation was the spot near the mouth of
Furnace Creek Wash that had been homesteaded in the 1870s by one "Bellerin" Teck, an
unknown and still vastly mysterious figure who live there for a short while, raised alfalfa and
barley, and then seemingly disappeared from the annals of history.
The ranch consisted of a large adobe house with a wide northern veranda, and was first
referred to as "Greenland" and occasionally as "Coleman." It was given its present name by
the Pacific Coast Borax Company sometime after 1889. It is recorded that about 1879
Coleman, enjoying a certain affluence at this time, sent to Italy for gardeners to supervise
agricultural development of the site. At great expense the soil was scientifically fertilized and
various types of trees planted in the resulting dark and heavy loam. A half-acre pond was
constructed and water from the Funeral Range was diverted from Travertine Springs to the
ranch via a stone-lined ditch to irrigate thirty or forty acres of alfalfa and trees.
With about forty men actively employed at the borax works, and considering its vital
function as a terminus station for the twenty-mule teams, where wagons could be repaired
while men and animals enjoyed the luxury of a few days' leisure after their exhausting round-
trip haul to the railhead, the ranch became an important center of operations. Under the
guardianship of James Dayton and by dint of constant irrigation, livestock flourished in this
barren desert, as did the growth of melons, vegetables, alfalfa, figs, and cottonwoods. The
presence of water, shade trees, and grass in the area led to temperatures that usually ranged
from eight to ten degrees cooler than elsewhere in the valley, and by 1885 the farmstead was
rich in alfalfa and hay, while cattle, hogs, and sheep were supplying fresh meat for the tables
of the Harmony borax workers.
(2) Pacific Coast Borax Company Takes Over Ownership and Ranch Becomes Friendly
Oasis for Prospectors

The promotional possibilities offered by this cool oasis greatly appealed to Coleman, who at
one point envisioned eventual establishment of a resort here. These dreams were rapidly
deflated by the downward spiralling of his economic fortunes, which ultimately forced him to
mortgage all of his holdings to Francis M. ("Borax") Smith and eventually lose them all to
that great entrepreneur in 1890. Smith's stewardship began with the closing of both the
Harmony and Amargosa borax works, his business efforts now being concentrated solely on
his new mine at Borate. Jimmy Dayton, however, remained as watchman for the borax plant
and caretaker of the ranch farm. Some idea of the style of life he led here can be gained from
the following account of a visit to his headquarters:
He [Dayton] cooks his food in a frame kitchen and sleeps in an adobe bedroom.
The walls of the bedroom were plentifully adorned with lithographs of young
women, such as the tobacco-makers distribute gratis. Two shotguns and a rifle
stood in one corner. A prospector was keeping the house for Dayton during the
latter's absence, and every day I was there he killed, with the shotgun, numbers
of duck, teal, butter-ball and mallard, which, in their journey from the north,
came down to see what kind of feed could be had on the alfalfa meadows, and in
an artificial, half-acre fish pond at one corner of the oasis. The rifle is sometimes
used on the sheep in the Funeral range to the east . . . . Had we wished, we might
have had carp from the pond, which was stocked some years ago, while flocks of
quail were seen in the brush about the fields. [37]
Initially Smith displayed none of Coleman's enthusiasm for creating a resort or other type of
vacation spot at the ranch, and ran it solely as a commercial venture. As the shade trees grew
and the fruit trees prospered, the spot turned into a friendly oasis frequently visited by
prospectors and other wanderers in need of rest and refreshment. The buildings were
improved and new tropical trees planted, but otherwise little change in the general layout
resulted.
Dayton served as caretaker and foreman of the ranch for about fifteen years, until his death in
1900. By the early years of the next century one Oscar Denton had taken over his duties, and
with the help of local Indians was continuing to raise alfalfa and figs. After the turn of the
century, the ranch was the scene of increased activity as dozens of prospectors combed the
nearby ranges as part of the new southern Nevada mining boom centering around Tonopah
and Rhyolite and their environs. The ranch was the resting place where these "desert rats"
could lounge beneath the trees and bathe in the ditches white awaiting supplies ordered to be
sent to Denton from Death Valley Junction. This was
the place to which everyone went whenever loneliness overcame him and he
needed human association and conversation. The old time Death Valley
prospectors traveled alone, their burros the only companionship they had.
Without Furnace Creek Ranch, Oscar Denton, and the Panamint Indians, Death
Valley would have been intolerable. [38]
(3) Precautions Necessary Because of Unbearable Summer Heat
There were, however, a few drawbacks to life at this veritable shangri-la, not the least of
which was the intense °summer heat. The 1883 report of the California state mineralogist
attempted to describe the difficulties experienced by residents of the Furnace Creek area:
The atmosphere presents many peculiar features, among others, causing a feeling
of lassitude and weariness and an intense thirst upon very slight exertion. Many
of those who have been for a month or more residents of the valley complain of
an affection [affliction] of the eyes, which become sore and weak . . . . During

the visit of Mr. Hawkins, in May and June, 1882, almost every afternoon a
burning wind, fierce and powerful, sprang up, blowing articles of considerable
weight some distance, and hurling the coarse, hot sand with such force as to
lacerate the face when exposed, the men being frequently obliged to wear veils
and goggles. The heat was severe, the thermometer averaging from 95° to 100°
Fahrenheit in the shade . . . . The stones and cement became so hot by ten o'clock
A. M. that work was suspended until late in the afternoon, and at night the men
frequently rolled themselves in thoroughly wet blankets in their endeavors to
keep cool. [39]
A New York reporter who visited the spot in the early 1890s presents a vivid description of
the consequences of the environment and the effort necessary to survive the extremes in
temperature:
While making the ditch which supplied the ranch with water, J. S. Crouch and O.
Watkins slept in the running water . . . . Philander Lee . . . while at work on the
ranch, regularly slept in the alfalfa where it grew under the shade of some
willows and was abundantly irrigated.
Other effects of the arid air are found in the utter ruin, within a few days, of
every article of furniture built elsewhere and carried there. . .
Meat killed at night and cooked at 6 in the morning had spoiled at 9 . . . . Eggs
are roasted in the sand. [40]
The ranch's location 178 feet below sea level on the floor of the valley and at the foot of the
Funeral Range, (making it the lowest place in the western hemisphere where vegetation
thrives), promotes such a constantly warm environment that young palms and other tropical
plants had to be set in the shade of houses or older trees to ensure their survival. In summer,
activity on the ranch ceased during the daylight hours, the enervating atmosphere making all
but the most perfunctory tasks impossible. Mostly time was spent lounging in hammocks
hung across the wide veranda. Water bags within arms reach provided necessary periodic
relief. Harry Gower mentions dining with Oscar Denton on the ranchhouse porch in the
breeze generated by a five-foot fan revolved by water power. [41] The pervasive stillness of
the day, however, was in contrast to the evening bustle, when ranch chores were performed
and the more pleasant aspects of life--eating, drinking, and playing cards--were indulged in
with gusto.
The products of the ranch were being continually improved over the years. In 1906 it was
noted that
One of the most wonderful sights in Death Valley is the Furnace Creek Ranch,
owned by the Pacific Coast Borax Company. They can raise almost anything
there. They have fresh eggs and milk the year round. The weary prospector may
put his hungry burro in the corral, and fill him up with good alfalfa for 35 cents
per night. There is plenty of water, over fifty inches running in the ditch, and
more in a pipe line. [42]
Around fifty head of cattle were being raised and five crops of hay gathered a year. The
poet-prospector Clarence Eddy wrote during a visit to the ranch that for four bits a head one
could eat fresh eggs, lettuce, turnips, carrots, parsnips, and pumpkin pie, plus real cow's milk.
In July 1907 the only white man present at the ranch was reportedly a W.A. Northrop who
continued the cultivation of watermelons, muskmelons, corn, alfalfa, and cantaloupes. [43]
(4) Indian Population

One interesting aspect of life on the ranch was the Indian population that gathered there.
Furnace Creek had habitually been a social center and contact point for three linguistic
groups: the Shoshonis from the north, the Southern Paiutes from east of the valley, and the
Kawaiisu from southern Death and Panamint valleys. [44] After John Spears had stopped at
the ranch in 1892 he described the following visit by a neighboring Indian and gives some
indication of their lifestyle:
While at the ranch it was visited by a native sportsman--a little black, dirty
Paiute. He was dressed in cast-off clothing of white men, and was armed with a
bow and three arrows. The bow was of juniper, backed with raw sinew, and the
arrows were of reed, tipped with juniper. They were effective against rabbits,
rats, and lizards, and so satisfactory to the Paiute sportsman . . . . The Indians had
burned some acres of mesquite and brush along Furnace Creek in their hunting
for rabbits and rats. There is very little meat about them, but everything is fish
that comes to the Paiute net, including the kangaroo rats. [45]
Illustration 265. Pacific Coast Borax Company's Furnace Creek Ranch,

about 1909. From Rhyolite Herald Pictorial Supplement, March 1909.
The Indians employed as ranchhands were described by a desert photographer, Clarence

Back, in 1907 as being extremely uncommunicative, often not speaking to their employer for
weeks.
In 1910 George Bird Grinnell described Indian women and children in April trapping rodents
and lizards in the mesquite thickets around the ranch, catching them in deadfall traps or
nooses and boiling them in kettles. [46] In 1922 Edna Perkins described the "Panamint"
Indians living at the ranch in this manner:
The Indians . . . are employed as laborers, when they will work. The
superintendent, a vigorous, silent Scotchman, was extremely pessimistic about
them. While we were there they had "the flu" and all we ever saw them do was
sit around the corral waiting for supplies to be handed out. The women and girls,
with heavy melancholy faces, gathered and stared at us. They stared with the
stolid curiosity of cattle, not like burros who twitch their ears saucily, though
they have the burro's reputation for thievishness. The superintendent kept
everything under lock and key. The only Indian who showed a sign of life was

an old fellow who prowled around with a gun after the birds and wild ducks that
make the ranch a resting-place in their flights across the desert. We were told
that there was only one gun in the whole encampment and that the younger men
hunted with bows and arrows. Most of them looked stunted and their faces were
wrinkled like the skins of shrunken, dried-up apples, as though the valley were
taking toll of the generations of their race. [47]
(5) Ranch Contemplated as Health Resort
In the fall of 1907 rumors were circulating to the effect that Borax Smith was now
entertaining visions of developing his Furnace Creek ranch as a winter resort, and was even
contemplating extending a branch line of the Death Valley Railroad to provide access to both
his borax deposits along Furnace Creek Wash and the ranch. This plan was amplified
somewhat in early 1908 into establishment of a health resort for persons suffering from
pulmonary disorders and related afflictions. The climate here, especially the density of the
air, its increased pressure, and the higher percentage of oxygen, were all thought to have a
curative effect on such diseases. It was said that a large sanitarium plus a hotel and bathhouse
would be erected.
By February 1907 the Furnace Creek ranch was described as "a great stretch of green--a
magnificent spread of emerald in a grimy, desolate bed of shale and sand." [49] Three
hundred acres were reportedly under cultivation, with experiments successfully carried out in
growing alfalfa grasses, vegetables, melons, apples, and pears. [50]
(6) Official Weather Station
Back in April 1890 Greenland Ranch had been selected by the Weather Bureau of the
Department of the Interior as an official weather station, and it had been duly fitted with rain
gauges and a thermometer. In 1922 the U.S. Weather Bureau established a substation here,
tests run over the previous ten years having shown that this was the hottest region in the
United States. The average of the extreme maximum temperatures reported since 1911 had
been 125°F. Almost daily during June to August at the ranch temperatures of 100°F. or
higher occurred, with the temperature of 134°F. on 10 July 1913 believed to be the highest
natural-air temperature ever recorded with a standard thermometer exposed in the shade
under approved conditions. Even the water providing irrigation for the ranch has a
temperature of between 74° to 100°F. During this time period the ranch was experimenting
with poultry raising in addition to a lucrative business in the production of dressed meat. [51]

Illustration 266. Furnace Creek Ranch, about 1915.
Illustration 267. Furnace Creek Ranch, 1916. From Dane Coolidge

(7) Date Growing Introduced
The growth of dates was introduced to the Furnace Creek ranch about 1921 or 1922,
supposedly at the behest of Pacific Coast Borax Company officials who suggested it as an
added source of revenue. This planned extension of the date industry in a most unexpected
direction was arrived at after extensive research conducted by Dr. Walter Swingie, principal
originator of the date industry in America. The man who had supervised the successful
government date operations in the Coachella Valley of California, Bruce Drummond, was
engaged to direct the Furnace Creek venture. In addition to some California native "wild date
palms" and specimens of a Canary Island native, selected samples of the ° Deglet Noor (Date
of Light) palm were also set out. This latter tree is not native to the New World but was
introduced from Africa in 1898. Of the several varieties of soft dates experimented with by
the government in these initial years, it quickly proved the hardiest, and now comprises most
of the Ranch's present large grove. The site's comparative isolation made it ideal for growing
pest-free. stock. In the 1930s fertilizer was trucked in from the Pahrump ranch southeast of
Death Valley Junction to be applied to the palms. One major obstacle to their growth, the
fact that were were no bees in the, valley, necessitated hand pollination of the trees. Dates
have been the principal product of the last fifty years, the other experiments with winter
vegetables, cotton, and citrus trees enjoying lesser success. Excellent crops are produced, and
the fancy dates are shipped to market and are also available in gift packages at the ranch. [52]
During the 1920s the ranch also produced two hundred tons of alfalfa annually that were fed
to a herd of high-grade beef cattle that were in turn fed to the men at Ryan.
(8) Ranch Turned into Tourist Resort
In 1930 when the hotel at Ryan closed, the borax company felt that some type of
accommodations should be offered in the valley that would be less expensive and of a more
relaxed sort than were found at Furnace Creek Inn. Because of their ranch's abundance of
water and its level building site, it seemed the logical place for such an undertaking. Eighteen
tent houses that had formed the construction camp at the inn were moved down to the site.

To these were added several workers' bungalows from the just-completed Boulder (later
Hoover) Dam, which were moved to the site and remodeled for tourist use. A 16 x 36-foot
boarding house and cabins (now removed) from the abandoned Gerstley Mine near Shoshone
were also used to bolster the accommodations.
The Ranch first opened its doors for business in 1933, and for two years the wives of the
Ranch foreman and mechanic operated the hotel, which underwent a continual program of
enlargement and expansion over the next ten years. The balance of the cabins were built in
the period from 1935 to 1939, with the lobby, store, and dining room constructed in 1934-35.
In 1936 a building originally erected for drying dates was being used as a schoolhouse for
fifteen or twenty elementary schoolchildren. (Also in that year the Ranch was the terminus
again for a commemorative run by the U.S. Borax Co. twenty-mule team.) The recreation hail
was built in 1936, the kitchen enlarged in 1952, and the office and swimming pool added
during 1951 to 1952. [53]
Illustration 268. Date orchard at Furnace Creek Ranch at harvest time.

Photo by George Grant, 1939, courtesy of DEVA NM.
Illustration 269. Furnace Creek Ranch entrance. Photo by Linda W. Greene,

1978.

The advent of World War 11 not only postponed a $150,000 building program for the Ranch
planned by the Pacific Coast Borax Company's London offices, including a projected new
lobby, dining room, coffee shop, and kitchen, plus new parking facilities and fifty new
cabins, but also resulted in a shutdown of services. By the time this took place, however, the
Ranch did have accommodations for 350 people, plus a nine-hole all-grass golf course that
had been added in 1930 for the Inn guests but that was used equally by Ranch customers.
After the three-year hiatus, the Ranch, Inn, and Amargosa Hotel reopened in 1945 and were
run for ten years by Charles Scholl. In 1955 they were all leased to the Fred Harvey
organization, which decided to concentrate its operations within the valley, resulting in sale
of the Amargosa Hotel in 1959. The newest units at the Ranch, located alongside the golf
course, were completed in 1975, and' other recreational facilities, such as tennis courts, were
completed in 1977. [54]
The highlight of a tour of the Ranch today is a visit to the borax museum, begun in the 1950s
as an educational opportunity for guests. The old borax office building from Twenty-Mule-
Team Canyon was moved to the Ranch around 1954, and its interior filled with exhibits on
mining, Indian populations of the valley, and railroad history. Back of this structure is an
outdoor museum exhibit of antique vehicles and mining equipment, including an old steel-
tired buckboard belonging to Borax Smith, an early stagecoach used on the run between
nearby mining towns, and other assorted wagons, plus a stamp, a ball mill, a whim, the Death
Valley Railroad Engine No. 2, and miscellaneous souvenirs such as the small Death Valley
Chuck-Walla printing press rescued from Greenwater and the original twenty-mule-team
barn moved up from Mojave. On one side of the entrance to the Ranch is Old Dinah--the
high-wheeled oil-burning steam tractor used on the Borate to Daggett route for a year or so
and then put into service hauling between Beatty and the Keane Wonder gold mine in the
Funeral Range. After its twenty-year abandonment in Daylight Pass, it was towed down to
the Ranch in 1932 to be added to the Furnace Creek Ranch museum collection. On the other
side of the entrance are some borax and water wagons.
b) Present Status
Today this Fred Harvey-owned resort offers simple wooden cabins, fancier pool- and golf-
side rooms, and deluxe motel units. Opportunities for recreation are provided, including a
beautiful golf course, a swimming pool, and horseback riding, and also available are an
outdoor restaurant, a coffee shop, a cafeteria, a general store selling food, books, and
souvenirs, a post office, and an airstrip. Trailer and camping sites are located nearby. The
resort's location is enhanced by the presence of the National Monument Visitor Center
immediately to the north.
The site on which Furnace Creek Ranch is now located is one of the most historically
significant spots in the monument. Its location near the mouth of Furnace Creek--a steady
water supply throughout the year--made possible its development as a farm operation as
early as the 1870s. Prior to this the area was probably visited frequently by members of the
surrounding Indian populations to the north, south, and east. Little is known of the extent of
this early aboriginal activity or of the life of the first Anglo homesteader on the site. The
Furnace Creek ranch gained major importance as the supply 'point for the Harmony and
Amargosa borax works and as the northern terminus of the twenty-mule-team wagon route
between Harmony and the railhead at Mojave. Perhaps its most important contribution, if the
many prospectors and other desert travelers in the area during the early 1900s could be
polled, was its service in providing shade, water, and some semblance of social amenities in
a harsh, often brutal, environment, and its status as a meeting-place where fellow "desert

rats" could get together and socialize, swapping stories and dreams before embarking again
on the never-ending quest for riches. Initially producing mostly alfalfa and hay for stock, the
ranch later raised and dispersed beef to feed workers at the nearby borax camp of Ryan.
An interesting sidelight to the ranch's history would be a determination of the amount of

influence it exerted on the development of the various Indian groups who either resided at or
visited the ranch. One would gather from the rather scathing comments on the native
inhabitants presented earlier in this section that hardly any mingling of the races occurred, but
it must be remembered that these observations were made by one-time visitors to the area,
and fairly sophisticated ones at that. The more mundane and less "cultured" mining
community undoubtedly had daily, and thus more influential, contact with the native
population.
The ranch's later evolvement into a tourist resort is not considered notable because the tourist
industry had already been given its start by the construction of Stovepipe Wells Hotel and
then of Furnace Creek Inn. Most of the early buildings of the complex that were
architecturally significant because they were a curious mixture of old mining cabins and
construction bungalows imported from surrounding desert communities have long since been
removed. The present structures date from the 1930s on. The site should be provided with an
interpretive marker presenting highlights of the ranch's early days and pointing out its
significant role in Death Valley history.

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION III:
THE WEST SIDE
5. Nevares Cabin and Homestead
a) History
The small undramatic wooden cabin with nearby root cellar that comprises the Cow Creek
Ranch are located immediately southwest of Nevares Spring. The site was evidently co-
owned in the early 1900s by Adolphus ("Dolph") Nevares, a Death Valley prospector of
Spanish-American descent, and Montillus Murray ("Old Man") Beatty. The former was a
native of San Bernardino who retained a permanent home there all his life. He worked as a
prospector for the Pacific Coast Borax Company in the early years of the twentieth century,
acquiring the job mainly because of his part in one of the company's most publicized
episodes--the search in 1900 for the company caretaker, Frank Dayton, who was long
overdue from a trip into the desert. When he was finally found, the victim of a heart attack or
sunstroke, Nevares was appointed caretaker in his place and served in that capacity until his
advanced age forced his retirement. While working for the borax company he lived on a
homestead near their headquarters at Furnace Creek in a cabin bought at a nearby mining
town, dismantled, and rebuilt on its present location. The copiously-flowing spring nearby
facilitated the growth of a small orchard in which fruits and vegetables were raised. [55]
"Old Man" Beatty's son remembers periodic visits to what he considered the family ranch at
Cow Creek in Death Valley during the early 1900s. Beatty's at least partial ownership of the
homestead is substantiated by a 1905 newspaper article that recounts Beatty's return from the
ranch, where he was in the process of developing the spring for power purposes. Eastern
capitalists were already hounding him in efforts to buy the ranch as a site for an electric
power plant to furnish much-needed energy to the Bullfrog and South Bullfrog districts. In
1906 a visitor reported that "another garden spot is Cow Creek. There is a hot spring at this
point, and Mr. Beatty has done a lot of hard work in cleaning the ground and developing and
gathering the different streams." [56] In September 1907 another paper reported that the
Beatty family had gone off to their Cow Creek ranch "where they have a well-irrigated
garden on the edge of Death Valley." [57] According to the Weights, however, Nevares did
not acknowledge Beatty as co-owner, but described him as a squatter residing in a wickiup in
the area with his Paiute wife and owning nothing but a wagon and team. Nevares stated he
acquired the property when Beatty died and the land was not claimed by anyone else. [58]
Some confusion of facts and identities is apparent here, for when Nevares received final
papers and title to the Cow Creek property of 320 acres in 1908 from the government, an
article describing the change of ownership mentions that Nevares resided there with the
Beattys. Fields of alfalfa are mentioned on the homestead, as well as many types of

vegetables and melons. [59]
During the mid-1930s the first CCC camp in Death Valley was established at Cow Creek,
and according to a picture in the monument files, it appears that some of the men were
housed in tents in the vicinity of the Nevares homestead. After Nevares was forced to quit his
job with the borax company about 1942, he lied about his age and obtained further work with
the National Park Service until forced to retire in 1952 at the age of eighty.
Nevares Spring has always been the important aspect of the site both because of its potential
as a power supply to generate electricity and operate stamps and because it is a plentiful and
usable drinking source for people and animals in an arid land. Naturally a schism over its
future development would arise between mining operators in the central Funeral Range and
the National Park Service. From the early 1900s on, companies operating in nearby Echo
Canyon coveted the water supply as a power source for any mills they might contemplate
constructing. The spring was thought to possess enough force to run one thousand stamps.
[60] As late as 1937 Inyo Consolidated Mines, Inc., was interested in obtaining the water to
operate a twenty-five-ton mill connected with their mining activity in the Schwab area. [61]
In order to prevent such extreme development of the property and to prevent its falling into
private hands, the NPS anxiously began negotiations to acquire it or at least obtain an option.
The homestead finally came under federal ownership around 1949.
b) Present Status
The Nevares homestead is located at the end of a restricted-access road leading east from
Park Village, the principal residential area for monument personnel. The wooden cabin on
site contains two rooms, each about twelve feet square. The front room has a loft area, but is
devoid of furnishings. It does, however, contain a pelton wheel, an early type of water-
powered generator, one of which was used at the Skidoo Mill and another at Furnace Creek
Inn. This item should immediately be incorporated into the monument's interpretive
collections. The only other objects in the room are the remains of a heavy, coarsely-woven
rug and two burners from the old four-burner stove that used to reside in the southeast corner
of the kitchen.

Illustration 270. Dolph Nevares, no date. Photo courtesy of DEVA

NM.
Illustration 271. Nevares homestead and remains of (CCC?) tent cabins,

1950. Photo by L.F. Keller, courtesy of DEVA NM.
The second room to the south was used as the kitchen and eating area, and contains a
porcelain sink, faucet, washbasin, and a wooden cupboard, bench, table, and shelves. East of
the house is the orchard, and twelve feet west is a six-by-eight-foot root cellar. In front of the
house and also southwest of the root cellar are piles of adobe left by the CCC workers who
were employed in making adobe bricks used in reconstruction efforts at the Harmony Borax

Works. About one mile west on the access road (back toward the residential area), and south
of it, is a post and barbed wire corral.
The Nevares homestead is not an impressive complex either in physical extent or in

architectural style. The historical value it possesses is attributable on the one hand to its
position as a surviving example of a twentieth-century farming/ranching desert homestead
made self-sufficient by the presence of nearby springs that facilitated the growth of a variety
of fruits and vegetables. It also has associative significance due to its connection with two
early Death Valley pioneers--M.M. Beatty and Dolph Nevares. The Nevares homestead will
be nominated to the National. Register as being of local significance on the basis of its
connections with Beatty and Nevares and as a type specimen of a permanent Death Valley
home concerned with stockraising and farming and unrelated to mining activities.
Illustration 272. Nevares cabin entrance. Photo by Linda W. Greene, 1978.
Illustration 273. Entrance to root cellar.

Illustration 274. Pelton wheel inside cabin. Photo by Linda W. Greene,

1978.
Problems in interpreting the homestead arise because of its proximity to Nevares Spring,
which is a water collection point and drinking source for the monument. Contamination of
the spot is undesirable, meaning that visitor use could be permitted only if the cabin were
removed from its original location, an action unacceptable from the standpoint of National
Park Service policy and National Register compliance. The historic scene around the cabin
has already lost some of its integrity, having been altered by development of the spring and
by its occupation and utilization by the CCC. The past policy of the National Park Service
has been to stabilize and preserve the cabin and outbuilding and hold them in reserve because
of their potential interpretive value. It is recommended that this course be continued.

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION III:
THE WEST SIDE
6. Corduroy Road
a) History
The origin of the corduroy road leading west from the Indian Village just south of Furnace
Creek Ranch and across the salt playa where it connects with an old trail skirting the eastern
base of the Panamint Range is unknown. Harry Gower referred to this route as the "old Salt
Creek Indian Crossing," and mentions in 1914 viewing mesquite logs imbedded in the salt
and mud that formed a usable road raised above the level of the salt pan. [62] It is probable
that the route was originally an old Indian trail, providing access between Furnace Creek and
Blackwater Wash, up which trails led directly to the Emigrant Spring area near the site of
present-day Harrisburg. The Blackwater route was later utilized by miners rushing toward the
new mineral discoveries in the vicinity of Skidoo. When scattered borax operations took
place at Shoveltown near Salt Springs and at other locations on the floor of the valley, this
route might have been one way of reaching them and extracting from the area any material
recovered. Indians frequented the playa area, obtaining salt here and some of them even
wintering in the mesquite-covered sand dunes adjoining the salt pan on the west. [63] It is
not known how late the road was used.
b) Present Status
During the writer's visits to Death Valley, heavy rainfall had turned the corduroy road area
into an impassable mudfield, successfully discouraging close investigation of the route. The
LCS crew in 1975, however, photographed it, showing many of the logs still in place. The
road is not used today.
Although this particular part of the Blackwater trail is not specifically mentioned in any of
the early data studied, it was examined by the LCS crew who felt that this old crossing is
historically and possibly archeologically significant as one of the oldest communication and
transportation routes across the valley, providing access to the Panamint Range for both
Indians and miners alike. It is an especially valuable resource because the route is clearly
marked and -there are some bridge ruins remaining. It is recommended for nomination to the
National Register as being of local significance.

Illustration 275. View east along Corduroy Road. Note Furnace Creek Inn
in distance. Photo courtesy of William Tweed, 1975.
Illustration 276. Bridge on route of Corduroy Road. Photo courtesy of


Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION III:
THE WEST SIDE
7. Shoveltown
a) History
This townsite (?) is located immediately at the base of Tucki Mountain near Salt Springs.
Absolutely no mention of this site was found in the historical literature. It is undoubtedly one
of the many properties located at various spots on the California and Nevada salt flats during
the borax boom of the 1870s and on into the early twentieth century. Much of this land was
patented and required regular development work.
b) Present Status
The site was not visited by this writer, but according to pictures and information acquired
from Peter Sanchez of the monument staff, only furrows of salt mud can be seen on the flats
here. No structural remains exist. The site is located approximately 7-1/2 airline miles west
of the Cow Creek residential area.
Due to a lack of data, no historical significance can be attached to this site.
[It might be mentioned here that a monument visitor donated to their files a polaroid photo
taken of a well and camp site on the salt flats two miles west of the Cow Creek residential
area in T28N, R1E, Sec. 32. This picture, taken December 1970, shows wood debris, tin
cans, forge remains, and a huge pile of empty whiskey bottles. No information on this site
has been found either.]

Illustration 277. Site of Shoveltown, 1969. Photo by Peter G. Sanchez,

Illustration 278. Furrowed salt mud at Shoveltown, 1969. Photo by

Peter G. Sanchez, courtesy of DEVA NM.

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION I:
THE WEST SIDE
E. Furnace Creek
1. Borax Mining in Death Valley
a) Early Production in Region Limited
Borax was first produced commercially in the United States in California at Clear Lake north
of San Francisco, from about 1864 to 1868, at which place the industry flourished until the
early 1870s when borax began to turn up in large and purer quantities in several of the
alkaline marshes of western Nevada (notably Columbus and Teel's) and eastern California.
Large deposits were located in the Saline Valley playa northwest of Death Valley as early as
1874, prompting an extensive number of borax land locations up through the 1890s; the
discoveries underwent only limited development, however, because of the lack of railroad
facilities, the extremely harsh climatic conditions, and the basic fact that they were simply not
rich enough to make their exploitation economically viable. In 1874 minor production began
in earnest at Searles Lake in San Bernardino County west of the Slate Range where
construction and operation of a refinery ultimately turned that valley into one of the most
extensively worked and most productive borax areas of the region. Neighboring deposits
were subsequently found in marshes near Resting Spring southeast of Death Valley and on
the salt pan north of the mouth of Furnace Creek.
b) Harmony and Eagle Borax Works Process "Cottonballs"
The discovery of borax in this latter location was made in 1881 by Aaron and Rose Winters,
whose holdings were immediately bought by William T. Coleman and Company for $20,000.
He subsequently formed the Greenland Salt and Borax Mining Company (later the Harmony
Borax Mining Company), which in 1882 began operating his Harmony Borax Works, a small
settlement of adobe and stone buildings plus a refinery. The homestead later known as
Greenland Ranch immediately to the south was intended as the supply point for his men and
stock. The Amargosa Borax Works in the vicinity of Resting Spring and also a Coleman
enterprise was run during the summer months when the extreme heat adversely affected the
refining process in the valley. A small-scale borax operation--the Eagle Borax Works--had
been begun by a Frenchman, Isadore Daunet, in 1881, and was located further south in the
valley near Bennetts Well. It lasted only until 1884 when the inefficiency of its operation
combined with personal setbacks resulted in Daunet's suicide. It is frankly amazing that any
of these works experienced half the success they did, for their distance from main
transportation systems and the daily hardships involved in working under uncomfortable
desert conditions were severe obstacles to their economic success.
c) Discovery of Colemanite Revolutionizes Industry
http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/deva/section3e1.htm[7/26/2008 3:08:44 PM]

The type of borate being exploited on the salt flats of Death Valley was ulexite, in the form
of "cottonballs" that were scraped off the salt pan and then refined by evaporation and
crystallization. It was initially believed that this was the only form of naturally occurring
borax that was commercially profitable. Continuing exploration in the area by Coleman
Company prospectors and others soon confirmed that the playa borates that were presently
being worked were actually a secondary deposit resulting from the leaching of beds of borate
lime. The primary deposit, a richer form of borate later named in honor of W.T. Coleman,
occurred in beds and veins similar to quartz-mining operations. In 1883 three men--Philander
Lee, Harry Spiller, and Billy Yount--stumbled upon a large mountain of such ore south of
Furnace Creek Wash in the foothills of the Black Mountains. Selling 'Mount Blanco (Monte
Blanco)" to Coleman, reportedly for $4,000, they left, having made their fortune off the borax
industry. Within a year an even larger deposit east of the Greenwater Range and about seven
miles southwest of Death Valley Junction was also found. It was beginning to appear that this
was the southernmost lode in a rich colemanite belt stretching northwest to southeast along
Furnace Creek Wash from here to the area of present-day Furnace Creek Ranch. Coleman
also bought this property, naming it the Lila C.
These discoveries that were soon to revolutionize the borax industry in the United States
seemed destined for the moment to lie untouched, for several basic reasons: first, these larger
and more concentrated deposits required underground mining methods; second, more
sophisticated techniques were necessary for their refinement as they were not readily soluble
in hot water; third, no transportation lines extended into this undeveloped area, fourth, no
nearby supply center existed; fifth, this badlands region was so scorchingly hot in summer
that it precluded mining activity during that season; and last and perhaps most important,
Coleman's desert refineries were doing so well that he seemed justified in continuing their
operations for a while yet.
d) Pacific Coast Borax Company Turns Attention to Calico Mountain Deposits
These extensive and pure deposits would probably have remained undeveloped if not for the
discovery in 1883 of more colemanite ledges in the Calico Mountains twelve miles northeast
of the railroad at Daggett in San Bernardino County. Because of their proximity to the
railroad these deposits posed a serious threat to Coleman's Death Valley business.
Immediately buying up the most important lodes, he decided to look to the future and
initiated research at his Alameda, California, refinery in order to determine a profitable
method of refining this material. Meanwhile, his Harmony and Amargosa works continued
production.
With the dissolution of Coleman's financial empire in 1890, Francis Marion ("Borax") Smith
took possession of his holdings at Borate, in the Death and Amargosa valleys, and his
Alameda refinery, and consolidated these and other miscellaneous properties into the Pacific
Coast Borax Company. In addition he took over the colemanite deposits in the Furnace
Creek Wash area. Declining borax prices due to borax imports from Italy and a consequent
glut of the product on the market prompted Smith to close down his Death Valley holdings
and concentrate on operations at Borate, where richer ore could be refined by less expensive
processes. These became the first major underground borate workings in the United States,
and during the years 1890 to 1907 Borate became the chief producer of borax and boracic
acid in the country. In time, however, the workings had been carried to such a depth that the
cost of their further development was prohibitive, causing Smith's attention to turn once more
to his Death Valley reserves.
e) Borax Mining Returns to Death Valley and the Lila C
Hindering development of the Lila C Mine was its isolation, but fortunately profits from the

Calico operation were sufficient to subsidize construction of the Tonopah & Tidewater
Railroad, projected to stretch from Ludlow on the Santa Fe line to Death Valley Junction and
on to Goldfield, Nevada. Work at the mine started even before the railroad was finished, the
initial ore recovered being transported to market via twenty-mule teams, once more pressed
into service. The T & T Railroad, begun in May 1905, reached Death Valley Junction by
1907, and a seven-mile-long spur was immediately laid reaching to the Lila C camp of Ryan
station. Borate was abandoned and all its equipment moved to the new area where a calcining
plant was also installed. The Pacific Coast Borax Company had not forgotten its holdings
further west near Death Valley, however, as evidenced by a newspaper report in 1909 that
due to the low price of borax the Lila C might have to be abandoned in favor of the more
cheaply-mined deposits of Mount Blanco that existed in inexhaustible quantities, such a
move being possible with construction of a narrow-gauge from Ryan to the deposits. [1] As
the ore at the Lila C began to play out about 1914, plans were already underway to shift
operations to reserves further west on the edge of Death Valley. Company engineers had
determined that the large deposits here would keep the company going for years, while more
was always available on the Monte Blanco and Corkscrew claims.
Illustration 279. Ruins of buildings, and waste dumps, at Lila C Mine, 1943.
Photo by Alberts, courtesy of DEVA NM.
f) The Death Valley Railroad Shifts Activity to (New) Ryan
A new railroad was needed in order to open up these deposits, and this resulted in
construction of the Death Valley narrow gauge operating from Death Valley Junction to the
newly-opened mines. In January 1915 the Lila C was closed, though not completely
abandoned, and American borax activity shifted to the new town of Devair, almost
immediately renamed (New) Ryan, on the western edge of the Greenwater Range overlooking
Death Valley. A new calcining plant was built at Death Valley Junction to handle the lower-
grade ores coming from the Played Out and Biddy McCarty mines. According to the original
Death Valley Railroad survey, (New) Ryan was to be only the temporary terminus for a °line
eventually extending down Furnace Creek Wash to the Corkscrew Canyon and Monte Blanco
deposits as they were needed. This projected extension never materialized, however, because
the Ryan mines--the Played Out, Upper and Lower Biddy, Grand View, Lizzie V. Oakley,
and Widow--proved even more productive as development increased until 1928 when a
deposit of easily-accessible rasorite, more economical to mine due to its proximity to the
company's new processing plant, was discovered near Kramer (later Boron), California, again

precipitating a shift in mining operations. When the Death Valley Junction concentrating
plant shut down in 1928, a significant era in borax production and processing in the Death
Valley region came to an end. From then until 1956 borate mining all but ceased, with mines
being kept on a standby basis and furnishing only small tonnages to fill special orders. This
lull continued until Tenneco, Inc., started open-pit operations at the Boraxo Mine near Ryan
in 1971, and subsequent activity seems to suggest that borax mining will again become a
significant part of the region's industrial future. [2]
Illustration 280. Mining camp of Ryan, 1964. Photo by Bill Dengler,

deva/hrs/section3e1.htm

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION I:
THE WEST SIDE
E. Furnace Creek (continued)
2. Furnace Creek Wash
a) History
(1) Early Mining Districts
The claims staked in the vicinity of Furnace Creek Wash in the early 1880s became part of
either one of two mining districts. On 3 November 1882 the Monte Blanco Borax and Salt
Mining District was established with boundaries
Commencing at the south east corner of Death Valley Borax and Salt Mining
District, 2 miles east of the mouth of Furnace Creek, thence running north 15
miles, thence east 15 miles, then south 30 miles, thence west 15 miles and then
north 15 miles to point of beginning. [3]
This district included most of the borax sites being worked or held in reserve today, such as
the DeBely, Low Grade, Little Shot, Dot, Hard Scramble, and Monte Blanco borax deposits.
The Death Valley Borax and Salt Mining District, formally established on 25 May 1883, had
boundaries
commencing two miles East of the mouth of Furnace Creek wash and running
North parallel with the Mountains fifteen miles, Thence West across Death
Valley fifteen Miles Thence South along Panamint Mts. fifteen miles Thence
East to place of beginning. [4]

Illustration 281. Map showing (New) Ryan, Dantes View road sites, and DeBely
Mine.
(2) Development of Area by Pacific Coast Borax Company
During all the years that the colemanite deposits south of Furnace Creek Wash had been held
in abeyance by the Pacific Coast Borax Company, they had not been totally neglected. The
company had, in fact, been very careful to establish legal title to the many claims that had
been located for them in the area by various prospectors (many subsidized by the Pacific
Coast Borax people), and also diligent in performing the necessary $100 worth of
improvements necessary each year to maintain ownership. The original discoveries had been
located in 1883 and patented in 1887 as placer claims, but it was later perceived by the extent
and depth of the ore that these were actually lode deposits, making the basis for the original
patents somewhat shaky. This obstacle was overcome by simply incorporating the earlier
strikes within the boundaries of newer lode claims. Encouraging prospecting in the area and
keeping track of resulting locations, carrying out the necessary surveys, and patenting
location rights according to government regulations, while also performing annual assessment
work, were time-consuming and often legally-complicated tasks, but by the 1900s when it
was thought that these resources might be needed to bolster the failing supplies of the Lila C,

the company had successfully obtained indisputable mining rights throughout the Monte
Blanco and Corkscrew Canyon areas.
In the 1880s the company's annual assessment work, performed until federal courts
confirmed their patents and made protective work unnecessary, was carried out by men either
from Harmony Borax Works or the Monte Blanco camp. When borax activity moved to the
Calico Mountains around 1890, groups of men left there by wagon each winter to tackle this
duty. In the early 1900s men from the Lila C and then from Ryan set up temporary camps on
the various claim groups and performed the work. When around 1916 the ever-present threat
of claim jumping materialized and some disgruntled employees spurred on by competitors
tried to take over some company claims in the area, it took the U.S. Supreme Court to
confirm the original ownership. To prevent further encroachment the company proceeded to
surround their more valuable Mount Blanco claims with fences of telephone wire string to
°wood posts. Annual work was thereafter performed more conscientiously and careful records
kept of the improvements made. [5]
Although only very limited development work was carried out on the slopes of Mount
Blanco, the area's resources were fully recognized and considered ripe for development if
ever needed. When, for instance, a closure of the Lila C was being considered around 1909
or 1910 because of the low price of borax and the expense of recovering it from here, work in
the Furnace Creek Wash area increased in preparation for a possible shift of operations. [6]
In the early 1920s another colemanite deposit of exceptional purity was located about 1-1/2
miles from the Death Valley Railroad and supposedly adjoining Pacific Coast Borax
Company property. The "discoverers"--W. Scott Russell, C.A. Barlow, and a W.H. Hill- -
formed the Death Valley Borax Company, moved gasoline hoists and other equipment onto
the site, erected a camp, and determined to work the properties "declared by geologists to be
the most remarkable and among the richest deposits on record." [7] These claims were filed
for patent the next year as the Boraxo Nos. 1 and 2 lodes. A sticky legal question arose due
to the fact that this property had earlier been located as the Clara lode Claim by the Pacific
Coast Borax Company, and a patent applied for that, unknown to the company, had been
rejected on rather nebulous grounds. The company, therefore, assuming ownership, ceased
annual assessment work, unwittingly opening the way for later relocation of the site. Ensuing
litigation found in favor of the usurpers, forcing the Pacific Coast Borax Company to later
buy it back. It ultimately became known as the Boraxo Deposit, and, as stated earlier, its
exploitation by Tenneco, Inc., starting around 1970 has renewed borax operations in the
Death Valley region. [8]
In 1924 W.F. Foshag of the U.S. National Museum wrote a piece on the mineral deposits of
Furnace Creek Wash, noting that the mines of the area were found in either of two districts:
the Ryan District, composed of the Biddy Mccarthy (McCarty), Widow, Lizzie V. Oakley,
Lila C and Played-Out deposits, and the Mount Blanco District, which was not being mined
at that time but had been opened earlier by several exploratory tunnels. This latter area, he
said, could be reached from Ryan "by continuing down the Wash past The tanks and taking
the only road to the south leading into the clay hills flanking the Black Mountains on the
north. The road leads directly to the deposits but the last mile must be made on foot." [9]
In 1956 the Pacific Coast Borax Company was reorganized into the U.S. Borax and Chemical
Corporation, which still retains the early mining properties of the former smaller organization
in the Death Valley region, including those in the Furnace Creek Wash area extending from
the monument boundary west of Ryan northwest to Monte Blanco and then on to Gower
Gulch. In this latter canyon quite limited exploratory and assessment work has been done
through the years, as evidenced by the presence of only short adits and shallow shafts. The
Corkscrew Mine at the head of Corkscrew Canyon has been developed by two adits, but its

ore body is considered about exhausted. From 1953 to 1955 colemanite recovered here went
into air-dispersed fire retardants for use against forest fires. Utilization of such a retardant,
and consequently any further development of the mine, was doomed in the early 1960s by the
U.S. Forest Service's determination that boron-based retardants caused soil sterility and were
in addition less effective than other products. The DeBely Mine also operated in the mid-
1950s to supply borates for this purpose. [10]
b) Present Status
Field work concerned with the Furnace Creek Wash historical sites was conducted in several
areas which will be covered here individually, beginning with two sites west of the Dantes
View road.
(1) Dantes View Road Sites #1 and #2
At the junction of the Ryan and Dantes View roads a gravel access branches off to the
southwest, currently used in connection with mining operations on the Sigma-White Monster
ore body. Off this main road tracks lead slightly further west and southwest toward two or
three adits dug into the foothills. There is slight evidence of possible habitation sites (ground
depressions, wood refuse) but no structural ruins are extant. Site #2 is north of this area and
appears to be a borax site contemporaneous with those examined further west in the vicinity
of Monte Blanco. At least it manifests the same type of stone walls and mounds. Metal
refuse, mainly tin cans, lies all around. The only mine development consists of two adits.
This site overlooks the Boraxo open-pit mine on the north side of the ridge.
Illustration 282. Adit at Dantes View road site #1. Photo by Linda W.
Greene, 1978.

Illustration 283. Adits and stone wall at Dantes View road site #2. Photo by
Illustration 284. Close-up of one side of stone wall at Dantes View road site
#2. Photo by Linda W. Greene, 1978.
(2) DeBely Mine
This open-pit site is reached via a faint road branching to the southeast off the Corkscrew
Mine road. Most of the activity here has been limited to the south side of the ridge where
surface scraping is evident. Some underground activity has resulted in adits on both sides of
the ridge and a couple of vertical shafts.
(3) Corkscrew (Screw) Mine
The entrance to this site is through a locked gate east on Route 190 about 1-1/4 miles beyond
the exit road from Twenty-Mule-Team Canyon. Mine workings found here alongside a wash
consisted of several adits, a huge wooden four-chute ore bin, and an adjacent platform
loading area. Activity here was all underground.

(4) Monte Blanco
This district is about one-half mile south of Twenty-Mule-Team Canyon Road and extends
about three-quarters of a mile east-west. Extensive prospecting activity has taken place
throughout the hillsides along Twenty-Mule-Team Canyon road and between it and the
Monte Blanco area. Resources found near Monte Blanco include a collapsed dugout, used
either for habitation or storage, fashioned from sandbags. Some timbering was exposed and
bits of pinyon pine bark were found imbedded in the sand. Stretching over every ridge are
fence posts, some with wire still attached, and several bails of wire were also found lying on
the ground. These are boundary lines remaining from the early 1900s when the Pacific Coast
Borax Company endeavored to discourage claim-jumping by enclosing their richest claims.
Illustration 285. DeBely Mine, view to northwest. Photo by Linda W.

Greene, 1978.
Illustration 286. Ore bin at Corkscrew Mine. Photo by Linda W. Greene,

1978.
The pyramidal-shaped light-colored formation referred to as Monte Blanco shows signs of

thorough exploration. On its north face are five stone foundation walls, probably loading or
machinery platforms. One wooden chute remains intact, though there is evidence nearby of
others. A wagon road circling in front of the mountain makes a complete loop back to the
access road, which eventually intersects with another mining road further east and leads back
down toward the Twenty-Mule-Team Canyon Road.
Southeast of Monte Blanco is another lofty ridge on which several adits have been worked
and on which more stone walls are periodically visible. The long road leading up toward this
area has been shored up at one point by means of a low stone wall that carries it across a
wash. Many signs of human habitation of the area (leather fragments, tool parts, canvas
broken glass, tin cans, etc.) have collected here in the dry streambed. From a vantage point
further up this trail, views are afforded over the ridges at other small mining operations and
remnants of tram rails leading from adits. The road finally ends after a steep climb at an adit
and waste dump site. Alongside the road skirting the edge of the hill here are two large stone
mounds, similar to those at the Dantes View road site #2. The first is fifteen feet long, five
feet high, six feet wide, and fairly level on top. The second triangular-shaped mound east of
this is a mass of piled rocks with sides measuring fifteen to eighteen feet long. Narrow
passageways have been left between the rock piles and the hillsides.
Illustration 287. Adit typical of those along Twenty-Mule-Team Canyon

Road. Photo by Linda W. Greene, 1978.

Illustration 288. Ruins of sandbag dugout in small wash

near Monte Blanco mining area. Photo by Linda W.
Greene, 1978.
Illustration 289. "No ledge or series of ledges anywhere in the world

contains the immense amount of borate quartz shown on the surface of this
mountain of colemanite. It is a body of ore measuring 100 feet in width and
5000 in length . . . . It is a borax quarry, whose limitation cannot be roughly
conjectured, but it must exceed by thousands of tons any known borate
deposit."

Quote from Goldfield News photo by Linda W. Greene, 1978.
Illustration 290. Stone loading platform and wooden chute on face of Monte
Blanco. Note other stone walls at left of picture. Photo by Linda W. Greene,
1978.
Descending from this ridge, the road eventually joins with the Monte Blanco road and
together they head back toward Twenty-Mule-Team Canyon. Immediately north of the
intersection of these last two roads is the site of the office/bunkhouse/ore-checking station
serving the Monte Blanco miners in the 1880s. Although the original wooden structure was
moved to Furnace Creek Ranch and remodeled on the interior in the 1950s, the dugout cellar
remains. Much debris from the occupation period is strewn on the ground. Northeast of the
cellar is a tent site distinguished by tent weights forming an irregular stone alignment. Across
Twenty-Mule-Team Canyon Road is another such tent site. Dumps abound in the vicinity.
(5) Gower Gulch
The Gower Gulch mining area is reached either by trail south from Golden Canyon or by
following the old 1-1/2-mile-long wagon/auto road from Zabriskie Point that was built in the
1880s by the Pacific Coast Borax Company to facilitate annual assessment work on the ten
claims they held in the gulch. The road led to a two-tent camp established as headquarters for
men working in the area. [11]
Approximately one-half mile southwest of Zabriskie Point and down in the gulch is a
building site on the south side of the dry streambed. Timber remnants are found here in
association with a sturdy rock wall, four to five feet high and relatively clear on top,
structures similar to which were found at all borax sites in the Furnace Creek Wash area.
Also nearby, along the side of another gully are two smaller isolated stone mounds, one two
feet high, two feet wide, and seven feet long, the other three feet wide, two feet high, and ten
feet long. Short exploratory tunnels have been dug into the ridges here.

Illustration 291. Wagon road and mining area on hillsides east of Monte Blanco.
View toward southeast. Photo by Linda W. Greene, 1978.
Illustration 292. Close-up view of two stone mounds found at end of wagon
road in above picture. Photo by Linda W. Greene, 1978.

Illustration 293. View of Eagle Borax Works, photographer and date unknown. Note
stone mound (shelter ruin?) similar to those found in Monte Blanco area. Photo
Illustration 294. Monte Blanco assay office on site in Twenty-Mule-Team

Canyon. Note cellar entrance on right side of building.
Illustration 295. Cellar of above structure. Entrance is at top of picture.

Illustration 296. Tent site across Twenty-Mule-Team

Canyon Road from cellar site. Note dump in foreground.
Photos by Linda W. Greene, 1978.
Continuing west down the road, which follows the gulch streambed, numerous adits can be
seen to the north and south up various gullies and washes. Another large foundation, built of
crumbly clay "bricks' and about seven feet wide, showed up at another site south of the
watercourse near an adit. About 1-1/2 miles down the gulch is a large group of adits (Six
plus) and more stone walls. A long switchback trail extends up over the ridge to the
northwest, shored up at points along the hillside. From here on to the mouth of the canyon
the gulch narrows considerably, eventually ending in a high dry waterfall, so that this area
would be the last place from which entrance or exit could be easily made to these claims.
This is the point at which Harry Cower implies a temporary campsite was established for
assessment work in the area.
(1) Importance of Borax in Death Valley Mining History
The Furnace Creek Wash sites, although subjected to exploratory and assessment work, have
not sustained extensive underground mining development. Since 1883 the ore beds here have
been regarded as reserve deposits that would be developed if the more accessible and thus
more easily mined deposits owned by the Pacific Coast Borax Company in the Calico
Mountains and later at the Lila C or Ryan became depleted.

Illustration 297. Wagon road leading from Zabriskie Point into Gower
Gulch. Photo by Linda W. Greene, 1978.
Illustration 298. Building site located at spot where wagon road reaches
bottom of Gower Gulch. Photo by Linda W. Greene, 1978.

Illustration 299. Two types of stone structures found in Gower Gulch.

Photos by Linda W. Greene, 1978.

Illustration 300. Area of borax mining activity at west end of Gower Gulch.
At least five adits are visible. Photo by Linda W. Greene, 1978.
Illustration 301. Switchback trail leading off to northwest from site in

picture above. Photo by Linda W. Greene, 1978.
Although the possibility once arose that these deposits would be opened up in connection
with mining activity at Ryan in the 1900s, the discovery of, and subsequent preoccupation
with, the rasorite deposit near Kramer, California, effectively halted further extension into
this area. It has only been since the early 1970s that borate mining on a large scale has
returned to Death Valley. As borax deposits east of Furnace Creek Wash near exhaustion (the
Boraxo ore body is now almost depleted), the mineral belt extending from Ryan northwest
along Furnace Creek Wash to the Death Valley floor takes on renewed importance as a still
untapped and potentially valuable source of colemanite and the possible site of continuing
borax operations.
Certainly the evolution of borax mining--from the establishment of the relatively short-lived
Eagle and Harmony Borax Works through the productive years of Borate, the Lila C, and
Ryan, up to present-day sophisticated mining operations at the Boraxo and Sigma open pits--
is an essential though complex component of the monument's history. The romantic legends

that arose around the long, dusty treks of the early borax teams, and later the impressive
production records of the region's colemanite properties, drew public attention to the Death
Valley area. Construction of the railroad to Ryan facilitated establishment of a large-scale and
self-sufficient settlement there, and with the resultant influx of miners and, later, visitors to
the town, further development of the valley as a scenic recreation area was inevitable.
The badlands country south of Furnace Creek Wash is closely connected to borax
development both on the valley floor and outside the monument at Borate, the Lila C, and
Ryan. It is the largest undeveloped borax area within the monument and potentially extremely
valuable to the borax industry. Complicating the issue is that it also contains several cultural
resources important to the area's mining story and that are not found elsewhere in the area. As
stated earlier, it was the discovery of colemanite here that contributed to the demise of the
cottonball gathering and evaporation and crystallization techniques carried out at Harmony
Borax Works. The evidence of underground work here and the varied types of mining-related
resources found during the survey provide a marked contrast to the technological processes
and living styles connected with the salt pan operations. Incorporating the history of this area
into monument programs would be a logical extension of the interpretive effort centering
around borax mining in Death Valley and environs.
(2) Variety of Cultural Resources Present
Several significant cultural resources found in this area have thus far not been found
elsewhere in the monument to the writer's knowledge. Three types of tent sites may be
represented: in some instances the tents were placed directly on the ground and secured by
wires attached to stone weights. Examples of these are found near the Monte Blanco assay
office site along Twenty-Mule-Team Canyon Road marked by rock alignments. In Gower
Gulch tents might have been erected on some of the high stone platforms constructed along
the sides of washes. In one instance, at least, they appear to have been erected on low stone
foundations and reinforced with wood around the sides. The sandbag dugout found west of
Monte Blanco, although it might have only been used for storage, might also have been a
shelter against the intense heat and blinding sandstorms before it caved in. The subterranean
excavation alongside Twenty-Mule-Team Canyon Road is all that remains on-site of the
oldest extant building in Death Valley. This area, with its accompanying tent sites, privy pit,
and refuse dumps, has potential significance for historical archeology.
The large stone mounds and the many rock walls and platforms found in the Furnace Creek
Wash area require further study to determine their exact purpose. No documentary data
alluding to such structures in connection with borax operations has been found; it is possible
that historical archeologists could discover some clue as to their function. The large wooden
ore bin at the Corkscrew Mine is not significant structurally, resembling bins at many of the
quartz-mining operations in the monument, and is of fairly modern vintage. It is, however,
the only ore bin in the monument connected with borate mining of the 1950s.
Considering its role in the development of the borax mining industry in California, and the
varied cultural remains from the 1880s through the 1950s in evidence along Furnace Creek
Wash, this area of Death Valley National Monument is particularly significant. Because some
of these sites were not covered during the 1977 archeological survey, it is recommended that
an archeologist from the Western Archeological Center inspect the area from Corkscrew
Canyon northwest to Gower Gulch and evaluate the significant historical and archeological
resources there.
(3) National Register Nominations
The Monte Blanco mining area and the assay office site that was contemporary with it

possess National Register eligibility for several reasons: Monte Blanco was the location of
the original colemanite discovery in Death Valley in the early 1880s; an interesting dugout
variation and large stone platforms and mounds not found elsewhere in the monument to date
are found in the vicinity of. Monte Blanco; the cellar site, in addition to being the original
location of the oldest extant building in, Death Valley, contains early tent sites in association
and has potential for further discoveries by historical archeologists. The Gower Gulch area
should be included in such a historic district because the sites here are a continuation and
expansion of Pacific Coast Borax Company activities at Monte Blanco.
According to John Craib's 1977 archeological survey of Death Valley mining claims, some of
the prehistoric archeological sites found in the Wash area have been determined to be of
regional significance, and nomination forms are being prepared by the Western Archeological
Center nominating the Furnace Creek Wash unit as part of a larger archeological district.
Furnace Creek Wash (California State Route 190) has added National Register eligibility as
the "Gateway of the '49ers," the route followed into Death Valley by early gold-seekers
searching for a shortcut to the California goldfields.
deva/hrs/section3e2.htm

Death Valley NP: Historic Resource Study (Appendix A)
Death Valley
A History of Mining
APPENDIX A:
Mining Laws of the Panamint Mining District
"Pursuant to the above notice a special miners meeting was held on February 10, 1873, at the
camp aforesaid of R. C. Jacobs & Co., with the following result:
W. L. Kennedey was elected Chairman, and R. C. Jacobs Secretary of the meeting.
On motion the following resolutions were offered, voted upon separately and adopted:
Resolved, That we the miners of Panamint Mountains, here assembled, do ordain and
establish the following:
1. The new district shall be known as, and called the "Panamint Mining District," and its
boundaries shall be as follows: Commencing in "Windy Canyon" (a point four miles north of
Telescope Peak) at a point called Flowery Springs, and running thence in an easterly
direction, following the said "Windy Canyon" to the summit of the range; thence down the
east side and out to the center of Death Valley; thence southerly to "Mesquit Springs," on the
eastern slope of "Slate Range;" thence westerly to the summit of "Centrie Canyon," and
down the same to its mouth, continuing the same course westerly to the center of "Slate
Range Valley;" thence northerly to a point in "Panarnint Valley" ten miles due west from
"Flowery Springs;" thence easterly ten miles to the place of beginning.
2. We adopt as the laws of this district the act of Congress approved May 10, 1872, with the
regulations issued thereunder from the General Land Office, bearing date of June 10, 1872,
and September 20, 1872, with the following additional local regulations:
3. An exact copy of the notice of location of a mining claim, tunnel claim, mill site or timber
claim must be handed to the Recorder of this district for record within twenty days from the
posting on claim of said notice, or the location will be held as abandoned, and for every such
record and certificate of same the Recorder shall be entitled to a fee of two dollars.
4. On locating a claim, if the locator so desires, it shall be the duty of the Recorder to visit
the same personally and examine the boundaries thereof, for which he shall be entitled to a
fee of five dollars and mileage at the rate of fifty cents per mile for every mile or part of a
mile that the claim may be situated distant from the Recorder's place of residence.
5. One foot in blasting ground in either shaft, drift or tunnel, of ordinary size, shall be valued
at $20, and in picking ground at $5 dollars, and when application is made by a claim holder,
or legal representative of a claim, for a certificate showing the amount of labor performed or
improvements made upon a claim, it shall be the duty of the Recorder to make a personal
inspection of the same, and if in his judgment the amount seems correct he shall give a
certificate to that effect, and for such inspection and certificate he shall receive a fee of five
dollars ($5), with mileage at the rate of (50c) fifty cents per mile for each mile or part of a
mile that the claim may be situated from the Recorder's place of residence.
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Death Valley NP: Historic Resource Study (Appendix A)
6. The owner of a mining claim, tunnel claim or mill site situated in this district may hold for
the use of such claim or claims the timber contained in an area of (320) three hundred and
twenty acres of land.
7. It shall be the duty of the Recorder to call meetings of the miners whenever a petition is
presented to him signed by ten or more persons owning claims in this district, or by legal
representatives of such owners of claims, requesting him to give notice of such meeting for
the purpose of altering or amending the laws of this district, and he must post such notices,
stating the object of the meeting, in at least three different and conspicuous or public [places]
in the district, but no such meeting shall be held in less than 10 or more than 20 days from
the date of such notice, and no person except a claim owner or his legal representative shall
have a vote at such meeting.
8. A Recorder shall be elected on the 10th day of February of each year, and it shall be his
duty to post notices in three or more public places in the district, ten days previous to the
expiration of his term of office, to the effect that a miners meeting is called for the purpose of
electing a Recorder, stating where the election is to be held, and appointing two claim
owners, or legal representatives of such, as judges of such election, who shall permit none
but claim owners, or legal representatives of such, to vote at any such election. The Recorder
shall purchase the books, etc., necessary at his own expense, and on retiring from office shall
deliver them to his successor, receiving payment from the said successor of the original cost
of said books.
9. At all meetings held in this district a majority of the claim owners present voting for or
against a measure shall constitute the adoption or rejection of such measure.
10. These laws, rules and regulations shall take effect from the date of their' passage.
11. The Records of the district will be kept in Surprise Valley, Panamint Mountains.
After the adoption of the foregoing resolutions, an election for Recorder was declared in
order. Robert Stewart was put in nomination, and on a vote being taken was unanimously
elected for the annual term commencing February 10, 1873.
It was unanimously resolved that R. C. Jacobs compile the laws of Panamint Mining District
and forward them for publication to the office of The Inyo Independent, Independence, Inyo
county, California.
W. L. KENNEDAY, Chairman, R. C. Jacobs, Secretary.
Mormon Canyon, Panamint Mining District, Cal., February 10, 1873.
Published in Inyo Independent 10 May 1873
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Death Valley NP: Historic Resource Study (Appendix B)
Death Valley
A History of Mining
APPENDIX B:
Establishment of Rose Springs Mining District
"At a meeting of the undersigned miners, held here at Rose Springs, Inyo Co. California This
4th day of April A. D. 1888, being desireaus [sic] of forming and organizing a Mineing [sic]
District. Owing to the fact that the Books and records of the former District that was
organized here having been lost and no Books Records or Recorder have known to exist here
for two years last past. Therefore we the undersigned miner [sic] have assembled for the
purpose and do proceed to form and organize a Mining District. The following business was
transacted—
"On motion J. D. Channell was elected as chairman of the meeting. On motion J. N.

Medbury was elected Secretary. A motion was made and carried that we now proceed to
organize a Mining District By addopting [sic] Laws and electing a Mining Recorder &c. A
motion was made and carried That this Mining District shall be known as Wild Rose Mining
District in Inyo Co. California. Its Boundries are as follows.
"The north boundary line shall be Townsends Pass in the Panamint range of Mountains. The
western boundry line shall be Panamint Valley. The Southern boundry line shall be the North
line of Panamint District. The Eastern boundry line shall be Death Valley. A motion was
made and carried that the time for recording claims after notice of location has been posted
shall be thirty days. A motion was made and carried that the recorders fees shall not exceed
$2.00 (Two dollars) for recording each mining claim, A motion was made and carried that the
Records Books of Record of Mining claims shall be open to any one for inspection at
reasonable hours during the day and also that Record Books shall be kept under lock and
key.. A motion was made and carried That the Mining recorder shall hold office for one year
or until his successor is elected. A motion was made and carried That in all other matters, we
addopt the United States and State Laws to govern this District. A motion was made and
carried that we proceede to elect a Recorder.
"J. D. Channell was placed in nomination for recorder and on motion was elected Mining
Record [sic]of this Wild Rose Mining District by acclimation.
"A motion was made and carried That the District Recorder have the proceeding of this
meeting recorded in the County Recorder Office of this County.
J.D. Channell
J. N. Medbury
Paul Pfefferle
Wm. Avery
Henry Ohm
Joseph Danielson
John Schober
"The above are a coppy [sic] of proceedings held here on the 4th day of April 1888, and are
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Death Valley NP: Historic Resource Study (Appendix B)
sent to be recorded.
J. D. Channell
District Recorder
Recorded at request of J. D. Channell April 10th A. D. 1888 at 7 mins. past 10 o'clock A.M.
P. N. Mack
County Recorder"
From Land, Water and Mining Claims, Book E, p. 433, 10 April 1888
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Death Valley NP: Historic Resource Study (Appendix C)
Death Valley
A History of Mining
APPENDIX C:
"Organization and Laws of Monte Bianco
Borax and Salt Mining District, Inyo Co.,
California, Furnace Creek Cannon, Inyo Co.,
State of California, November 3rd, 1882
At a meeting of miners held this day at above place the following persons were present R.
Neuschwander J. S. Crouch Cesar de Belli Fred Schutte and Albert Munger--On motion J. S.
Crouch was elected as temporary Chairman and R. Neuschwander as Secretary of this
meeting--On motion it was unanimously decided to organize a new Borax and Salt Mining
District to be called Monte Blanca [sic] Borax and Salt Mining District and its boundary's
[sic] to be established as foll: Commencing at the south east corner of Death Valley Borax
and Salt Mining District, 2 miles east of the mouth of Furnace Creek, thence running north 15
miles, thence east 15 miles, thence south 30 miles, thence west 15 miles and thence north 15
miles to point of beginning.
On motion, the United States Mining Laws without qualification were unanimously adopted
to govern this district. On motion J. S. Crouch, was unanimously elected Recorder of said
district to serve for the term of one year from date.
On motion the following resolution was unanimously adopted: That the Recorder shall have
the power to appoint a Deputy, who shall perform all the duties and act instead of the
Recorder in his absence and said Recorder shall have the power to rescind such appointment
at any time he may see fit to do so.
Whenever the Recorder makes or rescinds such. appointments it shall be recorded in the
records of this District with the signature of the recorder signed thereunder. In case of Death
or resignation of the Recorder, if there be a Deputy Recorder he shall act as Recorder until a
new Recorder is elected.
No further business appearing for transaction the meeting was then adjourned sine die—
Attest:
Cesar De Bely J. S. Crouch--Chairman

Fred. Schulten R. Neuschwander, Sec.
Albert Munger
Recorded at request of Wells Fargo & Co. November 20th AD 1882, at 5 mm past 8 o'clock
A.M.
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Death Valley NP: Historic Resource Study (Appendix C)
John Crough [sic] County Recorder

By Daniel Crough, Deputy
From Land, Water & Mining Claims, Book D, Inyo County Courthouse
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Death Valley NP: Historic Resource Study (Appendix D)
Death Valley
A History of Mining
APPENDIX D:
By-laws of Death Valley Borax and Salt
Mining District, 25 May 1883
At a meeting of the Miners of Death Valley held at the mouth of Furnace Creek John A.
Robinson was elected President and Richard Louey was appointed Secretary when the
following rules, regulations and By Laws were adopted to govern the same.
1st that This shall be Known as the Death Valley Borax and Salt Mining District
2nd The boundaries shall be as follows, commencing two miles East of the mouth of Furnace
Creek wash and running North parallel with the Mountains fifteen miles, Thence West across
Death Valley fifteen Miles Thence South, along Panamint Mts. fifteen miles Thence East to
place of, beginning.
3rd That the United States Mining Laws are adopted in full force, with. the following
additional Local regulations, that no association of Locators shall Locate more than one
hundred and sixty acres and no one person more than twenty acres but this shall not be so
construed as to prohibit actual Locators from holding a plurality of claims in this district
4th That A Winters is duly elected recorder to hold office from the twenty first day of
November one year or until the twenty first day of November 1882, or until his successor
shall be elected.
5th That it shall be the duty of the Recorder to go on the ground before recording any claim
and he shall have a fee of seven dollars and fifty cts for recording each claim
Dated, Mouth of Furnace Creek Inyo Co Cal Nov 21st 1881.
J. A. Robinson Pres
Richard Louey Sec.
A Meeting of the Miners of the Death Valley Borax and Salt mining District was held at
Camp Winters in said District about 3/4 of a mile North of the Mouth of Furnace Creek on
the 21st day of February 1882, in pursuance to a call signed by A. W. Winters and others as
follows Notice of Miners Meeting. A Meeting of the miners of Death Valley Borax and Salt
Mining District, Inyo County California, is herby called to meet at Camp Winters in said
District on the 21st day of February 18882 [sic] to elect a Recorder to fill the vacancy caused
by the resignation of A. Winters to take effect on the 21st day of February 1882, and for the
transaction of such other business as may be brought before it.
We concur in the above call.
A Winters Recorder
http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/deva/appendixd.htm[7/26/2008 3:09:01 PM]

Wm B. Robertson Jr.
R. Neuschuander [sic]
Fred k Maw
U[?], B. Spiller
T. [?] C. Simmonds
Fred. Reinhackle
S. J. Parks
O. Watkins
E. Osborne [?]
Mr. Wm B. Robertson called the Meeting to order and read the Resignation of A Winters
Recorder of this District to take effect Febry 21st 1882. The following miners were present at
the Meeting Wm B Robertson Jr R. Neuschwander Fred Maw O Watkins F. Reinhackle [U?]
B Spiller J S Crouch
Mr. J. S. Crouch was duly elected chairman and R. Neuschwander Secretary, and by a
unanimous vote R. Neuschwander was duly elected Recorder of this District to fill the
unexpired term of A Winters resigned.
Mr. Wm B. Robertson Jr moved the adoption of the following amendment to the Rules and
Regulations of this District.
Resolved that the third clause of the Rules and Regulations and By Laws of this District
which reads as follows: That the United States Mining. Laws are adopted in full with the
following additional Local Regulations, that no association of Locators shall locate more than
160 acres and no one person more than 20 acres, but this shall not be so construed. As to
prohibit actual Locators from holding a plurality of claims on differenct [sic] Deposits in this
District; be and the same is hereby repealed and here-after the United States Mining laws
without qualification shall govern as to the Location of claims in this District and there shall
be no restriction as to the Number of Locations which any person or association of persons
may locate.
The above amendment was unanimously adopted
Mr. Wm B. Robertson then moved the adoption of the following Resolution
Resolved that the Recorder of this District shall have the power to appoint a Deputy who
shall act instead of and perform all. the duties of the Recorder in his absence and said
Recorder shall have the power to rescind such appointment at any time he may see fit to do
so. Whenever the Recorder makes or rescinds such appointment it shall be recorded in the
Record of this District with the signature of the Recorder signed thereunder. In case of Death
or resignation of the Recorder if there be a Deputy Recorder he shall Act as Recorder until a
new Recorder is elected. The above Resolution was unanimously adopted.
No further business being brought before the meeting it was then adjourned sine die.
R. Neuschwander
Recorder
Greenland Death Valley Borax and Salt Mining District Inyo County California. April 6th
1882. To all whom it may concern I hereby appoint Mr J S Crouch Deputy Recorder of Death
Valley Borax and Salt Mining District with full power to act during my absence
R Neuschwander
Recorder

From Land, Water and Mining Claims, Inyo Co., Book D, pp. 345-49.
deva/hrs/appendixd.htm

Death Valley NP: Historic Resource Study (Section IV)
Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION IV:
INVENTORY OF HISTORIC RESOURCES--THE
EAST SIDE
A. The Bullfrog Hills
1. Introduction
In 1900 the state of Nevada was entering its third decade of depression. The incomparable
Comstock Lode, which had stimulated the migration of 60,000 people into the Nevada
territory, had financed a major portion of of the northern effort during the Civil War, had
made Nevada into a state, and had spawned numerous smaller mining booms between the
1805s and the 1870s, had died out by 1880. Since then, no new strikes of importance had
been found, the population of the state had fallen to 40,000, and the economy was suffering
the effects of twenty years of decline. Some cynics even suggested that Nevada should revert
to territorial status. Such was the fate of a state whose entire economy was built around the
boom and bust cycle of a mining frontier. [1]
In 1900, however, the cycle was reversed. Silver was discovered at Tonopah that year, and
massive high-grade gold deposits were located at Goldfield two years later. The great boom
days returned to Nevada, and prospectors, spurred by dreams of untold riches, once again
blanketed the mountains and deserts of Nevada. No more discoveries were made which
rivaled the riches of Tonopah and Goldfield, but numerous smaller camps were established
which bloomed briefly on the desert, dreaming of becoming another Virginia City. Rhyolite,
the metropolis of the Bullfrog district, was one of these camps.

Illustration 1. Map of the Bullfrog Hills Area.
Gold was first discovered in the Bullfrog district in the summer of 1904. The initial finds
were high-grade surface ore assayed at $700 per ton--just the kind of stuff to start a boom.
Shorty Harris, one of the discoverers, later described the reaction of Goldfield when he and
his partner, Ed Cross, brought in their samples:
I've seen many gold rushes in my time that were hummers, but nothing like that
stampede. Men were leaving town in a steady stream with buckboards, buggies,
wagons and burros. It looked like the whole population of Goldfield was trying
to move at once. Timekeepers and clerks, waiters and cooks--they all got the
fever and milled around wild-eyed, trying to find a way to the new "strike".
A lot of fellows loaded their stuff on two-wheeled carts--grub, tools and cooking
utensils, and away they went across the desert, two or three pulling the cart and
everything in it rattling. Men even hiked the seventy-five miles pushing
wheelbarrows.
When Ed and. I got back to our claim a week later, more than a thousand men
were camped around it, and more were coming every day. A few had tents, but
most of them were in open camps.

That was the start of Bullfrog and from then things moved so fast that it made us
old timers dizzy. [2]
Although Shorty Harris was guilty of much romanticizing in his later interviews, events did
indeed move fast. Towns sprang up overnight in competing locations. Amargosa was laid out
on September 30th and had sold 35 lots within three weeks. Beatty, to the southeast, was
located on October 20th, and the towns of Bullfrog, Bonanza and Rhyolite were started by
competing townsite companies in November--all within a few miles of each other. Amargosa
reported 1,000 lots sold before the town was two months old, some for as high as $200 each,
and by November the town boasted three stores, four saloons, two feed lots, restaurants,
boarding houses, lodging houses, a post office and 35-40 other tent buildings. Prices, of
course, were in proportion to the boom atmosphere and the costs of freighting 70 miles from
Goldfield. Lumber for building was scarce and sold for $100 per 1,000 board feet, while hay
for prospectors' burros and teamsters' mules went for $100 a ton.
The boom continued through the spring of 1905. Thirty teams a day left Goldfield for the
Bullfrog district in January, and one traveler counted fifty-two outfits arriving in the district
during one day in March. Confusion reigned supreme, especially for prospectors who left
town for a few days in March, to find upon their return that the entire town of Amargosa had
picked up and moved a few miles south to the town of Bullfrog. Bonanza's citizens had the
same experience, as their town was moved to Rhyolite. Mining claims changed hands
furiously, for ground near a publicized claim was worth $500 to $2,000, even if a pick had
yet to strike the earth. By May, Rhyolite counted twenty saloons, a sure sign of wealth. [3]

Illustration 2. Early advertisement from the town of Bullfrog. From the

Bullfrog Miner June 9, 1905.
By late spring, the dust had settled a little, at least to the point where one could leave home
overnight and expect the town to be in the same location when returning. Rhyolite and
Bullfrog, located only three-fourths of a mile apart, had become established as the leading
towns of the district, with Beatty, four miles to the east, running a poor third, and Gold
Center barely surviving. Four daily stages connected the district with the outside world, post
offices were running at Beatty, Bullfrog and Rhyolite, lots in Rhyolite which sold for $100 in
February were selling for $4,400, and wheel and faro games were going twenty-four hours a
day. "It reminds one of the old times," remarked one prospector. In addition, Rhyolite,
Bullfrog and Beatty each had a bank, and each had a weekly newspaper. The Bullfrog Miner
printed its first issue on March 31st, the Beatty Bullfrog Miner on April 8th, and the Rhyolite
Herald on May 5th.
The boom kept pace through June. 3000 people were estimated to be in the district, the
telephone line was completed to Bullfrog and Rhyolite, and the telegraph office opened. Over
300 messages were sent over the wires on the first day of operation, mostly to Goldfield
brokers and stock dealers. By the first anniversary of the district in August, both Bullfrog and
Rhyolite had their own piped-in water systems, Rhyolite had yet another bank, and the two

towns had a population of 2,500, with another 700 at Beatty and 40 in the tent city of Gold
Center. The Rhyolite Herald listed 85 incorporated companies working in the district. [4]
The pandemonium subsided somewhat in 1906, as the rush phase of the boom slowly turned
into the more controlled phase of development. 165 mining companies were reported working
in the district, and all had hopes of developing another mother lode with just a few more feet
of digging. Rhyolite gradually won the battle with Bullfrog and by spring had emerged as the
metropolis of the southern desert, when Bullfrog's store, saloons and newspaper moved up
the hill to Rhyolite. Not one, but three railroads announced plans to construct lines into the
district.
Illustration 3. Bullfrog, Nevada, November 1905. Courtesy, Nevada

Historical Society.
Illustration 4. Rhyolite, Nevada, November 1905. Courtesy, Nevada

Historical Society.
Then, the first hint of disaster struck, with the earthquake and fire of San Francisco. Feverish
developments slowed momentarily, as miners, owners, and promoters waited to see what
effect the destruction of the west coast's financial center would have upon their fortunes. The
boom spirit was still too prevalent, however, for the effect to be prolonged, and with the

promise of financial aid (if needed) from mining promoter Charles Schwab, the bustle
returned to camp. By the end of 1906, Rhyolite seemed assured of its self-proclaimed title of
Queen of the Desert, when the Las Vegas and Tonopah Railroad completed its tracks into
town. With the advent of cheaper rail freightage rates, the camp was certain to add to its
monthly payroll of $100,000, and to continue its development. [5]
The year of 1907 was another good one. Fifty cars of freight per day were arriving over the
Las Vegas & Tonopah in February. The town had grown to a population of 3,300, and lots at
the heart of Rhyolite were selling for $10,000. A school census was taken which showed 250
children of school age, so a wooden schoolhouse was built, as was a concrete and steel jail
for older folks. The Rhyolite Stock Exchange was incorporated and opened on March 25th, to
ease the effects of feverish stock trading on the over-worked telegraph wires to Goldfield and
San Francisco. In June, the Bullfrog-Goldfield Railroad came into town, opening rail
connections with the north, and in September electric power was brought into town over the
poles of the Nevada-California Power Company. The power was hooked into the already-
wired homes, stores and offices of Rhyolite, as well as into the machinery of the big
Montgomery-Shoshone mill, which soon began operations. Another newspaper, the Rhyolite
Daily Bulletin appeared to compete with the district's three weekly papers. Production figures
for the district went over $100,000 for the first time during the month of September, and the
arrival of the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad the next month augured even more prosperity.
[6]
Illustration 5. Home of Taylor & Griffiths, Rhyolite Brokers.
Mining was the name of the game. For those who were not lucky enough to
own their own mines, stock dealing was the next best thing. The firm of
Taylor & Griffiths, one of Rhyolite's leading brokerage houses, was the site
of much dealing, speculation and stock promoting. Photo from Rhyolite
Herald, 15 June 1906.

Illustration 6. Prospecting in Death Valley was not a venture to be taken

lightly. This victim, who was never identified, was found in the valley in
1907. Prospectors who found him estimated that he had been dead for two
days. Photo courtesy of Death Valley National Monument Library, Neg
#1138.
Even the panic of 1907, which some would call a depression, did little to dampen the spirits
of Bullfrogers. Newspapers noted, almost with wonder, that the panic seemed to affect the
Bullfrog district much less than it did other mining camps in Nevada and California. The
local banks were forced to issue script for a few months, due to the shortage of cash, but the
local merchants gladly accepted it--even advertised for it--and the panic was put down to the
manipulations of greedy eastern financiers. Despite the panic, property values sky-rocketted
during 1907, and the year-end tax rolls reflected the prosperity of the young town, which was
assessed taxes on almost two million dollars worth of real and personal property. [7]
1908 followed suit. The year opened with the big Montgomery-Shoshone mill treating 200
tons of ore per day, and with the promise of more mills to open soon, thus increasing the
district's production and prosperity. To house all this money, the grand three-story, $60,000
John S. Cook Bank Building was completed in January. By February, all the banks were back
on a cash basis, and reported that they had needed only half the amount of script which had
been printed for use during the Panic. Production soared as new mills and mines went into
operation, reaching an estimated $170,850 in the month of April. By September, the Bullfrog
district ranked as the third largest producer in the state of Nevada, trailing only Goldfield and
Tonopah. The Las Vegas and Tonopah Railroad finished its magnificent passenger station in
June, which immediately became one of the showcases of the southern Nevada region. By the
end of the year, the Rhyolite Herald estimated the total production for 1908 as close to
$1,000,000.
Construction continued apace, as the three-story concrete and stone Overbury building was
completed in. December at a cost of $50,000. Now at its height, Rhyolite fairly bustled with
activity. The newspapers enthusiastically claimed a population of 12,000, although a more
probable estimate would be 8,000. The town now had an opera house, a new $20,000
concrete and steel, two-story school building, hotels, ladies' clubs, and even a swimming
pool. The large concrete and stone buildings which dominated the main streets were flanked
by hundreds of wooden stores, offices and residences, although a few late-arrivals still lived
in tents on the outskirts of town. The Western Federation of Miners' local union, with its
healthy membership, union hall and hospital, threatened to surpass the local at Tonopah.

Rhyolite even had a manufacturing base of two foundaries and machine shops, and the Porter
Brothers, leading merchants, had built their original tent store into a imposing building
complete with freight elevators and a stock worth $100,000. Dane halls and brothels, ever a
sign of prosperity in a mining camp, spilled over from their assigned districts on several
occasions, drawing the attention of the town council. Rhyolite and the Bullfrog district, it
seemed, had arrived. [8]
Illustration 7. Rhyolite near its height in February 1908. The Overbury

building, and the John S. cook Bank building, to its right, dominate the city.
The tracks of the Bullfrog and Goldfield Railroad may be seen in the lower
right and lower left corners. The lumber yard of the Tonopah Lumber
Company is in the lower right, next to the city jail. The school house is not
yet built. Various mines can be seen in the background, and the former city
of Bullfrog is at the extreme left background. Photo courtesy of Nevada
Historical Society.
In the meantime, the Rhyolite and Bullfrog boom were having much the same effect upon the
surrounding Death Valley country as Goldfield and Tonopah had had upon the entire state.
Spurred by the Bullfrog boom and dreams of wealth, prospectors swarmed out of Rhyolite
into the hills and deserts of southeastern Nevada and southwestern California. Backed by
flush Rhyolite merchants and promoters, these men examined the countryside as it has never
been examined before or since. For a while, the results seemed almost too good to be true, for
strikes and mining camps blossomed out of the wilderness almost everywhere one could see.
On the east side of Death Valley, the entire South Bullfrog district grew up around the Keane
Wonder mine, while farther to the south arose the boom camps of Lee, Echo, Schwab,
Greenwater, Gold Valley and Ibex. Farther to the west, across the Death Valley sink,
prospectors out of Rhyolite found and established the mines and camps of Emigrant Springs,
Skidoo, Harrisburg and Ubehebe. All these camps looked upon Rhyolite as the metropolis of
the desert, and Rhyolite merchants, teamsters and outfitters, located at the railhead, profited
immensely from being situated at the distribution center for the region.
As usual, however, the gold fever which swept the country contained more fever than gold.
Some of the smaller camps died almost as soon as they were born, leaving little more than a
ripple on the surface of time. Some, like Greenwater, spent all their energy on booming, and
when the dust had settled, nothing was left to be seen. Most lasted a year or two, or even
three. But with the exception of Skidoo and the Keane Wonder, all the smaller camps died
before Rhyolite, and the fate of the offspring presaged the fate of the parent.

Illustration 8. Sketch Map, Bullfrog District.
On the surface, Rhyolite seemed as robust as ever in early 1909, and the citizens of the town
even started a movement to split the county in two, making Rhyolite the county seat of the
southern portion. Such ambitions, however, were hopeless, for the cracks were already
appearing in the facade. Although the boom spirit had carried the Bullfrog district through
the San Francisco disaster and the panic of 1907 without appearing to harm the camp,
underlying problems were beginning to surface. Investor confidence was weakened by the
financial difficulties, a fatal blow to any mining camp. Two of the three Rhyolite banks had
closed by the end of 1909, and shady dealings involving two of the district's most promising
mines further shook investor confidence. The Montgomery- Shoshone mill continued to mill
its low-grade ore throughout 1909, but there is nothing romantic about low-grade ore. A brief
new boom at Pioneer, to the north, seemed to arrest the process of decline for a short time,
but a disastrous fire roared through that camp before it was even built, and it never recovered.
The process of decay is harder to document than that of boom, since the local newspapers
would never, dare print any discouraging news, but the evidence was there. The Rhyolite
Daily Bulletin was the first newspaper to close, printing its last issue in May of 1909, and the
Bullfrog Miner followed suit in September. The December tax rolls told the real story. When
the time came to ante up for county taxes, owners of 156 properties--or 28 percent of the
total tax base--elected to quietly leave town and let their properties be confiscated by the
county treasurer, rather than spending more money in a losing cause. As the Mining World
summed up, "Mining operations in the Bullfrog district were rather dull last year." [9]

The camp plodded through 1910, struggling to keep alive, and hoping that some prospector
would make the strike which would bring back the days of prosperity. Their hopes were
doomed, however, and when tax time rolled around again, 168 taxable properties (44 percent)
were left to the care of the county treasurer, as their owners had departed. The First National
Bank closed its doors that year, the fast bank to leave Rhyolite.
The trend accelerated in 1911, when the Montgomery-Shoshone, the only mine to make any
significant production in the district, finally shut down in May. The 1911 tax rolls again
showed owners of 1.18 properties (43 percent) leaving town rather than pay taxes, and the
Mining World sounded the death knoll. "The Bullfrog district is almost deserted, save by a
few lessees, who at intervels [sic] make a small production . . . . The Montgomery-Shoshone,
after demonstrating that ore averaging $6 a ton could be profitably milled, has closed down,
having exhausted its pay ore." [10]
The Bullfrog district, too, was exhausted. The town and camp did not die with a bang, and
hardly with a whimper. Companies who had money left in their treasuries held on to
properties, hoping for a comeback, and several dozen intrepid souls stayed on in Rhyolite,
eeking out existence by leasing mines and extracting occasional small shipments of ore. The
great days, however, were definitely gone forever. The Rhyolite Herald finally gave up and
closed down in June of 1912, and the town slowly died.
Periodic efforts were made to reorganize and rework the mines on a small scale, which kept
Rhyolite from becoming a complete ghost town for several years, but none were successful.
In 1914, the Las Vegas & Tonopah discontinued service to the town, above the protests of the
few remaining citizens. In 1916, the Nevada-California power company cut off electricity to
Rhyolite, and began to salvage its poles and wire. The Inyo Register described the once
thriving town in December of that year: "Rhyolite, once a camp claiming several thousand
population, is practically a deserted village . . . the movable buildings have been moved away
from time to time, and the process is still going on. At present it is contributing to the
upbuilding of the camp of Carrara. . ." By 1920, although a few companies and individuals
still held on to their Rhyolite properties, hoping against hope for a revival, the camp was
completely deserted." [11]
And so Rhyolite was slowly dismantled to serve the needs of new boom camps, and the cycle
was completed. Although small-scale efforts were made to revive the camp from time to
time--including one during the fall of 1978--the good days were gone. Today, the crumbling
remains of its once imposing structures, together with its picturesque location, make it one of
the west's most popular ghost towns. Ironically, Beatty, 4 miles to the west, which played
little sister to Rhyolite throughout the boom years, was saved from decline by the
construction of Nevada Highway 95, and today that little town of several hundred thrives on
the trade of tourist, military personnel and truckers traveling between Las Vegas and Reno.

Illustration 9. Rhyolite, 1978. John S. Cook Bank building. Photo by John

Latschar. .
Illustration 10. Rhyolite, 1978. Rhyolite jail. Photo by John Latschar.

Illustration 11. Golden street, Rhyolite, looking south from John S. Cook
Bank building. Facade of Porter Brothers store on left, ruins of Overbury
building on right. Photo by John Latschar.
Illustration 12. Rhyolite's pride, the $20,000 school building. Completed

after the boom had left the Bullfrog rose, the building was never used to
capacity. Photo by John Latschar.
All was not in vain, however. The Bullfrog district produced $1,687,792 worth of ore in the
four short years between 1907 and 1910, doing its part, along with the other small camps and
the bonanzas of Goldfield and Tonopah, in pulling Nevada out of its two-decade slump.
Without the stimulus of this early twentieth-century mining boom, of which Rhyolite and the
Bullfrog district were a distinct part, Nevada would not have had the new economic base
with which to survive the great depression, and to emerge as a prosperous mineral, tourist
and military state of today. [12]
Just as important, without the boom and bust days of Rhyolite and the surrounding territory,
we would not have the opportunity today to study, appreciate and preserve the memories of
these early twentieth-century mining camps. And, thanks to the Bullfrog boom, Death Valley
National Monument is rich with such a heritage of bygone days.


Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION IV:
EAST SIDE
A. The Bullfrog Hills (continued)
2. Original Bullfrog Mine
a. History
In the late summer of 1904, two wandering prospectors happened to meet at the Keane
Wonder Mine, on the east slope of Death Valley. Ed Cross, the first, was an occasional
prospector who had participated in mining rushes from time to time. Cross, however, was an
"amateur" prospector, since he had a home and farm in Long Pine, California, to which he
would return between forays. Attracted by the Goldfield boom, Cross was on his way towards
that region, and had stopped off at the Keane Wonder to look over the country surrounding
that recent discovery.
The other prospector, Frank "Shorty" Harris, was a veteran desert rat. Shorty bragged that he
had attended every mining rush in the country since the 1880s, including those of Leadville,
Coeur d'Alene, Tombstone, Butte, British Columbia, and others. Like most prospectors,
Shorty had, as yet, nothing to show for his efforts. He had already been through the initial
Tonopah and Goldfield booms, but had gotten there too late to locate any close-in ground.
Now, like Cross, Shorty Harris was determined to give the Goldfield territory another look,
and the two men teamed up.
Like countless other prospectors who were scurrying around the deserts, Cross and Harris
dreamed of finding another bonanza like those of Goldfield and Tonopah. As the two men
trugged across the Amargosa Valley, that dream loomed large before them, for they were
about to make the discovery which would initiate the great Bullfrog boom, and which would
change forever the history and territory of southwest Nevada.
Accounts of the next few days vary wildly, as romantic tales of big discoveries are wont to
do. Both Cross and Harris repeated their versions in later years many times over, and it is
difficult to find any two versions which agree. Apparently Shorty persuaded Ed to make a
detour on the way to Goldfield, in order to examine some rock outcroppings which he had
noticed on an earlier trip. There, on the east side of the Amargosa Valley, the discovery was
made. Both men knew at first glance that they had found something big, but how big would
have to be determined by the Goldfield assayer's report. Quickly locating a claim, staking the
ground, and naming the mine the Bullfrog, for the distinctive mottled green ore, the two men
set out north for Goldfield, to record their claim, have their samples assayed, and to celebrate.
The rock samples indicated that the mine had ore worth over $700 to the ton--truly bonanza
stuff. News of the discovery soon spread through Goldfield, and by morning the rush to the

newly named Bullfrog District was on. In the meantime, Ed Cross went north to Tonopah to
record the claim there in addition to Goldfield, since no one knew whether the mine was
located in Esmeralda or Nye county. By the time Ed got back, Shorty was half-way through a
six day drunk, sometime during which he sold his share of the Bullfrog mine. Cross later
claimed several times that Shorty got no more for his share than $500 and a mule, although
Shorty once claimed to have received $1,000, and thirty years later said he got $25,000. At
any rate, Shorty Harris was out of the picture. Like most old-time prospectors, he had spent
most of his life looking for a gold mine, and had sold it for a pittance when he found it.
Ed Cross was more business-like, as he reported to his wife. After several deals feel through,
Ed sold his share to a group of mining promoters for cash and a share of the stock in a
company formed to exploit the mine. Ed later claimed to have received $125,000 for his
share of the mine, but that figure is probably inflated. But whatever the exact amounts, both
Cross and Harris had sold out--one for drink and the other for stock certificates. Which
would prove to be the better deal was yet to be seen. It is certain, however, that neither of the
two prospectors who started the great Bullfrog boom made much profit from their discovery-
-but that is nothing new in the history of mining. [13]
By early fall, the Bullfrog boom was in full bloom. Tents, towns and prospectors surrounded
the area of the Bullfrog Mine, as prospectors and promoters rushed to get in on the ground
floor. In short succession, mine after mine was discovered in the vicinity, and the Bullfrog
District became the talk of the west coast. In the meantime, the Original Bullfrog Mines
Syndicate, organized to operate the original discoveries, was incorporated by the Goldfield
promoters dealing with Ed Cross, and actual mining was started. The company advertised a
capital stock of 1,000,000 shares, with a par value of $1 each, but they did not say how much
actual cash was placed in the treasury to finance the development efforts. As events proved, it
wasn't enough. Ed Cross was given a seat on the board of directors of the company, as
befitted the owner of one sixth of the mine.
Initial development through the fall and winter of 1904 were promising. The company
reported ore assaying as high as $818 to the ton, and began sacking high-grade ore for
shipment to Goldfield smelters. On March 23, 1905, the original Bullfrog Mine made the first
big shipment out of the new district. Ore estimated to be worth $10,000 was escorted through
Rhyolite by five armed guards and the Rhyolite band. The Original Bullfrog Mine, symbol of
the entire Bullfrog district, was now a shipper and a producer. More good strikes were made
in the shafts and tunnels through May and June; sixteen men were employed at the mine; a
15 horsepower gasoline hoist was ordered to enable deeper sinking; and the mine
superintendent expressed the hope that shipments of high-grade ore would pay for all
development costs, thus saving a strain upon the company's treasury. By August of 1905, the
superintendent estimated that the company had between $750,000 and $1,500,000 worth of
ore in sight in the mine. [14]

Illustration 13. Certificate for 1,000 shares in the Original Bullfrog Mines
Syndicate. Courtesy Dr. Richard Lingenfelter.
The Original Bullfrog Mine continued to reflect the optimism of the entire district throughout
the fall and winter of 1905. As shafts and tunnels went deeper, ore veins continued to show
profitable values in gold, even though no rich shoots were found, such as the early surface
discoveries. The Bullfrog District became so famous on a national level, that the United
States Geologic Survey decided that it was worth examining. Frederick L. Ransome, an
eminent western mining expert, made a study of the district's geologic formations and mines
during the fall of 1905. Since Ransome was the first detached, outside observer of the district,
his conclusions are of interest. The district, he wrote, was predominantly a low-grade
proposition, and would have trouble making a profit, due, to problems of transportation and
water supply. After the first publicized shipments, such as that from the Original Bullfrog
Mine, none of the mines planned to make further shipments, due to excessive costs, until the
railroads arrived. In essence, he concluded, the Bullfrog District was not the bonanza it liked
to believe it was, but the mines could be made to pay on a large-scale basis, given careful
and economical management. Nor was Ransome more impressed with the Original Bullfrog
Mine than with others. "Some bunches of rich ore have been found," he wrote, "but the mass
as a whole is of very low grade." [15]

Illustration 14. The Original Bullfrog Mine in the summer of 1905. The
short-lived tent city of Amargosa may be seen in the distance. Photo from
Sunset Magazine, August 1905, p. 321, courtesy Nevada Historical Society.
Illustration 15. Original Bullfrog Mine, November 1905. Photo courtesy of

Nevada Historical Society.
Happily for the Bullfroggers, however, Ransome's report was not printed for another two
years, and the district hummed along merrily in the meantime. The Original Bullfrog
Company continued to get encouraging results from its development works, and applied for a
U.S. patent to their claims in January of 1906. A distinguished mine superintendent was hired
away from the famous Gilpin County district of Colorado in the late spring, and the company
installed a gas hoist and gallows frame on its property, in order to facilitate deeper mining.
Even the brief financial panic brought about by the San Francisco earthquake and fire failed
to slow development work, and William Ress celebrated his first anniversary as proprietor of
the Original Bullfrog boarding house in May.
After examining the mine and its future prospects, Samuel Newell, the new superintendent
from Colorado, decided that he would be there long enough to settle down, and set home for
a bride. Mrs. Newell arrived in August and moved out to the mine site to live with her
husband. Unfortunately, the summer climate of the Nevada desert did not agree with her, and
she died in late September of "desert fever." [16]
Illustration 16. Original Bullfrog Mine near its peak, June 1906. The new

large gallows frame, with its bucket hoist, dominates the picture. Photo
courtesy of Nevada Historical Society.
The tragic loss of his two-month bride failed to diminish the energy of superintendent
Newell. With the arrival of cooler weather in October, development was increased at the
mine. The main shaft was now 250 feet deep, the mine was employing two shifts, of miners,
and landlord Ress was feeding 30 miners, most from the Original Bullfrog. By November the
shaft was down to 300 feet, and although no rich ore had been found since, the shaft had left
the surface, the newspapers reported "encouraging values," a vague description at best. By
the end of the year, improvements on the property included the main shaft, two working
shafts, and a long crosscut tunnel. Physical property included the gasoline hoist, gallows
frame, a small orehouse, ore cars and miscellaneous tools.
In the meanwhile, another development had taken place. On October 26th, Ed Cross had
taken a lease from the company to work a 200 by 300 foot tract of the Original Bullfrog
claim. Leasing at this stage of the mine's development could only mean that the company
directors no longer felt that it was financially feasible to maintain a monopoly on
development rights to its own property--a sure indication that things were not looking good.
Cross, in a typical lease, was given one year to work the property and take out ore, while
paying the company a royalty on any profits he was able to make. Cross had good luck
initially, and by the end of 1906 was employing twelve men on his lease and had built an
office. [17]
As 1907 began, the Original Bullfrog Mine had already seen its best days. Even though the
railroad had now arrived, making possible the shipment of lower grade ore, the mine was not
able to gain a profitable status. Development work continued throughout the year, by both the
company itself and by Ed Cross on its. lease, but time was running out. The initial treasury
fund was almost depleted, and the advent of bigger and more promising mines in the district
discouraged stock sales. Shares in the Original Bullfrog Mines Syndicate, which had sold for
25¢ in November of 1906, had fallen to 74¢ by July of 1907. Desperately, the company
continued, hoping to find that elusive high-grade vein which would make the mine a boomer
once more, but hopes were doomed.
Ed Cross, despite his limited success on his lease, saw the handwriting on the wall, and
decided not to renew the lease when it expired. Finally, the Panic of 1907 dealt the death-
blow to the Original Bullfrog mine. With the treasury stock depleted, and with several of the
leading owners facing extreme financial difficulties brought on by the panic, there were no
more funds for-development work in the mine. On August 26th, the mine was closed and the
employees laid off. The company's president issued a statement claiming that the closure had
nothing to do with the financial crisis, but no one held their breath while waiting for the mine
to reopen. For the rest of the year, the mine was not worked, and when tax time rolled around
in December, the company let its property go on the delinquent roll, rather than pay $46.20 in
taxes. Shares of Original Bullfrog stock were now selling for 3¢ each. [18]
In the spring of 1908, the mine was reactivated, but on a small scale. No longer did the
superintendent announce grand plans for future development works, or the building of mills.
Rather, the mine limped along on a very small scale, attempting to extract enough ore to
cover operating costs. Leasing arrangements were sought, in order to bring more money into
the treasury, and several individuals were lured by the magic of the Bullfrog name.
Superintendent Newell managed to make several shipments of ore, but in small quantities--
total April production, for example, reached the grand sum of $350, while lease-holders
managed to ship $790 worth of ore in May.
Even these low figures did not reflect profits. One shipper, who had ore worth $160 a ton

from a Bullfrog lease, paid over $20 to the railroad for shipping charges and over $37 to the
Goldfield smelter for reduction charges, leaving him with a profit of $103 for his labor,
before he paid the Original Bullfrog Company its royalty. By now it was clearly evident, as
Ransome had pointed out several years before, that the Original Bullfrog Mine was a very
low grade proposition, which could not be profitably exploited under present conditions. By
the end of 1908, both stockholders and the company had come to agree with that assessment.
Stock sales had slumped to 1¢ per share, and the company again could not find the money to
pay its $34.65 in county taxes. Still, hoping against hope, several tease-holders hung on. [19]
In March of 1909, the Rhyolite Herald in its grand pictorial supplement, gave a long history
of the discovery and developments of the Original Bullfrog mine, sadly concluding that The
work has not proceeded . . . to the point of placing the property in the regular producing list."
This was as far as a Rhyolite newspaper was willing to go towards admitting that the mine
was dead. The Nye county treasurer, however, was willing to go farther, and in August of
1909 seized the movable property of the company in consideration for two years of unpaid
taxes. Still, some hardy and hopeful individuals were willing to risk a few months' labor in
the hope of finding the elusive green ore, and the property was working sporadically on a
leasing basis.
By 1910, when it was becoming apparent that the entire Bullfrog District was dying, the
Rhyolite Herald indulged in that favorite speculation of what-might-have-been. After
discussing the early glory days of the district and the Original Bullfrog Mine, when high-
grade ore was being shipped under armed guard, the Herald lamented: "If that kind of stuff,
which ran up into the many hundreds of dollars per ton, had stayed in the Original instead of
pinching out, the story of Bullfrog would be "another tale than what it is." True, but,
Although the boom days were now definitely over, hope still persisted, as it can only do in a
mining camp. In 1912, the success of a neighboring mine provoked rumors that the Original
Bullfrog would be reorganized and reopened, but nothing happened. Small time operators
continued to work the ground in 1913 and 1914, through leases. The patented claims of the
mine lay on the delinquent list of the county tax roll, for want of anyone to pay, back taxes
and reclaim the land. In 1917 a group of promoters incorporated the Re-Organized Original
Bullfrog Mines Syndicate, but again nothing came of that effort. [20]
Nothing is harder to kill than the mystique of a name, especially a name such as the Original
Bullfrog, with its intimate connections with the glorious boom and bust of the Bullfrog
district. Time and again, throughout the following years, miners, prospectors, promoters and
even movie stars were attracted by the prevailing mystique of the Original Bullfrog Mine.
Surely, they thought, there must be something there, if this was the mine which started the
whole thing. Their efforts were met with various degrees of middling success.
In the late 1920's the New Original Bullfrog Mines Company was organized and fitful
shipments were made for several years before the enterprise folded. In 1930, Roy Pomeroy, a
Hollywood executive, put together an organization with the backing of contemporary movie
stars, and bought the Original Bullfrog as well as several other mines in the district. The Nye
County treasurer, however, was soon listing all those properties once again on the delinquent
tax roll.
In 1937 the Original Bullfrog, along with other mines, was purchased by theBurm-Ball
Mining Company, which operated for several years, extracting small-scale shipments, before
leasing them to other operators. These lease-holders operated intermittently through the
1940s and into the 1950s, but without any significant success. In 1955, one E.J. Kingsinger
bought the mine, and like the Burm-Ball, continued to pay taxes on it, without deriving much
benefit. In 1961, Kingsinger sold the mine to the H.H. Heislers, an old-time couple who
moved back to Rhyolite and settled into the old Las Vegas and Tonopah passenger station.

The Heislers in turn sold out to the Nevada Minerals Exploration Company in 1974, and the
claims were again sold in 1976, to Boyce Cook and Lenard Cruson. [21]
So lived and died the Original Bullfrog mine. Considering its history, which saw only
insignificant production and small-scale mining efforts, the mine itself would hardly be worth
remembering. It was, however, much more Than just a mine--it was and is the symbol of the
entire Bullfrog mining district, and all that that entails. The Original Bullfrog Mine was the
spark which lit the Bullfrog boom, and that boom was in turn responsible for several other
booms, the building of two towns, Rhyolite and Beatty, and the transformation of the entire
history and economy of a large portion of the southwestern Nevada region.
And what of the two lonely prospectors who made the discovery? Shorty Harris went on, as
most old-time prospectors did, to hunt again for gold in the desert. Amazingly, Shorty found
gold a second time, at Harrisburg, on the western rim of Death Valley. Again, however,
Shorty was unable to capitalize upon his discovery, and he died in 1934, alone on the desert,
still looking for gold, and with little but his burro and his blanket to his name. Ed Cross, after
giving up on his lease at the Original Bullfrog, returned to his home and farm in California
and died at his daughter's house in 1958. [22]
b. Present Status Evaluation and Recommendations
Due to the close proximity of the Original Bullfrog Mine to the workings of the Bullfrog
West Extension Mine, the physical remnants of the two mines have been confused more often
than not by recent studies. Since the mines were owned and operated, in recent years, by
identical parties, the discussion of the historic structures, together with conclusions and
recommendations, will be found at the end of the West Extension section.

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION IV:
EAST SIDE
3. Miscellaneous Bullfrogs and Tadpoles
One of the first rules of the mining game is that one must get in on the "ground floor" in
order to make money. If possible, an experienced prospector will hurry to the scene of the
latest strike, locate ground as close as possible to it, and form a company with a similar
sounding name. Between 1905 and 1910, this game was played to perfection by various and
sundry miners and promoters in the Bullfrog District, as ninety companies were incorporated
with the magic word "Bullfrog" somewhere on their letterheads. A few of these companies
were in the vicinity of the Original Bullfrog, most--but not all--were within the boundaries
of the Bullfrog District, and all hoped to lure stockholders' funds by advertising their
proximity to the big strike. Some of the companies even went so far as to try mining.
A goodly number of these miscellaneous Bullfrog companies located ground within the
present boundaries of Death Valley National Monument. Some, like the Bullfrog Winner
Mining Company, the Bullfrog Western Mining Company, the United Bullfrog Mining
Company, the Bullfrog Plutos Mining and Milling Company, the Bullfrog Gold Note Mining
Company, and the Bullfrog Jumper Company, never did more than locate their claims,
incorporate a company, sell stock to gullible investors, and never sank a pick into the ground.
[23]
Other "close-in" companies were more interested in actually mining. Among these were a
group of assorted Bullfrog mines which surrounded the Original Bullfrog on all sides, much
like ants around a pool of honey. These companies, all of which were located and
incorporated soon after the beginning of the Bullfrog rush, all sank shafts as close as possible
to the Original Bullfrog claims, hoping that the peculiarities of geologic formations would
cause the rich green ore found by Harris and Cross to dip and angle into their properties.
Of the seven companies which surrounded the Original Bullfrog ground, six were utter
failures, and one--the Bullfrog West Extension--got lucky, for the unpredictable Original
Bullfrog ledge penetrated its property. Although this seems like a high rate of failure, it was
about the norm for the risking business of mining. The Bullfrog West Extension was the
earliest of the mines which sprung up around the Original Bullfrog, thus emphasizing another
mining dictum that the "firstest gets the mostest." As an example of an unusual success, its
story will be told later. The other six mines were not so fortunate, and the following are the
brief tales of some ill-fated companies which attempted to cash in on the Bullfrog bonanza.
a. Bullfrog Extension Mining Company

On August 25th and 26th 1904, a group of prospectors located two claims, the Delaware #2
and the Last Chance, on the north and east sides of the Original Bullfrog.. Together with the
Bullfrog Extension #1 and #2, on the southeast of the Original Bullfrog, these four locations
were incorporated in February of 1905 as the Bullfrog Extension Mining Company. The
incorporation was the usual one, with 1,000,000 shares of stock offered to the public at a par
value of $1 each, and it was backed by San Francisco financiers. In May the company had
enough money in its treasury to begin mining, and by June a six-man crew had sunk an
inclined shaft 75 feet into the ground. Development continued through the summer and fall,
and in November the company was the proud owner of a 25-horsepower gasoline hoist, a
frame office building for the mine superintendent, and a 141-foot shaft. By January of 1906,
the company felt confident enough to advertise that it had a "magnificent quartz" ledge on its
property which was "conservatively estimated" to be worth $500,000.
Illustration 17. Sketch Map, Bullfrog claims, 1905.
The promising developments at the Bullfrog Extension were halted by the San Francisco
earthquake and fire in mid-April of 1906, and the mine was idle from then until June. Even
though stock in the company was selling at its all-time high of 13¢ per share in late June,
work was again halted for unknown reasons, and was not resumed until late October. By the
end of 1906, although the company was still delving for ore, no significant discoveries had
been made. Still, the company readily paid its county taxes of $24.86, assessed on personal

property consisting of a 25-horsepower gas hoist, a twelve by sixteen-foot frame engine

house, and a small office building, one ore car, and miscellaneous tools. [24]
Developments continued during the first part of 1907, as the company vainly attempted to
find traces of the Bullfrog ore on its property. For a few months, prospects looked good, as
described in the Bullfrog Miner on March 29th. The Bullfrog Extension, it reported, was
"sinking at the rate of two shifts a day on a practically sure thing." Stockholders shared the
optimism of the company and the newspaper, as the price of Bullfrog Extension stock was
still holding at 12¢ per share in April. The panic of 1907, however, which hit the Bullfrog
district in the fall, had a decided effect upon the fortunes of the company. The stock, after
dropping from 12¢ to 5¢ in one month, had completely disappeared from the trading board
by October. For a mining concern heavily dependent upon stock sales for operating cash, this
was a disastrous blow.
The company rallied, however, and on November 1st announced an assessment of 24¢ per
share of stock, payable to the secretary by December. Stockholders were thus faced with the
choice of paying 2¢ a share more into the company treasury in an attempt at saving a mine
whose stock was then worthless, or of forfeiting their shares to the company. (Assessment
was illegal in Nevada, due to many past abuses, but the Bullfrog Extension was incorporated
in Arizona, a more permissive state.) The assessment was partially successful, for the
company was able to raise enough cash to pay its 1907 taxes--although they were paid late--
but not enough was collected to pay for any future development works. The mine lay idle
throughout 1908, and the company was forced to call for another assessment of 14: per share
in December of that year. This time so few stockholders responded that the company was not
able to pay its taxes, and the property of the Bullfrog Extension Mining Company entered the
county's delinquent tax rolls [25]
In 1909, one last attempt was made to revive the fortunes of the Bullfrog Extension. This
time the owners had no hope of raising enough cash to operate on their own, so in June of
that year they advertised in the hope of attracting lessees. It would seem strange that the
Bullfrog Extension would still be attempting to develop a mine in 1909, since the Original
Bullfrog--the catalyst of the district--had already died. The neighboring West Extension
property, however, was uncovering good ore, so the Bullfrog Extension changed its
emphasis, and advertised its potential as a neighbor of the West Extension, rather than as a
neighbor of the Original Bullfrog.
The advertisements were successful, and the property was leased in October. The new
promoters then advanced a scheme which was absolutely fantastic, even for the Bullfrog
district. The lessees incorporated not one, but three separate leasing companies, each of
which had a lease on a different section of the Bullfrog Extension ground. The promoters
then placed a long and confusing advertisement in the Rhyolite Herald attempting to explain
their scheme. Potential stockholders were invited to invest in each of the three companies,
which jointly held a three-year lease to the Extension property. Although the leasing
companies were incorporated separately, they would then develop the Extension mine on a
combined basis. As an extra added bonus, the purchasers of the first 50,000 shares of stock in
each of these companies would receive, "free of cost," an equal number of shares in the
Bullfrog Extension Mining Company--a promotional gimmick of no real risk, since Bullfrog
Extension stock had been worthless for two years by this time.
The leasing scheme, as fantastic as it was, enabled the company to raise enough cash to hire a
miner to do the annual assessment work on the Bullfrog Extension property, and to pay the
1909 county taxes of $18.00. Too few investors, however, could be fooled all the time, and
the leasing companies folded before doing any work. The property was idle throughout 1910,
although the company still retained enough cash to pay for the annual assessment work and

the $18.00 in county taxes. By September of 1911, the company had finally given up hope,
and the gas hoist and gallows frame were dismantled from the Bullfrog Extension property
and shipped to Rawhide, for installation on a promising mine in that district. It was a very
typical fate for mining equipment, buildings, tools, and anything else of value in a dying
mine. [26]
b. Big Bullfrog Mining Company
Located in the south of the Original Bullfrog, this mine had its inception in August of 1904,
when "old man" Beatty, a local small-time dry rancher for whom the town of Beatty was
named, located the Mammoth claim. Beatty soon sold out to a group of San Francisco
financiers, who incorporated the Big Bullfrog Mining Company in 1905. The company
owned just the one claim, but nevertheless formed the usual organization, with 1,000,000
shares of stock, par value $1. Developments commenced, and by the end of 1905 the
company boasted of a 16-horsepower hoisting engine, and a 2-horsepower blower engine for
the ventilation of its 120-foot shaft. The company was described as "exhibiting good ore" in a
Rhyolite newspaper, whatever that meant.
Developments continued on an optimistic level in early 1906, as the company succeeded in

finding some ore which assayed as high as $180 per ton. Stockholders, on the basis of this
discovery, offered to sell. their stock for 14¢ a share, but no one was willing to buy. In March
the company announced that it had uncovered a body of milling grade ore worth $14 a ton.
Excitement mounted, since $14 ore was enough to make the Big Bullfrog a paying
proposition, provided that great care and economy was taken, and that the ore deposits proved
to be massive enough to warrant a large-scale operation.
In April, however, the San Francisco disaster drastically undercut the fortunes of the Big
Bullfrog Company. The superintendent halted work at the mine when he learned of the
calamity, and did not resume operation until the middle of September. The company then
reported that "satisfactory progress" was being made through October and November, but no
more ore bodies were found. At the end of 1906 the company held assets of one 16-
horsepower engine, an engine house and gallows frame, several ore cars, and mining tools,
for which it paid $29.32 to the county in taxes. [27]
The Big Bullfrog Company opened 1907 with a flair of development work, sinking its shaft
to the 250-foot level, and opening up two ledges, with "fair values exposed." By March,
however, the flair had definitely fizzled, for as the Bullfrog Miner wrote, the mine had "no
material values." "Last week work was suspended for unknown reasons," continued the
paper, as if the absence of any paying ore was not reason enough to close the mine. Stock in
the mine slowly settled to 14 a share, and then disappeared from the trading board altogether,
as it became evident that the mine would never again reopen. The Big Bullfrog had breathed
its last, and with the exception of annual assessment work done in January of 1908, no
further word was heard from another failed venture. [28]

Illustration 18. The Big Bullfrog Mine in November of 1905. Note the
gallows frame, the ore bucket, and the engine house. The dumps of the
Original Bullfrog Mine may be seen between the legs of the gallows frame,
and a few tent buildings of Amargosa are just to the left. Photo courtesy of
c. Bullfrog Fraction
In December of 1904, Len P.: McGarry, mining promoter, stock dealer, and president of the
Bullfrog West Extension Mining Company, noticed that the ground claimed by his company
did not coincide with the boundaries of the Original Bullfrog. Between the Bullfrog claim of
the Original Bullfrog company and the Delaware and Ethel claims of the West Extension,
there lay a parcel of land, 1.7 acres in all, which was unclaimed. McGarry immediately
located and recorded this ground as the Bullfrog Fraction claim. Then, interestingly enough,
he sold it to outside mining promoters instead of selling or deeding it to his own company.
Although this would seem to be a clear conflict of interests, such moves were not that
unusual in the cut-throat business of mining.
Fractional claims are the bane of miners, and the delight of lawyers, and this one was no
exception. Hardly had the new owners started to work, when their claim was disputed by the
owners of the Bullfrog Apex Mining Company, owners of the North Bullfrog claim, whose
boundaries conflicted with those of the Fraction, as well as those of the West Extension and
the Bullfrog Extension. When the Apex company filed for a patent to the North Bullfrog
claim in May of 1906, both the West Extension and the Bullfrog Extension filed adverse
actions against the granting of the patent. Then, when high grade ore was found on the
Fraction claim in June, matters got even more serious. For a while, the big companies tried to
settle the matter by furiously working the ground in question, with the Bullfrog Fraction
caught hopelessly in the middle. Then, in July, the West Extension and Bullfrog Extension
both filed suit in court against the Bullfrog Apex Company, and a long legal battle ensued.
The Rhyolite Herald correctly surmised that the struggle would be lengthy and costly for all
concerned. "If they fight it out someone is bound to lose, while all will be put to great
expense," wrote the editor. "Think it over, gentlemen, think it over."
The gentlemen involved, however, had already thought it over as much as they wished, and
during the remainder of 1905 and for most of 1906, the case wound its way slowly through
the Nevada court system. In the meantime, the owners of the Bullfrog Fraction, surrounded
by litigants which desired their ground, continued to develop their claim, and continued to
find good ore leads. As their claims grew more valuable, and as the court battles grew more
involved and more expensive, it became clear to them that they could no longer protect their
claim by themselves. Accordingly, in November of 1906, they gave up and sold the Bullfrog

Fraction to the West Extension Company. That company in turn incorporated the West
Extension Annex Company to develop the Bullfrog Fraction claim, and began to operate the
two mines as one.
The Bullfrog Fraction thus disappeared as a separate mine, and became part of the West
Extension holdings--where it would originally have been had the president of the West
Extension, Len P. McGarry, seen fit to benefit his company rather than his pocketbook two
years previous. As a bonus to the West Extension, and as a great aid in its fight against the
Apex, the Bullfrog Fraction was granted a patent (which had been applied for by the previous
owners) in March of 1907. [29]
d. Bullfrog Apex Mining and Milling Company
The Bullfrog Apex Mining and Milling Company was incorporated on August 4, 1905 by a
group of promoters headed by J.J. Fagan and E.L. Andrews. The incorporation was a rather
typical one, listing capital stock of 1,000,000 shares, par value $1 each. The company listed
itself as the owner of 15 claims, only one of which was ever worked--the North Bullfrog.
There was only one problem with the North Bullfrog claim: it intruded into the boundaries of
the Delaware claim of the West Extension Company, the Delaware 4$2 claim of the Bullfrog
Extension Company, and completely covered the small parcel of ground known as the
Bullfrog Fraction.
As events were to prove, the organizers of the Apex Company knew about these conflicting
boundaries when the North Bullfrog claim was filed, but they forged ahead anyway., hoping
to capitalize upon a few technical mistakes committed by the other companies.. Work on the
Apex ground started in the fall of 1905, and soon all the competing companies were sinking
shafts within a stone's throw of one another. The original Bullfrog shaft was the focal point,
with the Apex Company sinking only forty feet away from it, the Bullfrog Extension working
on the east, the Bullfrog Fraction on the west, and the West Extension to the west of the
Bullfrog Fraction.
Illustration 19. Stock certificate. Courtesy Nevada Historical Society.

Illustration 20. Advertisement from the Rhyolite Herald, November 10,

1905.
The development race between these companies continued through the early part of 1906.
The Apex encountered encouraging ore values, stock sales were adequate at 114: per share,
and the promoters were confident enough of the mine's prospects that they decided to apply
for a patent. That, however, was the move which spelled the end of the mine. When the Apex
filed its papers for patent, the local newspapers, as required by law, published the legal
description of the claim boundaries. When these were published, the West Extension
Company immediately realized that the Bullfrog Apex was attempting to patent land which
the West Extension had a prior location to, and it filed an adverse action against the Apex
application, and then filed for its own patent. [30]
While the patent applications and adverse suits were slowly winding their way through the
jurisdiction of the U.S. Land Office at Carson City, both companies continued to sink
development shafts and tunnels, trying to find the elusive ore bodies, and determine if there
was anything underneath the ground worth fighting for. When the Apex Company uncovered
a vein of gold assaying $251 to the ton, the question was settled, and the legal battle
intensified. The Bullfrog Extension had by now realized that the Apex patent also infringed
upon its ground, and filed a second adverse suite against it. At about this time, the struggle
was elevated from the Land Office to the civil court system of Nevada.

Law suits, then as now, took time, and in the meanwhile all the companies involved
continued to develop their mines. At the very least, the company which lost the suit hoped to
extract the best ore from the ground before the case was ever heard, thus minimizing its
losses. By October, the Bullfrog Apex realized that the West Extension was winning this
particular race to gut the contested ground, and managed to obtain a writ of claim and
delivery, stopping the West Extension from shipping high grade ore from the mine until the
suit was settled.
Illustration 21. Photo from the Rhyolite Herald of July 27, 1906, showing
the location of the ground in dispute between the Bullfrog Apex, the West
Extension, the Bullfrog Extension, and the Bullfrog Fraction. The shaft and
windlass at the bottom of the picture are on the property of the Original
Bullfrog; immediately above it can be seen the circular dump of the Apex;
the right-center workings are on the Bullfrog Fraction; and the right-top
workings belong to the West Extension. The ground in dispute between the
Apex and the Bullfrog Extension is off to the right, out of the picture.
When the first hearing of the case took place, in the local Rhyolite court on October 9th, the
judge soon realized that the case was too complex for him, and transferred it to the district
court at Tonopah. The move meant higher legal costs to all parties involved, but it also meant
more time to exploit the mines while awaiting results. But by this time the Apex was running
into trouble. The great publicity surrounding the court suit was taking its toll upon the
company, for the Apex was a relatively unheralded company, compared to the well-known
West Extension and the less famous Bullfrog Extension companies. As a result, the stock of
the Apex, which had been selling at a high of 11¢ per share in May of 1906, fell completely
off the trading board within a few weeks of the announcement of the legal suits. Strapped for
money to proceed with either the development of its prospect or the long legal battle, the
Apex took its case to the people, in the form of a long newspaper advertisement. The appeal,
however, seemed to have little effect, for Bullfrog Apex stock did not reappear on the
market. [31]
As 1906 gave way to 1907, conditions remained much the same. The case slowly ascended
the court calendar in Tonopah, and the West Extension, Bullfrog Extension and Bullfrog
Apex companies continued to develop their respective portions of the disputed ground. By
this time the West Extension Company had increased its stake in the affair, through the
purchase of the Bullfrog Fraction ground, which effectively doubled the amount of land at

dispute between it and the Apex. On February 8th, the case was finally heard in the district
court at Tonopah, and the opposing factions were given another thirty days to file final briefs.
Finally, during the first week of May, the Tonopah court rendered its judgement. The ground
known as the Delaware claim of the West Extension, and that known as the Bullfrog
Fraction, the court announced, had been located and recorded properly prior to the location
of the North Bullfrog claim of the Bullfrog Apex Company. Thus, despite the contentions of
the Apex attorneys that the former claims had been allowed to relapse, the court found that
such was not the case, and ruled entirely in the favor of the West Extension and Bullfrog
Extension companies. The West Extension gleefully placed a full page ad in the Bullfrog
Miner,, announcing that title to its ground was now uncontested. The Bullfrog Apex was left
in the cold--its claim to the North Bullfrog ground was completely invalidated.
Although the Apex Company owned other property, such as seven claims near the Happy
Hooligan, six miles to the west of the Original Bullfrog, the company had exhausted its
treasury through its hectic development of the North Bullfrog claim, and through the legal
costs of the court suit. Now, with no more money to pursue further mining, and with the utter
loss of public confidence prohibiting the sale of further stock, the Bullfrog Apex Mining and
Milling Company quietly closed its doors and went out of business. The company had taken
a calculated gamble and had lost. [32]
e. Original Bullfrog Extension
On April 13, 1905, a group of five hopeful promoters incorporated yet another Bullfrog mine,
this one called the Original Bullfrog Extension Mining Company--not to be confused (except
perhaps by investors) with the Original Bullfrog or with the Bullfrog Extension. The Original
Bullfrog Extension was the owner of two claims called the Hillside and Hillside #1, which
were situated directly north of the Delaware claim of the West Extension Company arid the
Delaware 42 claim of the Bullfrog Extension, respectively.
Despite the close similarity of names, the Original Bullfrog Extension was neither an
"original" nor a true extension of the Original Bullfrog. That in itself was no great problem,
but when potential investors figured out that the Original Extension was separated from the
Original Bullfrog by the claim of the West Extension and the Bullfrog Extension, the
company failed to attract much interest, and its stock was never placed on the trading boards.
Nevertheless, the company went to work, with the forlorn hope that either the rich Bullfrog
ledge would dip entirely through the intermediate properties and enter its ground, or that they
would have the great luck of finding a separate ledge upon their own ground. By the end of
1905, pursuing these hopes, the Original Bullfrog Extension had sunk a shaft to a. depth of
one hundred feet, and had equipped its property with a horse whim for raising the rock. [33]
The company continued its development work through the early part of 1906, but without
much luck. Neither the Bullfrog ledge nor any other ledge appeared on its property. Then, in
April, the Original Bullfrog Extension temporarily shut down work, while its superintendent
traveled to San Francisco to learn the effects of that city's recent disaster upon the company's
finances. The mine lay idle throughout the summer, but by September the company had
recovered enough to announce that work would soon be started. Soon, however, turned out to
be a long time coming, and work did not resume at all that fall. In December, with the
property still laying idle, the company gave up the hope of developing the mine on its own,
and advertised for a contract to sink fifty feet in the shaft. The advertisement described the
company's property as being equipped with a 155-foot deep shaft, a good whim and a
blacksmith shop. The company offered to provide the contractors with timbers for the shaft
and with tools for mining.

The contract was let, and by March of 1907 had been completed. No ore was found, however,
and the Bullfrog Miner was forced to admit that "nothing of importance has thus far
developed" at the Original Bullfrog Extension. Nevertheless, the company continued to work
through April, before finally giving up hope. Throughout the rest of 1907 and most of 1908
the property was dormant, with only the minimal necessary annual assessment work being
done. In 1909, however, even the assessment work was not done, which meant that the
Original Bullfrog Extension Company relinquished title to its claims. Another Bullfrog mine
had died. [34]
f. Bullfrog Red Mountain--Rhyolite Bullfrog
The Bullfrog Red Mountain Mining Company had even less of a claim to the magic Bullfrog
name than any of the above mines, for its four claims were situated almost a mile southwest
of the Original Bullfrog. Undaunted, the company was organized early in 1905, and started to
work, reporting that they had found ore worth $47 per ton. Despite this claim, efforts to
develop the mine were not successful. By the time the Red Mountain had organized,
approximately seventy-five other companies in the district had already used the Bullfrog
name, with a noticeable cheapening of its value in attracting investors. This, along with the
remote location of the mine, made it evident to any half-way careful speculator that the Red
Mountain outfit had absolutely no hope of cashing in on the Original Bullfrog ledge, and just
as remote a chance of finding another ledge of its own. As a result, although the Bullfrog
Red Mountain announced the usual incorporation of 1,000,000 shares worth $1 each, the
stock never hit the trading boards.
Before the company had really got work off the ground, the San Francisco disaster cut off
operations. The mine was idle through the rest of 1906, even though it did take the public
relations step of announcing that Sam Newell, superintendent' of the Original Bullfrog, had
also been appointed as superintendent of the Red Mountain. Unfortunately, Newell had
nothing to supervise, and nothing happened.
Then, in early 1907, the mine was sold to a new group of promoters, and the cycle started all
over again. The new owners, led by two men named Voorhees and Taylor, decided to
reincorporate and change the mine's name, hoping thus to sever all connections in the
investors' minds with the losing predecessor. Since Voorhees and Taylor were two of
Rhyolite's leading stock promoters and brokers, the new company had all the benefit of their
experience and connections. From January to April, the Rhyolite newspapers carried weekly
descriptions of the reorganized mine, thus keeping it in the public's mind, even though no
work was being done. Finally, on April 6th, the new company incorporated itself as the
Rhyolite-Bullfrog Mining Company, capitalized as usual for $1,000,000 and with the grand
total of $1,003 in the treasury. [35]
With a newly incorporated company and with money in the treasury, the Rhyolite-Bullfrog
Company underwent a flurry of development work. Camp buildings were completed in early
October, including a boarding house, stables, blacksmith shop and a superintendent's office.
Sinking was resumed by three shifts of miners, $10 ore was reported, and the company
cleverly circulated the rumor through the newspapers that it had a good treasury reserve, in
an attempt to bolster investor confidence. The papers were full of encouraging news carefully
planted by the skillful[ stock brokers running the company. During the fall and winter of
1907 reports of $23 ore, "solid values", "promising" finds, and surface showings "the best in
the district" appeared almost weekly. Then, suddenly, with the end of 1907, all work ceased.
Despite all the promotional gimmicks, the mine was not attracting investors.
Through the entire years of 1908 and 1909, little work was done at the Rhyolite-Bullfrog,
even though the company did display ore samples at the American Mining Congress

convention in Goldfield in the fall of 1909--another good promotional stunt. That was the
company's last gasp, however, and the mine lay idle through 1910 and 1911. Finally, in
March of that year, the company's four claims were sold at auction by the Nye County
sheriff, under a writ of execution brought by two disgruntled stockholders who wished to
recover their ill-spent funds. The two men received title, to the mine for their efforts, and
even tried a little prospecting work on their own, but the Rhyolite-Bullfrog, nee the Bullfrog
Red Mountain, soon died an untroubled death. The venture had proved once again that even
the very best of promotional campaigns could not save a mine which had no ore. [36]
Such were the varied fortunes of those who tried to find success in the shadow of the Original
Bullfrog strike. As noted before, the above mines were the more honest of the many which
carried the Bullfrog name, for they at least tried to find ore on 'their grounds. In this sense,
they gave their investors a better run for their money than did the promoters who merely took
stockholder's funds and ran. In the end, however, all came out equal, for no one made any
money, and some merely lost it more quickly than others.
Had things, been different--had the Original Bullfrog been another Comstock--these
surrounding mines could have made fortunes. That was what the promoters and stockholders
had' bet upon, but as the twists of fate and geologic formations would have it, the Original
Bullfrog itself turned out to be a low-grade proposition, despite the early finds of rich pockets
of gold, and the surrounding mines found no ore at all. The early demise of the Original
Bullfrog thus spelled doom for all the neighboring tadpoles, but such is the nature of the
mining game. You pay your money and take your chances. The story of these mines is
important, though, for they are typical tales which are repeated again and again in all the
camps of the western mining frontier.
g. Present Status Evaluation and Recommendations
Due to the limited nature of the activities which took place on the property of these various
mines, comparatively few structures were ever erected. Only a few of the mines had hoists or
gallows frames, as most did not pass the windlass or whim methods of raising ore. Likewise,
most of the mines never employed enough miners to warrant the construction of boarding
houses or similar buildings. And, since all these mines failed before the general exodus of the
Bullfrog district took place, the few improvements and structures located at their sites were
immediately salvaged for use elsewhere, in the time-honored manner of desert mining, where
wood was always a scarce commodity.
As a result, there are no structural remains at any of these mines. The only clues to past
activities are the numerous pits, prospect holes, adits, and shafts which dot the landscape
around the Original Bullfrog. The limited remains of these limited mining efforts are not of
National Register significance.
Interpretive signs, which would point out the location of these mines, and briefly tell the story
of their vain attempts to cash in on the Bullfrog bonanza, would be of historical interest and
educational value to the visitor. Unfortunately, in the history of man's efforts to extract wealth
from the earth, the failures of small-scale mines such as these are far more typical than is the
small percentage of mines which actually made money.

Illustration 22. Dumps of the Bullfrog Extension Mine, looking southeast

from the Original Bullfrog, may bee seen in the center and left-center of the
picture. These lonely scars are typical of the only clues remaining to tell the
story of feverish attempts to cash in on the glory of the Bullfrog bonanza.
1978 photo by John Latschar.

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION IV:
EAST SIDE
4. Bullfrog West Extension Mine
a. History
While Shorty Harris was drinking in Goldfield in celebration of the discovery of the Original
Bullfrog mine, he met an old acquaintance named Len P. McGarry. McGarry had been born
in Eureka, Nevada, and had spent his entire life in the mining state, cutting his eye teeth on
the rushes to Tonopah and Goldfield. He was the sort whom the local newspapers described
as a "young man of promise," but his promises had temporarily run out, and he was looking
for new fields of action. Quickly realizing the potential of the Bullfrog strike, McGarry
reestablished his friendship with Shorty, and accompanied him back to the scene of the strike.
There, on August 26, 1904, McGarry staked out some claims to the immediate west and north
of the Original Bullfrog.
For a while, McGarry became sidetracked from mining, as he was one of the first investors
and promotors of the Bullfrog townsite. His claims were recorded, but were not worked for
over a year. But when the Original Bullfrog Mine started shipping its pockets of high-grade
ore in 1905, McGarry regained interest in his claims, and went looking for financial backers.
By December his search was successful, and on the 7th of that month the Bullfrog West
Extension Mining Company was incorporated, with McGarry as president. Although the
incorporation was very typical on paper, with 1,000,000 shares of stock listed at a par value
of $1 each, the company decided to retain the majority of the stock, and sold a mere 125,000
shares, at 12-1/2¢ each, in order to raise the initial development fund. Stock sales were brisk,
due to the location of the company next to the Original Bullfrog, and the West Extension was
soon ready to begin work. [37]

Illustration 23. Advertisement from the Rhyolite Herald, October 27, 1905.
From the very beginning, the West Extension had better chances of intercepting the Bullfrog
ledge upon its property than any of the other Bullfrog tadpoles, simply because it was the last
to begin active operations. By the first of 1906, most of the mines surrounding the Original
Bullfrog were showing signs of failure, and the Original itself had lost the rich ore ledge
which had stimulated the first glory days. By process of elimination, this meant that if the
Bullfrog, ledge went anywhere, it had to go through the West Extension property. The
company followed this philosophy, and began sinking its shaft at the likeliest point.
By May of 1906, after only a few months of exploration work, the West Extension seemed to
discover the first signs of the Bullfrog ledge, and the local newspapers duly reported the
presence of "fine ore" in the company's shaft. Unfortunately, this was, the exact time at which
the West Extension discovered that the Bullfrog Apex was encroaching upon its ground, and
the long and costly legal struggle, described above, began. Nevertheless, the West Extension
carried on, and began taking out high-grade ore, worth up to $200 per ton, to be sacked for,
future shipment.
Within a few months, the early indications seemed proven, and in July the company's
directors decided to withdraw the stock from the trading market, in order to capitalize upon
the future profits of the mine themselves. With the mine reporting ledges averaging $50 per

ton, with some rich pockets running as., high as $2,670, the decision seemed fully justified.
For another two months the company explored, results continued to be encouraging, and in
September the decision was made to shift from exploratory mining to development on a
larger scale. A $5,000 hoisting plant was ordered, consisting of a 25-horsepower Fairbanks-
Morse engine, a four-drill capacity air compressor, and accessories. Len P. McGarry, who
was acting as superintendent of the mine, as well as president of the company, increased the
work force to ten miners. In answer to inquiries from eager investors, the company
announced that it had ample funds to pay for the escalated development plans, thank you, and
that none of the company's stock would be offered for sale.
Despite the continuing annoyance of the law suit versus the Bullfrog Apex, which among
other things prevented the West Extension from adding to its treasury by shipping the high-
grade ore, the company forged ahead. The big new hoisting plant arrived in late October and
was soon installed and working. The Bullfrog Fraction claim was purchased and the West
Extension Annex company was formed to exploit it. By this time the growing West Extension
complex looked so strong to local and state investors that when the company announced that
it would sell 150,000 shares of the Annex stock at 15¢ each, over 50,000, shares were
purchased in two weeks--despite that fact that 15¢ per share was an exorbitant price for stock
in a company that had not yet commenced mining. As 1906 came to an end, the West
Extension looked like one of the best properties in the Bullfrog district, even though title to
some of its land was still a matter of dispute. [38]
The mine continued to prosper in early 1907. Another shoot of rich ore, assaying up to $900
per ton, was opened in January, and more encouraging discoveries were made the following
month. The Bullfrog Miner, after describing the latest strike in its February 22d issue,
concluded that even though the "West Extension is only a baby as yet," it was.
"unquestionably" the "finest piece of goods" in the district.
Although the West Extension might be considered a baby, it had already spawned one
subsidiary in the West Extension Annex company, and another soon followed. In March, the
claims of the Bullfrog Teddy group, which joined those of the West Extension, were
purchased, and. the Bullfrog Teddy Gold Mining Company was organized. The officers and
directors of this company were identical to those of the West Extension, and the promotion of
the company soon began. The Teddy, the advertisements read, would be developed to catch
the West Extension ledge, just as the West Extension had caught those of the Original
Bullfrog, and the public was invited to share in the undoubted success of the venture.
Response was again satisfying, with 140,000 shares of Teddy stock sold in March, and by
April the price of the stock had risen to 16-1/2¢ per share. Obviously, investors who were
frozen out of the West Extension, since it was operating as a closed corporation, were more
than anxious to get in on its neighboring prospects. After all, the West Extension had good
ore reports, its neighbors probably would also, and all three companies were under the same
management. Len McGarry, for example, was the president of the West Extension, the West
Extension Annex, and the Bullfrog Teddy, and would also be the superintendent of all three
mines. In addition, Bullfrog Teddy and West Extension Annex stock was available for
purchase from the office of the L. P. McGarry Brokerage Company of Rhyolite, Nevada.
Things were going so well for McGarry that he even ordered a hoisting plant for the Teddy,
before active developments commenced. His luck held. During the next few weeks the West
Extension found more ore, some assaying up to $264 per ton, and the Teddy found a ledge
averaging $26.40. McGarry publicly offered to buy back the stock of the West Extension
from anyone who had. been lucky enough to purchase it the last fall, but no one seemed
willing to sell. When the board of directors of the company held its first annual meeting on
March 15th, the directors were so impressed with McGarry's reports that they voted once
again to keep West Extension stock off the trading board. This decision meant that the

directors would have to finance development work on their own, but that seemed to be no
problem, as the papers reported that $50,000 was raised in fifty seconds. [39]
By this time the West Extension properties were becoming famous throughout Nevada, and
Len McGarry granted an interview to a reporter from the Reno Journal. The mine, he said,
had rock averaging $20 per ton throughout its workings, more than enough to support a mill
upon the site, and had encountered pockets and streaks of free gold, one of which assayed at
$10,000 per ton. By the end of March the hoisting plant for the Teddy had arrived, the two
shifts of miners at the West Extension had piled over a hundred tons of high-grade ore on the
dump, and McGarry announced that the mine had thousands of tons of milling grade rock in
sight. Again, rumors of a proposed milling plant were circulated.
Another strike of $99 ore was made at the West Extension in April, and the Teddy completed
the installation of its hoisting plant and a blacksmith shop. Then, in May, the big news came.
The West Extension won its suit against the Bullfrog Apex, and Was finally free to develop
its mine unmolested, and to ship its high-grade ore, which was sacked and ready on the
dump. Strangely enough, however, the company did not ship. Instead, development work
went along as usual for another month, and then the mines were suddenly shut down. The
company announced the reason for work stoppage as being the need to thoroughly survey the
mines, in order to draw up final development and production plans, and to come to a decision
regarding the construction of a mill. The shut-down, McGarry assured the papers, was only
temporary. Holders of Bullfrog Teddy stock, however, were not fully convinced, and the
price of the stock plunged to 3¢ per share. [40]
The mine was idle until the end of August, when the company announced its new plans,
based upon the recommendations of several mining engineers who had inspected the ground
during the shut-down. Once the decisions were reached, the mines reopened, work resumed
and progressed satisfactorily throughout the fall, despite the effects of the panic of 1907. By
December the owners announced that they had $195,000 worth of ore blocked out in the
mine, and the directors again contributed more cash to finance the work. Again, rumors
circulated through the newspapers concerning the erection of a milling plant for the West
Extension. But despite all these indications of success, something was wrong with the
finances of the company. The 1907 county property taxes were not paid on time, and for the
want of $46.20 the property was listed on the delinquent list for several months.
In January of 1908, the West Extension executed another suspicious move, when that
company bought out the stock of the Bullfrog Teddy. Although this would seem to be a
meaningless move on the surface, since the two mines were already operating as one, it made
a difference to stockholders of Teddy stock. The merger was quick, and the stockholders
were helpless to prevent it, since the major stockholders and directors of the Bullfrog Teddy
were one and the same with those of the West Extension. The real effect was that Bullfrog
Teddy stock immediately became worthless, and according to the dictates of the directors,
holders of it were forced to exchange it for stock in the West Extension at a ration of four to
one. Bullfrog Teddy stock had last sold for 64: per share on the Rhyolite exchange, so for the
stockholders to come out even West Extension stock would have to be worth at least 24¢ per
share. But since West Extension stock was untraded, no one knew for sure what it was worth,
except the directors of the company. In summary, the dealings of a company which formed a
subsidiary, sold stock in it, and then absorbed that company and forced stockholders to
exchange their stock for one of unknown value, were suspect.
In order to bolster the confidence of the suspicious stockholders, the West Extension
announced at the same time that it was planning to construct a reduction plant at Gold Center,
where ample water supplies were available; and that new financial backers had pitched their
lot with the West Extension, including John Campion of Leadville, Colorado, and Fred

Bonfils, one of the owners of the Denver. [41]
Hardly had these grand organization and building plans been announced, than another
peculiar event took place. During the second week of February, the West Extension granted
an eighteen-month lease to a pair of miners, for mining rights on a portion of the Delaware
claim--the same claim for ownership of which the company had been willing to fight the
Bullfrog Annex. Ordinarily, a company which had ample capital and a promising mine,
which the West Extension claimed to have, would never lease a portion of its property, since
the employment of lessees cut down on the potential profit of the mine. Yet the West
Extension, which had never looked better, according to the reports it released to the Rhyolite
newspapers, was doing just that. No one seemed to question why. The lessees, however, were
not about to look a gift horse in the mouth, and immediately incorporated themselves as the
West Extension Leasing and Milling Company, and went to work.
By the middle of March, the plans of the company changed once again. This time, the West
Extension announced that it had reached an agreement with financiers from Salt Lake City
and Chicago relative to the construction of a mill. In return for the West Extension's
guarantee to deliver 20 tons of milling ore per day for one year, the financiers announced
plans for the construction of a custom reduction mill at Beatty. At the same time, the West
Extension also announced that the U.S. Government had approved its patent application for
the Delaware, Ethel and Jumbo claims. Following these announcements, development
proceeded at the mine, and the company shortly reported the location of another ore body,
this one assaying as high as $800 in spots, with average values throughout of $40.
The company now had three shifts working its mine continuously, and began to stope the best
ore for future milling operations. The mine superintendent reported that he could extract forty
tons of milling grade ore per day without untoward effort. The major stockholders and
directors of the mines continued to be impressed with its prospects, and once again raised
$50,000 among themselves during the annual meeting on March 28th.
More strikes were reported in April, as the mine continued to find good ore. Assay reports
differed from week to week, but it was undeniable that the West Extension had sufficient ore
to support a mill. Work started on the custom mill at Beatty, and the construction
superintendent estimated that the 10-stamp complex would be ready to accept ore in ninety
days.
Work was "pushed night and day" as April gave way to May. The company announced that
the average ore throughout the mine assayed from $22 to $30, which would make the West
Extension one of the richest mines in the Bullfrog district, were it true. Yet at the same time
that the company was making final arrangements for the milling and production of its ore, it
also inexplicably let another lease on its property, for the duration of one year. [42]
As the summer progressed, developments continued. The West Extension worked its ten
miners in two shifts during these hot months, and announced plans to raise the payroll to
thirty--which was not done. The papers continued to announce good ore finds in the mine,
and the lessees also reported good luck, one of them sacking thirty sacks of high-grade ore
within the first month of operation. A constant stream of visitors inspected the now-famous
mine, and all came way murmuring that they were impressed. But, on June 1st, an event
occurred which the West Extension company did not report to the friendly papers, for the
summer installment of county taxes on the Bullfrog Teddy property was not paid.
In August, the company announced that it had already had over $50,000 worth of milling ore
stacked on the dump, awaiting the completion of the custom mill at Beatty, and that it had the
capacity to deliver up to forty tons of ore to the mill per day.

Illustration 24. Advertisement for the leasing company operating on the

West Extension property. From the February 1908 issue of Death Valley
Magazine.

Illustration 25. The West Extension Mine, looking east-southeast towards

the Original Bullfrog, shows the close proximity to the two. Photo from the
Rhyolite Herald, March 22, 1907.
The company also announced an agreement with the Las Vegas & Tonopah Railroad,
whereby an 850-foot spur would be built to the mine. In return the West Extension
guaranteed to ship thirty tons of ore per day via the railroad at a cost of 60¢ a ton--a
substantial reduction of the usual freight rate.
Towards the end of August, however, hitches began to develop in company's plans. The mill
promoters announced delays in construction, due to difficulties in obtaining machinery and
parts, and the West Extension, with time and money running out, began to negotiate with the
Montgomery-Shoshone Mill about the possibilities of getting its ore treated there. In
September, with the Beatty custom mill still far from complete, the West Extension finally
made its first shipment of ore, twenty-five tons worth an estimated $2,000, to a smelter at
Murry, Utah. After over two years of development and promotion, the West Extension had
belatedly entered the list of Bullfrog producers. [43]
As October went by, the Beatty custom mill still showed no signs of an early completion
date. The impatient West Extension directors held more talks with the Montgomery-Shoshone
Company, but no agreement was reached. Negotiations were also initiated with the Bonnie
Claire Mill, approximately twenty miles north of Rhyolite, but again the results were
unsatisfactory. The West Extension therefore decided to attempt to build its own mill, at the
mine site, and began preliminary surveys for a water pipeline from Rhyolite to the mine.
Even though a decision to build a mill meant that the West Extension would need more
money than ever, the company also decided not to ship any more ore, preferring to wait and
run it through its own mill in the future. The company also decided once again to avoid
selling West Extension stock to raise money, and the directors met in Utah with their
Colorado partners to iron out the details of the financial campaign. The results of that meeting
were evidently satisfactory, for after the surveyors reported that water could be piped from
Rhyolite to the mine site, the company announced that it would definitely build a mill.
During the latter part of November, survey teams inspected the area around the West
Extension mine, prior to selecting the best site for the mill.
Several mill machinery companies were invited to submit plans for the mill, and alternate
proposals soon came rolling in. Since the mine had sufficient ore on the dumps for several
months of mill supply, and more in the mine ready to hoist to the surface, the underground
miners were laid off, until final details for the future of the mine and mill could be reached.
Towards the end of December, 1908, the company tentatively agreed to mill plans submitted
by the Joshua Hendy Company of San Francisco. The plans called for the erection of a 10-
stamp mill, with treatment by stamp crushing, followed' by plate amalgamation, the "perfect"
system of concentration and final treatment by cyanide lixiviation.. The plant was to be
powered by electricity, and the Hendy Company estimated that it would take four months to
build. Final contracts for the construction of the mill awaited only the official approval of a
meeting of the full board of directors.
Thus, as 1908 ended, the West Extension appeared to be poised on the verge of becoming
one of the Bullfrog district's important producers. Still, with all its promise, signs of financial
difficulties continued to appear in the organization. In 1908 the Nye county taxes on the West
Extension property were again paid late. Taxes on the Teddy property owned by the company
were not paid at all, as the Bullfrog Teddy Mine had been abandoned shortly after the merger
of the two companies. Ironically, a United States patent to the abandoned mine was received
on January 15, 1909. [44]

During the first months of 1909, the ambiguity surrounding the future of the West Extension
did not become any more clear. The directors held their annual meeting on January 30th, and
re-elected Len P. McGarry as president of the company. That, however, was the only,
definite news release to the press. Although the Rhyolite papers felt "certain" that the mill
plans were approved, they were also forced to admit that "Little is being said about the mine
proper of late, and it is impossible now to estimate with accuracy its ability as a producer."
The silence of the company seemed ominous, since it had always been the first to let the
papers know whenever something good was to be reported.
In the meantime, the West Extension Mine lay idle, as the directors tried to figure out what to
do next. As January gave way to February and March, the directors still failed to reach a
decision, and the mine, with its reported $50,000 worth of ore on the dump, was not touched.
Rumors circulated that the Montgomery-Shoshone had taken a lease on the West Extension
property, in order to ship its ore to the Shoshone Mill, but nothing happened. During the
summer, several independent leasing outfits attempted to secure rights to work the ground,
but all were unsuccessful, and the mine still lay idle.
By September of 1909, the West Extension Mine had not been worked for almost a year, and
creditors of the company lost patience. A Goldfield legal firm sued the company to recover
$2,400 in back fees, and a group of Rhyolite merchants were forced to initiate another suit to
recover a paltry $600 in overdue bills. The company, in the meantime, underwent a private
reorganization, and G. S. Johnson replaced Len McGarry as president. No reason was given
for the change of leaders. Johnson promised payment in full to all creditors, and tried to
dampen the unwelcome publicity, but gave no explanations for the recent puzzling lack of
action at the mine. Despite Johnson's promises, however, the company's debts were not paid,
and the creditors were forced to take the matter to court. The Bullfrog Miner expressed the
public's bewilderment at the strange lack of action at the West Extension, for according to the
company's reports, it could easily liquidate all debts merely by shipping the ore it said it had
ready on the dump. Still, nothing happened.
By the end of 1909, the inevitable result was beginning to become plain for all to see. The
last official announcements of the West Extension Company had been full of breathless
figures of ore on the dumps, enormous ore deposits in the mine, and plans for a reduction
mill. That, however, had been over a year previous, and nothing had been done since. The
Mining World assessed the West Extension as a promising property, but "one in which lack
of ample capital is holding back work, while absence of milling facilities is keenly felt. Much
of the ore on this and other properties is of too low grade to warrant shipping to smelters."
The Nye County Treasurer also summed up the situation in his own inimitable way, for when
the West Extension failed to pay its 1909 county taxes on time, he immediately placed the
property on the delinquent tax list. [45]
By 1910, the West Extension appeared to be a dead mine, but the local folk refused to let it
die in peace. Indeed, the entire Bullfrog District was in a decided decline by now, but the
stalwart at heart refused to believe. Admittedly, some of the most promising mines in the
district had already gone under, but in the eyes of the faithful the Bullfrog District was not
yet finished. The lead article in the January 1st issue of the Rhyolite Herald entitled "New
Years Dawn Full of Promise," symbolized the optimism of the remaining Bullfroggers. With
this attitude, it is a small wonder that the papers would not leave the West Extension alone,
for it had been one of the latest mines of promise, and to admit that it had failed would be to
admit the same for the entire district. As the above article continued, the West Extension,
surely, "will be soon put into shape for production."
Accordingly, every straw was seized at. When a mining engineer from the huge Goldfield
Consolidated firm, for example, made an inspection of the West Extension property in June

and again in November, the paper hopefully printed rumors of the purchase and re-opening
of the mine. Likewise, when the West Extension Company reorganized and reincorporated
itself in September, the Herald saw certain signs of the imminent resumption of work. But
1910 ended the way it had begun--no work was done on the property for the second straight
year, and the company's taxes were again delinquent. To add insult to injury, the private
residence of Len P. McGarry, former president of the Bullfrog West Extension Mining
Company, the Bullfrog Teddy Mining Company, the West Extension Annex Mining
Company and the L. P. McGarry Brokerage house, was also placed on the delinquent list for
the non-payment of county taxes. [46]
As usual, things got worse before they got better. In April of 1911 the West Extension estate
was put under the auctioneer's hammer, to satisfy the claims of its creditors, who had won
their suits against the company. As the Rhyolite Herald sadly noted, "The Extension is one of
the truly bright prospects of the camp, and it is a matter of deep regret that financially it is on
the breakers."
Towards the end of the year, however, prospects revived. The Mayflower Leasing Company,
a consortium of promoters who were not yet ready to give up on the Bullfrog district, decided
to take a look at the West Extension. The Mayflower Company had already had a limited
degree of success in combining the ore output from several mines in the district for reduction
at the Eclipse Mill, which it owned, and it soon decided that the West Extension could make
a contribution towards this effort. In December, the company executed a long-term lease with
the West Extension and announced that it would put two shifts of miners at work to extract
ore for its mill. Interestingly enough, the Mayflower spokesman gave the Rhyolite Herald a
much lower estimate of the value of the West Extension's ore than the figures received from
McGarry et. al. in past years. The leasing company's assays showed that the mine had average
values of from $12 to $15 per ton, enough to give the company a profit after deducting the
foreseen costs of $7 per ton for mining, freightage and milling. The grateful McGarry, who
was still listed as the principal owner of the West Extension, was finally able to pay the 1911
county taxes of $110.80, from the proceeds of the lease. [47]
As 1912 opened, the West Extension was thus literally given a new lease on life. This was
made more evident on January 13th, when the Mayflower Company announced that it had
gone one step beyond the leasing agreement, and had bought the West Extension property
outright. The mine would be opened soon, the announcement continued, the long-awaited
railroad spur to the property would be built, and best of all, the Mayflower itself would be
reorganized, so that stockholders would have "a chance to get in on the new company." The
Rhyolite Herald was ecstatic. This "is the first ray of sunshine with no clouds hovering near
that Rhyolite has seen for many a day. This may prove the starting of a new era for the
Bullfrog region, and be the first of a large number of companies to commence operations on
a sensible, economical basis, and show to the world that this district can become a steady and
profitable producer."
Although everything the Herald hoped for did not come to pass, the Mayflower Company did
begin work. By February 10th, the mine and mill were both operating, and within a week the
Eclipse Mill was treating twenty-five tons of West Extension ore per day. The new manager
of the West Extension Mine estimated that it had enough ore in sight to supply the mill for
one year, unless new ore bodies were uncovered. In the meantime, L. P. McGarry, left out in
the cold, watched helplessly as the First National Bank of Rhyolite sold 30,000 of his shares
in the old West Extension at auction, for repayment of a bad debt of $3,800.
By March, the reorganization plans of the Mayflower Company were complete, and it
announced its incorporation as the Southern Nevada Mining company. The main assets of the
new company were the West Extension Mine and the Eclipse Mill, as well as leasing rights

on several other mines. The following week, the first cleanup was made at the mill, and the
bullion was shipped to Utah. The company made no public statement concerning the
estimated value of the recovered gold.
Another cleanup was made in the latter part of March, although no values were given, and
holders of old West Extension stock were advised to exchange it for the new Southern
Nevada stock as soon as possible. By the first of April, the mill had consumed the ore from
the West Extension dumps, and the mine began extracting ore from the depths for shipment
to the mill. A new boarding house was built at the mine, and the mill made another shipment
of bullion. The March report of the Southern Nevada stated that 830 tons of West Expansion
ore had been reduced, with an extraction rate of 90% of the gold value.
The success continued through May. Bullion shipments were made regularly, and the Las
Vegas & Tonopah Railroad announced that the traffic flow warranted all north and south-
bound trains stopping at the West Extension, for pickup and discharge of freight, ore and
passengers. (The passenger rate from there to Rhyolite was 25¢.) As May passed into June,
the Rhyolite Herald reported continued success in both the mine and the mill, and the
company reported that enough ore had been blocked out in the mine to supply the mill for
another year.
That, however, was one of the last reports printed by the Rhyolite Herald for the last
surviving paper of the Bullfrog district ceased publication on June 22d. Although the
Southern Nevada mine and mill were enjoying success, not enough other mines were still
operating in the district to support the paper. As a result of the Herald's demise, our day-to-
day knowledge of the West Extension comes to an end, and the recorded history of the mine
becomes much more sketchy. [48]
We do know that the Southern Nevada was still operating the West Extension property at the
end of 1912, for the company readily paid its taxes of $39.38, assessed on personal property
consisting of one 15-horsepower Fairbanks-Morse hoisting engine, an engine house, a
blacksmith shop, a gallows headframe, and mining tools. Sometime in 1913, however, the
mine ran out of ore, as had been predicted, for the 1913 taxes were not paid. Apparently the
mine was shut down rather early in 1913, for the tax rolls noted that less than $100 worth of
labor had been performed on the company's claims that year.
But the Southern Nevada was not yet ready to give up. From 1914 to 1920, the company
maintained enough faith in the future of the mine to pay taxes each year, even though no
work was performed. Then, in 1921, the taxes were marked delinquent, and the property was
deeded to the care of the Nye County Treasurer the following year. [49]
The West Extension Mine was dormant through the rest of the decade, until 1929, when its
fortunes became interwined with those of the Original Bullfrog. As noted before, the magic
of the Bullfrog name survived the life of the Bullfrog District, and between 1929 and 1978,
various individuals, out of hopes of profit or feelings of loyalty to a bygone era, bought, sold,
operated and leased the Original Bullfrog, the West Extension and other ghost mines of the
district. During the majority of this time, the West Extension and the Original Bullfrog were
owned by the same people, and neither enjoyed any significant recovery. Some of its owners
merely held title for a period of years, and some, like the Burm-Ball Mining Company,
operated the mine or leased it to others. Production was minimal and profits undoubtedly
nonexistent, but the owners held on in hope and faith. The West Extension property was last
purchased in 1976 by Boyce Cook and Lenard Cruson, the owners of the Original Bullfrog
Mine. [50]
In terms of longevity, the West Extension was one of the most successful mines of the

Bullfrog District, for it outlived the Original Bullfrog, all the Bullfrog tadpoles, and even the
Montgomery-Shoshone Mine, which recorded the largest ore production in the district. In
terms of profit, however, the West Extension could hardly be termed a success. The mine
never made any money during the McGarry years, and whether or not it did while operated
by the Southern Nevada is an unanswered question, due to the failure of latter to publish
bullion figures. At best, the West Extension mine can only be considered as a very minimal
producer.
But the mine did typify several aspects of early twentieth-century business procedures. It was
an early and "close in" location, in the best traditions of mining, and was promoted by one of
the Bullfrog District's most skilled stock dealers. Had the mine proved to be a bonanza,
which was always the hope of its owners, they would have become relatively rich. Since it
did not, they at least lost their own money, and comparatively little of others'. Thus, despite
several shady deals, such as those surrounding the sale of Bullfrog Teddy and West
Extension Annex stock, the attempt to develop the West Extension Mine seems to have been
fairly honest. Finally, like all the other Bullfrog mines, the West Extension was able to extract
ore at a profit only when it was operated on a large-scale and tight economic basis. The West
Extension proved, if nothing else, that the best promotion and intentions in the world will fail
to make a winner out of a low-grade mineral deposit.
Due to the close proximity of these two mines, the West Extension has rarely been identified
as a separate mine from the Original Bullfrog. The confusion is natural, since the pits, shafts,
tunnels and dumps of. the two mines run into each other on the ground, and especially since
the two were owned and operated as one between the 1930s and the present. Given this
status, and the fact that their histories are closely connected, there is no compelling reason to
treat them separately at this point.
The physical structures remaining on these sites are not impressive. Both mines show
evidence of much work, with numerous shafts, dumps, etc., dotting the landscape. In
addition, a collapsed headframe, a water tank, a cement engine foundation and timber debris
are scattered around the area. All in all, the two sites denote the scene of much past activity,
but very little remains with which to interpret that past.
Nevertheless, the Original Bullfrog-West Extension site will be nominated to the National
Register, due to the tremendous impact which the discovery of the Original Bullfrog Mine
had upon the entire southern Nevada and southeastern California region. The discovery of the
Original Bullfrog was the catalyst for one of the most colorful and enthusiastic mining booms
in the area, and certainly sparked the greatest mining effort that Death Valley has ever seen.
As such, the site of the original mine should be preserved. In addition, the sites of the
Original Bullfrog-West Extension mining camp and of the short-lived tent town of Amargosa
deserve the attentions of a historical archaeologist.
The interpretive potential of this site cannot be overstated. At present, there are absolutely no
signs or indications of where the Original Bullfrog Mine is, or what it meant to the history of
this entire desert region. Indeed, on most of the roads leading into the Bullfrog District, there
are no signs informing visitors that they have entered National Monument boundaries. At the
very least, interpretive signs, and something on the order or an outdoor exhibit should be
erected at the site, in order to tell the story of the discovery and history of the Original
Bullfrog and West Extension mines, and their influence upon the surrounding territory. The
interpretive exhibit should also include a brief description of the canvas city of Amargosa,
the first in the district, which was platted on National Park Service land, just south of the
Original Bullfrog Mine.

Illustration 26. Sketch Map, Original Bullfrog-west Extension Historic Site.
Illustration 27. View from the site of Amargosa, looking northwest towards
Bullfrog Mountain. The dumps of the Original Bullfrog cover the small
knoll in the center, with the dumps of the West Extension tucked away in
the small valley to the left. The grade of the Las Vegas & Tonopah
Railroad, not visible in the picture, runs in front of the Original Bullfrog.

Illustration 28. Reverse of above view, looking southeast from the West
Extension towards the Amargosa site. Large leveled dumps of the West
Extension are in the foreground, with two of the Original Bullfrog's dumps
visible towards upper left. Collapsed headframe of West Extension is just to
the left, foreground, off the photo. Compare this view to the March 1907
photo from the Rhyolite Herald. 1978 photo by John Latschar.

Illustrations 29-30. Top: Closer view of the Original Bullfrog dumps, from
the Las Vegas & Tonopah Railroad grade, looking northwest. Bottom:
View of West Extension dumps to left, from the same spot. Conical dump
of the Original Bullfog, to the right in this photo, may be matched with the
same dump seen in left of above. 1978 photos by John Latschar.

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION IV:
EAST SIDE
5. Gold Bar Mine
a. History
The early twentieth-century strikes at Tonopah and Goldfield attracted miners from all parts
of the United States. Among them were two miners from Cripple Creek, Colorado, named
Ben Hazeltine and N. P. Reinhart. Although they arrived in Goldfield too late to capitalize
upon that rush, they soon found jobs in local mines. By the time the news of Shorty Harris'
and d Cross' strike hit Goldfield, Reinhart and Hazeltine were ready for another rush, and
they joined the great migration to the new Bullfrog District. Finding that all the close-in
ground was already staked out, the two men drifted farther afield, prospecting in the upper
Bullfrog Hills. On October 10, 1904, their persistence paid off, for they found and located the
Hazeltine claims, approximately four miles northwest of Rhyolite, and two miles north of the
Original Bullfrog.

Illustration 31. Sketch Map, Homestake-Gold Bar claims, 1905.
The two men worked the mine by themselves for a short while, and regularly brought in ore
samples to be assayed at Rhyolite. The rich results of the assay tests did not go unnoticed,
and early in 1905 Reinhart and Hazeltine sold their mine. If the newspaper accounts are
reliable, the two men joined that very select group of prospectors who were able to make
good on their finds, for the reported sale price was $117,000 in cash and treasury stock of the
purchasing company. The Rhyolite Herald hailed the sale as "the first deal of importance
made in the district." The new owners, headed by Goldfield promotors J. P. Loftus and J. R.
Davis, soon organized themselves as the Bullfrog Gold Bar Mining Company, and set to
work. [51
The Gold Bar Mine immediately caught the attention of the Bullfrog District. By the end of
May 1905, after only six weeks of exploratory work, the mine had run into ore ledges
averaging $15 per ton, and had uncovered small rich pockets, one of which assayed at $1,458
a ton. The company ordered a 25-horsepower hoisting engine to replace its horsedrawn
whim, built a wagon road to the mine, and began construction of a shaft house and other
auxiliary structures. As the summer progressed, the mine raised its work force to fourteen
miners, and continued to uncover evidence of paying ore. Although the small rich pockets
were few and far between, the mine reported in July that it had an abundance of good ore
worth $50 a ton. Towards the end of the summer, with the mine well into its development
phase, a new boarding house had been completed for the convenience of the miners, and the
Herald characterized the Gold Bar as "one of the surest and most dependable properties in the
district."

Good news continued to flow via the mine's reports during the fall of 1905. By this time the
mine was exploring the ground through three different shafts, one of which was down to the
150-foot level, and all three shafts reported paying ore. Superintendent L. E. Bedford
reported that the company had spent almost $1,400 in development work, at the rate of $7.50
per foot of work. Further strikes in the Gold Bar caused its stock to jump from 104 per share
to 35¢ in two weeks. With the continuing success of the Gold Bar Mine, and the opening of
the Homestake Mine next door, a group of Rhyolite promoters located ten claims just south
of the Gold Bar property, with the intentions of starting another town.
On November 17th, the Rhyolite Herald described the Gold Bar property in some detail. The
mine, said the reporter, showed bigger continuous free milling ore deposits than any other
property in the Bullfrog District, with a reported 350,000 tons of ore in sight. The Gold Bar
had been the first mine in the district to discard the hand windlass in favor of a horse whim
for raising ore. Even that, however, had proved insufficient, and the company had recently
ordered a gasoline hoisting plant. The company owned a fifteen by twenty-one foot
bunkhouse which slept fourteen miners, a boarding house, and superintendent Bedford was
building a bungalow for himself, constructed of lumber and canvas. The company had begun
to sack its high-grade ore for shipment, and was discussing plans for the construction of a
40-stamp reduction mill on its property. [52]
Illustration 32. View of the Gold Bar and Homestake mining camp in
November of 1905. Miners from the two companies shared living quarters
in the fledgling townsite. The very small dump at the top of the picture
belongs to the Homestake Mine--the Gold Bar workings are out of the
picture to the left. Photo courtesy of Nevada Historical Society.

Illustration 33. Another view of the Gold Bar-Homestake complex in late

1905, taken up the hill to the northwest of the previous picture. The dump
and hoist in the foreground are the main workings of the Gold Bar
Company, and the buildings in the center of the picture are also part of the
Gold Bar complex. The two dumps and the structure towards the top of the
hill belong to the Homestake Company. Photo courtesy of Nevada
Historical Society.
Illustration 34. Close-up of the main Gold Bar shaft, in November of 1905.
Note the rather crude hoisting frame, which was powered by the rather
tired-looking horse in the background. The high-grade ore was stacked next
to the shaft, for future sacking, as shown in the picture, while the waste was
hauled via the ore car to the edge of the dump. Photo courtesy of Nevada
Historical Society.
The new hoisting plant for the Gold Bar arrived early in January of 1906, and after delays in
obtaining enough timber to construct the gallows frame, development work resumed. By this
time the company had completed over one thousand feet of underground work in its shafts,
drifts and crosscuts, and all indications pointed to a very large body of ore. Stock in the mine
rose to 49¢ per share, and local brokers advised their customers that it was a good buy at that
price. The Gold Bar Company agreed, and on February 9th, applied for a patent to its claims.
In early March, the Herald again described the condition and prospects of the mine. The Gold
Bar, according to the paper, now had the second largest hoisting plant in the state of Nevada.
It consisted of a 28-horsepower Hercules gasoline hoist and a 1-ton ore skip with an
automatic dumping capability, which could raise 140 tons of rock per day from a maximum
depth of five hundred feet. The gallows frame of the hoist was fifty feet high and contained
20,000 board feet of lumber. Interior developments were also impressive. By the end of
March the three shifts of miners had made lateral connections between the two main working
shafts, while above ground other employees were sacking $350 ore for shipment. In order to
improve communications, a telephone line was being built from Rhyolite to the mine. New
strikes were being reported, with some assays running as high as $450 to the ton. The
company continued to contemplate the building of a mill, if transportation problems could be
solved, and had purchased water rights in the Grapevine mountains, eight miles to the west.
Work started on improvements at that spring, which initially had a flow of three miner's
inches an hour, enough to operate a small 10-stamp mill.
In the meantime, investors were eagerly buying stock in the promising mine. Shares of Gold
Bar stock which had sold for 40¢ each in January jumped to 604: in February, and reached

the magic figure of $1 each by, the first of March. Although the Bullfrog Miner, expressed
mild surprise "at this almost phenomenal advance in the price of the stock of a company that
has not yet shipped a pound of ore, the advance continued, and the Gold Bar stock reached
the price of $1.92-1/2 per share on March 30th. [53]
In April, the fortunes of the mine reached a turning point, as the Gold Bar Company gave
Charles M. Schwab, the famous steel millionaire and mining promoter, an option to purchase
the property. Descriptions of the deal varied, but Schwab apparently had an option to
purchase the mine for $1,000,000 by May 1st. Schwab sent his engineers out to examine the
mine, prior to exercising his option, and the Bullfrog District waited in anticipation. The
control of a mine by a man with the assets of Schwab could only mean good things for the
entire district.
While Schwab pondered the deal, the Gold Bar continued to report discoveries of valuable
ore, and the month of April saw so much promising development take place that the owners
of the mine privately expressed the hope that Schwab would let his option expire without
buying the mine. The Herald after digesting the latest company reports, called the Gold Bar
"one of the biggest things in the far famed State of Nevada."
But the San Francisco fire and earthquake dampened the mood of unbounded optimism.
Schwab requested an extension of twenty days on his option, due to financial difficulties
caused by the disaster, and the Gold Bar Company approved his request--which seems to
indicate that they were a bit more anxious for Schwab to buy than they had said. A further ten
day extension followed the first, and finally Schwab decided not to buy. The newspapers
advanced several causes for the decision. Some speculated that Schwab was hurt more than
he was willing to tell by the San Francisco disaster. Others felt that Schwab's engineers had
not given him favorable report on the mine, and one paper wrote that the present Gold Bar
owners had killed the deal, by insisting upon being given too large a share in the new
ownership of the mine.
Nevertheless, the deal fell through, and the owners put on a good face, declaring that they
were glad that Schwab had not bought. Developments at the mine continued despite the
effects of the San Francisco disaster upon financial circles. Sacking of high-grade ore
progressed, the new main working shaft reached a depth of 250 feet, and the company began
the construction of a new boarding house with accommodations for sixty miners. Towards
the end of June the Gold Bar made its first shipment, a small one of five sacks of ore, and
announced that it had received a government patent for its claims. Stock sales continued to
be brisk, despite the financial climate of the times, and the company was reported to have a
splendid treasury balance. [54]
On June 29th, the Gold Bar company held its first annual meeting, re-electing J. P. Loftus as
president and J. R. Davis as vice-president and general manager. Davis reported that the
company had spent $48,660.55 in the last year on development work and capital
improvements, and that the mine had an estimated $2,347,000 worth of ore in sight. The
company had $28,893.20 in cash in the treasury, and held unsold treasury stock worth
$143,893.20 at the present market value. That market value had declined, though, as an
inevitable result of the failure of the Schwab deal, and dropped from a high of $2.15 per
share in May to a low of $1.02 in late July, before beginning to recover.
The Gold Bar Company continued operations through the intense heat of the summer. The
mine now employed twenty-five men, and its main shaft reached a depth of 330 feet by the
end of July. Discounting 'the small pockets of rich ore which were being sacked for
shipment, values throughout the mine ran from $8 to $15 per ton. It was becoming apparent
that the. Gold Bar was a low-grade mine, which would have to operate its own mill in order

to make a profit. Work progressed on both the mine and the company's water rights during
the fall. No new deposits of high-grade ore were found, but the company reported good
milling values as the shafts reached deeper and deeper. Superintendent Bedford received
praise from both the company and the local newspapers for his business-like manner, as the
miners sunk their shafts, drifts and tunnels at a rate of 400 feet per month through October
and November. By the end of 1906, when the Gold Bar Company paid its county taxes, the
improvements listed on its property included the hoisting plant and gallows frame, a small
engine house, a blacksmith shop, a boarding house, an office building, three Lenox ore cars,
and mining tools and equipment. [55]
Illustration 35. View of the Gold Bar workings in June 1906. The old
working shaft, site of the discontinued horse whim, is in the foreground,
with the new shaft and hoisting plant to the right. The dumps of the
Homestake Mine appear in the top right of the picture. Photo courtesy of

Illustration 36. Close-up of the new hoisting plant of the Gold Bar in
June of 1906. The massive gallows frame and ore bin dominate the
foreground, with the engine house behind. Photo courtesy of Nevada
Historical Society.
In early January of 1907, the Gold Bar announced that it would definitely build a mill on its
property, but no further details were released. In order to help finance the construction, the
mine began to ship ore to the newly completed Las Vegas & Tonopah Railroad terminus at
Rhyolite. Upwards of thirty tons were shipped by the end of February, estimated to be worth
$8,000 to $9,000. Work on the water rights in the Grapevine Mountains continued, and the
company installed a gasoline-powered pump at the spring to help improve the flow of water.
By this time, the Gold Bar and the Homestake mines were together employing so many
miners that the men briefly considered splitting off from the Bonanza Miners Union of
Rhyolite, and forming their own local.
Two more carloads of high-grade ore were shipped via the Las Vegas & Tonopah in March,
and the company received a check from the mill for February's shipment Although the
returns from the first shipment were $7,000, less than had been expected, it still represented
the best net profit to date of any shipment from the Bullfrog district. The Bullfrog Miner,
summarizing the details of over 4,750 feet of development work at the Gold Bar, called the
mine "the biggest milling proposition in the state of Nevada today."
When the Rhyolite Stock Exchange opened for its first day of business on March 29th, 1,000
shares of Gold Bar stock were sold for $1.15 each. In spite of the announced mill plans, and

the fact that the Gold Bar had started shipping its high-grade ore, the growing realization that
the mine was essentially a low-grade operation had steadily driven down prices from the
highs of the previous summer. Stock which had opened the year at $1.50 per share had
dropped to $1.25 in February and declined further in March.
Despite this decline in stock values, the Gold Bar seemed to have enough money in its
treasury, due to shipments of high-grade ore and past stock sales, to press ahead with its mill
plans. On June 22, the company announced that it had let a contract to a construction firm for
the erection of its mill. The name of the construction firm was the Loftus-Davis Corporation,
an ominous sign which went unobserved by the local newspapers. The mill plans called for
the crushing of the ore by ten stamps, followed by amalgamation and cyanide treatments.
Since the majority of the Gold Bar's ore was free-milling, more sophisticated and costly
treatment was not necessary, in the view of the company. Work began for the mill
foundations, and the company started laying a pipe line from its spring to the mill site.
Machinery for the mill was ordered, and shipped from the manufacturer in July, and the pipe
line was almost complete by the end of August. The annual report of the company showed a
total expenditure of $119,000 to date, and Loftus and Davis were re-elected to their posts at
the head of the company. Later in August, mill machinery began to arrive via the railroad,
while grading work at the millsite continued. Despite the physical evidence that the Gold Bar
was evolving from a developing to a producing mine, stock prices continued to fall. $1.15
quotes in late March fell to 80¢ by the middle of May, to 70¢ by the end of July, and to 584:
on the first of September. [56]
Work on the mill slowly progressed during the last months of 1907. The Nevada-California
Power Company informed the Gold Bar that electric lines could not be extended to its
property before March of 1908, so the company was in no great hurry to complete its mill.
The underground miners were laid off, since the company felt it had enough ore blocked out
to support the mill for several months, but work continued on the surface preparation for the
mill. By the first of October, the excavation and grading work was completed, and the men
began pouring the concrete foundations. These were finished by the first of November, and
the framework of the mill building was begun.
Detailed plans for the mill were finally released to the press in early November. Power would
be supplied by a 50-horsepower electric, motor, assisted by the gravity flow of the ore. The
mill would have ten stamps, each weighing 905 pounds, for the crushing of the ore. Each
stamp would have a 6-inch drop, at the rate of 100 per minute, giving the mill a crushing
capacity of forty to fifty tons per day. From the stamps the ore would pass over 120 square
feet of amalgamation plates, then into a Huntington mill, and over the plates again, in a
surprise move, the company announced that cyanidation had been eliminated from the
treatment process--a very unusual omission.
In addition, the Gold Bar began construction of a 50,000 gallon water tank above the millsite.
With the ore already developed in the mine, whose main shaft now reached a depth of 600
feet, the company grandly announced that it had "immense reserves of milling ores which
will keep the ten-stamp mill busy for years." The Rhyolite Herald also quoted the Gold Bar
as stating "that there is enough ore in sight to run a 100-stamp mill at full capacity for two
years, in which case there must be close to 400,000 tons blocked out." If the company's
figures were true, and the average ore value is placed at a very low estimate of $7 per ton,
then the Gold Bar Mine had almost three million dollars worth of gold waiting to be milled,
and could look forward to a long and prosperous career. Investors, however, did not seem to
believe the figures released by the Gold Bar Company. Stock in the mine continued to
decline, from 42¢ at the end of September, to 38¢ at the end of October, and 30¢ by the end
of November.

Illustration 37. Stock certificate. Courtesy Dr. Richard Lingenfelter.
Delays also began to plague the company. Although the mill building was completed by the
first week of December, and the machinery was being installed, work on the power line was
interrupted due to a conflict between the Nevada-California Power Company and the
Western Federation of Miners. For an unknown reason, the union would not let any of its
miners work for. the power company, and delays continued until a subcontract was let for the
construction of the line. In the meantime, the Gold Bar had resumed underground work, in
anticipation of the completion of the mill, and all the mill equipment was in place by
December 7th, with the exception of the water pumps, which had not yet arrived. By January
10th, 1908, all these irritating delays had been surmounted, and the Gold Bar mill was finally
ready to begin operations. Investors took heart, and stock in the company closed the year of
1907 with a brief flurry, rising to 37¢ per share. [57]
On January 11, 1908, the Gold Bar Mill began operations, amid much excitement and
anxiety. The worries turned out to be justified, as the mill was forced to shut down within a
week, due to excessive leaks in the pipe line. After several weeks of delay to replace the
broken pipe, the mill started up again during the first week of February, and on February 22d,
the first clean-up was made, resulting in $2,000 worth of gold bullion. The mine announced
that this trial run had resulted in a recovery ratio of 86% of the gold content of the ore, and
that it planned to treat 35-40 tons of $15 ore per day. President Loftus also announced that
the success of the mill and the ore reserves of the mine practically guaranteed that the
company would add thirty more stamps to its mill within six months.
Superintendent Bedford brought in another bar of bullion from the mill on the first of March,
this one estimated at a value of $3,000 to $4,000. This was the result of two more week's
production, which had continued despite reoccurring problems with the pipe line. The pipe
delivered from a New Jersey supplier was half rotten, complained the company, and would
not stand up under pressure. Despite this problem and others with the intermittent power
delivered over the new electric lines, the mill treated an average of forty tons per day in
March, with an average gold recovery of $350-$400 per day. The mine, in the meantime, was
taking out ore at the rate of forty tons per day, sufficient to keep the mill in steady operation.
Production continued in April. On the 4th of that month, the mine shipped another bar of

bullion, estimated at $4,000-$5,000 value, and the mill continued to treat approximately forty
tons of ore per day, despite annoying leaks in the pipe line. Rumors circulated that the mine
would be forced to replace the entire pipe line in order to solve the water problem, at the cost
of considerable delays.
Illustration 38. View of the Gold Bar-Homestake camp site in January of

1908. The recently completed Gold Bar Mill is visible towards the left top,
and the very beginnings of foundation work on the Homestake Mill can be
seen in the right-top corner. The population of the camp was at its height
when this picture was taken, as both the Gold Bar and the Homestake were
in periods of production. Note that wooden buildings have replaced the tent
houses of earlier years. Photo courtesy of Nevada Historical Society.
Illustration 39. Close-up of the Gold Bar Mill and hoist in January of 1908.
As usual, the mill was placed as close to the mine as possible in order to
reduce costs of transporting ore, and was built on a slope so the force of
gravity would help turn the machinery in the 10-stamp mill. Photo courtesy
of Nevada Historical Society.
Suddenly, on April 25th, the mine and mill were closed. The company announced that the
shut-down was only temporary, in order to refurbish the mine and pipe line. In addition to the
water problems, assay reports from the mill tailings indicated that the present treatment
process allowed $3.60 per ton of gold to escape with the tailings. Losses of this magnitude

obviously could not be tolerated in a low-grade operation. Belatedly, the company seemed to
realize that it would have to install the relatively expensive cyanide treatment machinery in
order to make a profit. Plans to replace the entire pipe line were also announced, with the
New Jersey supplier providing free replacement pipe, and the Gold Bar absorbing the costs of
relaying the pipe. 19,000 gallons of water was being pumped at the spring site, but only 9,000
gallons reached the mine. Ominously, the company did not announce a definite date for the
beginning of the improvement work. The news hit the Bullfrog District with the force of
doom, and Gold Bar stock quickly dropped to 16¢ per share. [58]
With the benefit of hindsight, it suddenly became apparent that something was definitely
wrong with the Bullfrog Gold Bar Mining Company, and had been wrong for some time. L.
E. Bedford, for example, who had been superintendent of the Gold Bar since 1905, had
quietly resigned on March 21st, and left for California. He had told reporters at the time that
he had been offered a better job, but now they wondered if he had seen something coming
and had got out while the going was good. His departure, at the very time when the Gold Bar
was finally beginning to produce, looked strange.
On May 6th, all suspicions were confirmed, as bad news hit town. I. K. Farrington &
Company, a New York brokerage firm, announced that the recent decline of the Gold Bar
stock was solely due to "the throwing over by a western bank of a large block of Gold Bar,
with instructions to sell regardless of market price conditions." Evidently, someone on the
inside knew that the Gold Bar was about to fail, and intended to unload. Three weeks later,
the Rhyolite Herald reported that over 200,000 shares of the company's stock had been sold,
as the dumping continued, and the price sank to 6¢. Loftus and Davis, in the meantime, the
principal controllers of the Bullfrog Gold Bar, left for a two-month vacation in Europe,
announcing that they would take a look at the Gold Bar problems upon their return.
While the pair were abroad, however, their attorneys were not idle. The Nevada Exploitation
Company, an aptly named Goldfield concern, filed suit for an attachment on the assets and
property of the Gold Bar Company, in order to recover $36,300 which it had advanced to the
Gold Bar to finance the construction of its mill. The owners of the Nevada Exploitation
company were Messrs. Loftus and Davis. In essence, Loftus and Davis were thus suing
themselves, but if they won, the Gold Bar would become the property of the Nevada
Exploitation Company, and all holders of Gold Bar stock would be left holding the bag.
Given the fact that Loftus and Davis were controlling partners in both corporations, one
could not expect that the Gold Bar Company would be adequately defended in court.
The Rhyolite newspapers smelled fraud of the worst sort, and started screaming. The Herald
managed to obtain copies of the company's reports for April and June of 1908, which gave
the directors' side of the story. According to Loftus and Davis, the Gold Bar had decided to
borrow the money for mill construction from Nevada Exploitation Company (owned by
themselves), rather than sell shares of the company's treasury stock. At the time that decision
was made, stock in the Gold Bar had declined from a high of over two dollars per share to
40¢. Since they were sure that the mill would prove to be a large success, they felt that, the
treasury stock would then rebound to values around $1 each, so it was in the company's best
interests to hold on to its stock.
As soon as the mill opened, however, the mine superintendent suddenly reported that the
values of ore in the mine were not at all what he had claimed during past years, and the mill
was forced to attempt to reduce very low-grade ore. Finding that the mill was losing money,
Loftus and Davis then decided to sell the treasury stock, in order to repay the company's debt
to the Nevada Exploitation Company Failing in that attempt, with the company treasury
depleted and the mill losing money each month, Loftus and Davis had reluctantly come to
the decision to close down both mine and mill. Just as reluctantly, they had also been forced

to sue themselves in order to recover their money. All in all, the two men claimed, the failure
of the Gold Bar Mine was the fault of Superintendent Bedford, who had deceived both
themselves and the public for over two years concerning the true value of the ore deposits in
the mine. It was no wonder that he had left town.
The Herald however, did not believe a word of it. Bedford had indeed been guilt of deceiving
the public, but not of deceiving Loftus and Davis, who obviously were the leaders of the
company. Only when Bedford had discovered that Loftus and Davis planned to let him carry
all the blame for the company's fraudulent practices had Bedford decided that discretion was
the better part of valor, and left town. The Herald could cite too many direct quotes from
Loftus and Davis concerning the prospects and values of the Gold Bar to believe that they
were innocent. One had only to review the directors' production statements of the last several
months to prove that point, for while they were claiming bullion shipments of $4,000 to
$8,000 per month, the actual figures released in the official company reports were from
$1,500 to $2,000. It was evident to the Herald that Loftus and Davis had intended to defraud
the public from the beginning, by loaning themselves money to build a mill, releasing false
claims of mill returns, dumping the company's stock on the market, then recovering their
loans by foreclosing on the Gold Bar. Thus they would be left with all the profits of the mill
returns and the stock sales and would lose no money at all. The public stockholders, however,
would lose every penny which they had invested in the Gold Bar Mine since 1905.
Despite the extreme anger of the local newspapers and of stockholders around the nation, the
plans of Loftus and Davis were completed with hardly a hitch. The Nevada Exploitation
Company won its suit agains the Gold Bar Company, and in December of 1908 the Gold Bar
mine and mill were sold to the. Nevada Exploitation Company. Holders of Gold. Bar stock,
which had plunged to 3¢ per share, were left with nothing but waste paper in their hands.
Not content with their coup, Loftus and Davis then proceeded to announce a grand
reorganization of the Gold Bar. They proposed to reincorporate as the New Gold Bar Mining
Company, with a capitalization of 1,000,000 shares, par value $1 each, and offered to sell
600,000 shares in the new company to stockholders of the old, at a special discount rate of 7¢
per share. The money thus raised, they announced, would pay off the debt owed by the Gold
Bar to Nevada Exploitation, after which the mine would be free to resume operations. The
Rhyolite Herald managed to secure an interview with Loftus and Davis, at which "The merits
and demerits of the Gold Bar freeze-out were discussed with considerable animation."
The Herald reporter showed Loftus and Davis a copy of the Gold Bar's official report of the
fall of 1907, wherein the company had stated that it had $1,250,000 worth of ore in its mine.
The two men insisted that the best estimates had indicated that there was that much ore in the
mine, but as soon as the miners began extracting ore for the mill from the fabulous ore
ledges, every single one of them disappeared. Loftus and Davis agreed that the simultaneous
failure of every ore. body in the mine at the same time was "somewhat extraordinary" but it
was "nevertheless true."
The Herald reporter pressed on, citing conflicting reports given to the public via the
newspapers and those released at later dates as official company reports. Time and again,
Loftus and Davis insisted that there had been no intent to defraud the public. Finally the
reporter asked why the company had dumped its treasury stock after it had determined that
the mine and mill were a failure and would have to be closed down. "What kind of treatment
is that for the public to receive at your hands?" Loftus' reply amply summed up the
philosophy of the Gold Bar Company. "I am not the guardian of the public. It is up to the
public to decide these things for themselves." When further pressed by the reporter as to the
lack of ethics displayed by the company, Loftus reiterated his feelings in the best tradition of
the nineteenth-century robber barons--"The public be damned."

All this damning of the actions of Loftus and Davis, of course, could not bring back the Gold
Bar. The therapeutic value of being able to identify and condemn a pair of acknowledged
villains, however, seemed to be good for the Bullfrog District, and the papers continued to be
full of various and sundry attacks upon the motivations, characters, and ancestry of Loftus
and Davis. As the attacks continued, the Rhyolite Daily Bulletin reintroduced a factor that
everyone seemed to have forgotten in the recent excitement. After digging through past
copies of the Rhyolite newspapers, the Bulletin reminded the public that the contract for the
construction of the Gold Bar mill had been awarded by the company to the Loftus-Davis
Company of Goldfield, and another piece of the puzzle fell into place. It was no wonder, said
the Bulletin that the Gold Bar Company had been willing to accept a poorly designed and
built mill, with rotten water pipes, a lack of cyanide treatment facilities, and other defects.
The full extent of the fraud now became clear for the first time. Not only had a Loftus-Davis
controlled company loaned the Gold Bar the money to build its mill, but the mill had then
been built by yet another Loftus-Davis company. How much of the almost $50,000 paid by
the Gold Bar to that construction company represented a pure profit? And how did Loftus
and Davis have the nerve to sue the Gold Bar to recover the costs of construction, when they
had already paid themselves for the actual construction work? The Bulletin's question, of
course, went unanswered.
Indeed, Loftus and Davis inexplicably seemed to be unaware of the extreme wave of hatred
directed towards them, for they blithely persisted in advertising for investors in their
reorganization efforts. Needless to say, their advertisements fell upon barren ground. No one
who had been burned by one of Nevada's most complete swindles was willing to suffer again,
and the reorganization plans soon fizzled out. Ironically, at about this time, the United States
Geologic Survey published its report on the Bullfrog district. "Although a little rich ore has
been found" in the Gold Bar Mine; the report stated, 9t is evident that the deposit is to be
regarded as a large mass of low-grade material, such as can be worked, if at all, only on a
considerable scale and by the most economical methods possible in this district." Economical
was one thing which the Gold Bar Company was not. [59]
Although the Gold Bar affair was now finished, it was some time before all the dust settled.
Angry stockholders continued to write letters to the Rhyolite newspapers, denouncing the
fleecing which they had taken, and Loftus and Davis experimented with several more
attempts at reorganization for several months. Neither had any success. More annual reports
of the Gold Bar Company were dug out and exposed in the newspapers, including one of
June 1906, which stated that the company had over two million dollars of gold ore in sight.
Several individuals and companies made feeble efforts towards teasing and reviving the
mine, but all failed before they really got started. One thing became abundantly plain--the
Gold Bar Mine did not have any paying ore at all. The Nevada Exploitation Company,,
however, paid its taxes upon the Gold Bar property in December of 1909, in order to protects
its investment in the mill and machinery located on the property, but no work was done upon
the ground during that year.
In June of 1910, by which time the Gold Bar Mine had been idle for over two years, the
Nevada Exploitation Company announced that its mill buildings and machinery were for sale,
but no one seemed interested in purchasing a poorly designed mill. Finally, in February of
1911, the company succeeded in selling the mill to the Round Mountain Mining Company,
for transfer to another Nevada mining district. By this time, Loftus and Davis felt safe to
show their faces in the Bullfrog district, when they came to close the deal. The two men still
insisted that they had been innocent all along, and that the sole cause behind the Gold Bar's
problems had been the deceptions practiced by former Superintendent Bedford upon the
company and the public. No one believed them, but the Bullfrog District was probably glad
to see the Gold Bar mill, a constant reminder of a past failure, shipped away during April.

By this time the Gold Bar Mine had entered that company of failed mines which people will
not let rest in peace. Between 1910 and 1919 the Nevada Exploitation Company continued to
hold title to the ground and paid county taxes each year. The company even performed the
required $100 of labor each year on each claim, in order to avoid still higher taxes. But in
1920, Loftus and Davis finally gave up, quit paying taxes, and the Gold Bar joined its
Bullfrog contemporaries on the delinquent tax list of the Nye County Treasurer. [60]
The Gold Bar Mine rested on the county delinquent tax list from 1922 until 1942, with the
exception of 1937, when the mine was briefly worked. Then, in 1942, the Gold Bar was
purchased from the county (through payment of back taxes) by an individual from California
who incorporated himself as the Gold Bar Mining Corporation. Whether for reasons of
nostalgia or otherwise, the Gold Bar Mining Corporation still retains title to the mine,
dutifully paying county taxes of from $110 to $150 each year. No serious mining endeavors,
however, were ever carried out. [61]
The story of the Bullfrog Gold Bar Mining Company is not a pleasing one. It is, however,
one that is all too typical of the mining history of the early twentieth century. What started
out as a legitimate effort to exploit a high-grade gold deposit turned into a high-grade fraud
when its owners figured out that the Gold Bar was a low-grade mine, and was not the sort
from which fortunes are made. Like many mining promoters before and since, Loftus and
Davis determined to mine the pockets of stockholders when it became evident that mining the
ground would not prove profitable. Given the boom spirit and unbounded optimism of the
Bullfrog District, which is most typical of mining camps throughout history, it is not
altogether surprising that Loftus and Davis were so successful.
As is obvious by now, the Gold Bar mine was never a large producer of gold. I is impossible
to determine how much ore was ever taken out of the ground, since the majority of the
available figures are those which were released to the press by the company itself. It is
doubtful, however, that the Gold Bar ever contributed a significant amount of gold to the
coffers of the country. Two things, though, are abundantly clear: the private stockholders of
the Gold Bar company never made any money at all, and Loftus and Davis never lost any.
How much money those two promoters gained from their various swindles will never be
known.
b. Miscellaneous Gold Bars
Like the area around the Original Bullfrog, the ground surrounding the Gold Bar Mine was
covered with locations, prospects and mining companies shortly after the initial successes of
the Gold Bar Mine were publicized. As usual, most of these companies incorporated the
words "Gold Bar" into their titles, staked out ground as close as possible to it, and tried to
attract investors. Like the Bullfrog tadpoles, some of these mining companies never actually
mined, while a few did. All of them failed.
Chief among these companies who tried to find ore were the Gold Bar Extension, which
operated intermittently from June of 1905 to February 1908; the Gold Bar Annex, which
existed from February of 1906 to August of 1907; the Original Gold Bar Extension, which
ran from April to November of 1906; and the Gold Bar South Extension, with a life-span
from April of 1906 to April of 1907. None of these companies ever found any ore, and
although a few of them were able to list and sell their stocks for a short period of time, a
singular jack of success marks their efforts.
c. Present Status Evaluation and Recommendations
See the Homestake-King section, where it and the Gold Bar mines will be discussed together.


Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION IV:
EAST SIDE
6. Homestake-King Mine
a. History
Once a prospector was lucky enough to find indications of gold on the surface of the ground,
he then faced another difficult decision. Which way would the ore vein run after it
disappeared beneath the surface? This was a question of great import, since all mining
districts had distinct limits as to how much ground each prospector could locate. Thus, if the
discoverer of surface gold guessed wrong, and the vein angled out of his claim and
underneath neighboring claims, then the discoverer was out of luck, while his neighbor was
in.
This was the problem which faced N.P. Reinhart and Ben Hazeltine when they discovered
what became the Gold Bar Mine. Like most prospectors, they had a rudimentary knowledge
of geologic formations, and an even greater store of contemporary prospectors' myths and
hunches. After studying the land, the two men decided that the vein ran northwest and
southeast, and staked their claims. Unfortunately, they had guessed incorrectly.
As usual with the site of a new discovery, the Gold Bar area was soon over-run with eager
prospectors looking for "close-in" ground. One of these was a man named John McMullin,
and the poor luck which had dogged Reinhart and Hazeltine proved to be his good fortune.
McMullin studied the Gold Bar claims, examined the surrounding territory, and decided that
the vein ran southwest and northeast: or perpendicular to the prior guess. McMullin therefore
staked out his allotted three claims, named them the Homestake after the famous South
Dakota gold mine, and started to dig.
McMullin staked his claims sometime in early 1905, and immediately found indications of
good ore deposits. Within two months of his discovery eastern financiers had obtained an
option on his infant mine. As McMullin continued to dig, and continued to find good ore
indications, the deal was soon consummated, and in September of 1905 McMullin sold out
for cash, stock and a seat on the board of directors of the Homestake Consolidated Mining
Company. The Homestake was the usual corporation of the times, with the exception that it
decided not to sell shares on the public market. The company was dominated by semi-retired
Dallas businessmen, who were looking for a good investment and who seemed to have ample
cash to finance the development of the mine. B.D. Milam, a former Dallas real estate
magnate, was elected president of the company and Con O'Donnell was named general
manager in charge of development. John McMullin, as promised, proudly took his seat on the
board of directors, a prospector who made good.

By the end of September, after only one month of vigorous development and exploration
work, the Homestake Company verified the good guess work of McMullin. The company
announced that it had penetrated the Gold Bar ledge on its property and further declared its
belief that the ledge ran entirely through one of its claims. The Homestake Consolidated
Mining Company was in business. [62]
During the remainder of 1905, the Homestake rapidly went to work. A shaft was begun, just
a few feet inside the boundary line separating the Homestake from the Gold Bar, and ore
valued at $39 per ton was almost immediately uncovered. The company began to build a
bunk house for its miners, and ordered a 15-horsepower hoisting engine for the property. The
new hoist arrived promptly on January 5, 1906, and was soon installed and working. The
future of the property seemed assured when a saloon was established near the mine, for
saloon-keepers in mining camps seemed to have an uncanny ability to judge which mines
would furnish long-term business and which would quickly fade away.
Flanked as it was by the Gold Bar Mine, which had completely captured the attention and the
headlines of the local newspapers, the Homestake quietly developed its property without the
benefit of much publicity. By the end of March, 1906, the exploration shaft had been sunk to
a depth of 220 feet, which caused the company to cease sinking until means could be
provided to pipe air to the miners far below ground. The Homestake kept the papers informed
of its discoveries as time progressed, but the $35 ore found in that mine could not compete
with the more fabulous reports from the Gold Bar Mine, and Homestake news was relegated
to the back pages.
Although the Homestake Company had an official policy of not selling shares of its stock on
the open market, it had no control, of course, over the sale of shares by its stockholders.
Blocks of shares appeared on the local stock markets from time to time, and after a stow
start, began to capture the attention of local investors. 100,000 shares were traded in early
April at a price of 75¢ each, and as investors realized that the Homestake Consolidated
Company meant business, the price rose to 85¢ in May. While this could not compare with
the $1.60 commanded by the Gold Bar, it was a very health price for stock in a company
which was still in the early stages of exploration and development. Although the San
Francisco disaster depressed stock values temporarily, they soon recovered. [63]
In the meantime, another mining company had opened for business in the Gold Bar-
Homestake area. Incorporated as the Bullfrog Gold King Mining and Milling Company, it
was owned in large by the same people who controlled the Homestake. B.D. Milam was the
president of this company, and Con O'Donnell was general manager, mirroring the same
positions which they held with the Homestake. F.S. Kelly, the present superintendent of the
Homestake mine, was also named as superintendent of the Gold King. The new company
owned four claims and two fractional claims adjoining the Gold Bar and the Homestake on
the north. Although the two companies held separate incorporations, for all practical purposes
they were considered the same mine, and were developed in tandem.
As the summer progressed, the two mines were steadily developed. Good surface values were
found on the Gold King, while the Homestake continued to uncover milling grade ore in its
shaft, which was now down to 285 feet. Fourteen men were employed at the mines, and a 15-
horsepower gas hoist was ordered to facilitate development at the Gold King. Bythe end of
the summer, the hoist had arrived and was installed, and both mines reported continuing
good ore values. Nothing sensational, however, was uncovered at either property, and the
Homestake-Gold King complex continued to take a back seat in the newspapers to their
neighbor the Gold Bar. Private investors showed more confidence in the mines than did the
newspapers, and Homestake stock steadily advanced through the summer, until it sold for
$1.15 per share in the middle of August.

Illustration 40. The Gold Bar-Homestake camp in June of 1906. The main
working dump of the Homestake can be seen in the top center of the
picture. Note that telephone lines have already been connected to the little
work camp, and that piles of lumber on the ground indicate that wooden
structures will soon take the place of earlier tent homes. Photo courtesy of
Illustration 41. Main working shaft of the Homestake Mine in June of 1906.
The small hoisting frame sits directly above the shaft, and the ore bucket is
visible at the surface. The tin building housed the 15-horsepower hoisting
engine used in the early days of the mine. A prospect hole is also visible
above the engine house. Photo courtesy of Nevada Historical Society.
By early fall, the Homestake Company was ready to pass from the exploratory stage into the
serious development of its mine. Underground probes had indicated the presence of good ore
bodies, and with a better idea of which way the ledges twisted and turned the company was
able to plan an advanced development campaign. A new working shaft was started close to
the division line between the Homestake and the Gold King claims and a 40-horsepower
hoist was ordered for placement there. By way of underground connections, the company
planned to use this shaft to hoist all the ore found in both mines to the surface. Investors

agreed with the rosy future foreseen by the mining companies, and Homestake stock
continued to record good sales at $1.15 per share. Gold King stock also entered the trading
board at a price of 35¢.
During November, the realization slowly hit the Bullfrog District that the Homestake and
Gold King mines were quietly developing into something big. When the companies
announced plans to consolidate their workings even more, and when the Homestake ordered
more cable to enable it to sink beyond the 300-foot level the news was printed on the front
pages of the newspapers rather than on the back. Although neither company deluged the
papers with reports of fabulous ore discoveries as most mining companies were wont to do,
stock values continued to rise. Gold King hit a high of 53¢ per share on November 9th, and
Homestake rose to $1.70 the following week.
Then, in December, the management of the Homestake and Gold King mines took the
anticipated step and officially combined their companies. With the overwhelming approval of
the stockholders and directors who were gathered in Dallas, the two companies were
reorganized as the Homestake-King Consolidated Mining and Milling Company. The merger
meant a stock split, and all the old Gold King and Homestake shares were called in, for
exchange for the new. Gold King stock was exchanged at the ration of four shares of old to
one new, and Homestake stock went on a one-to-one basis, based upon the present market
value of the two stocks. The new company announced that its capitalization was for
1,500,000 shares, or half again as many shares as either company had held before. More
available shares, of course, meant that each share was worth less, and although the Bullfrog
District heartily approved of the merger, Homestake-King stock immediately sold for less
than Homestake Consolidated had been selling.
The new company was prepared for such inevitable occurrences, and soon announced its
plans for the future. The company had a $40,000 treasury, enough to finance a considerable
amount of development work, and admitted that it was seriously considering the construction
of a mill upon its property, should ore values continue to hold with depth. Towards the end
of 1906, the company began to sack its high grade ore, worth from $350 to $500 per ton, and
seemed to be in fine shape. Taxes were paid on improvements to the mines consisting of two
gas hoists, one engine house, two gallows frames, mining tools, ore cars, and three lots which
the company owned in Rhyolite. But investors seemed wary. Stock prices fell to $1.25 per
share at the end of December, which was not unexpected due to the merger, but sales were
slow. Undoubtedly, the troubles which the Gold Bar was experiencing about this time
depressed the Homestake-King sales, since the two companies were mining the same ore
lode. [64]
Development activities proceeded through the early months of 1907. In February, with
twenty-one men employed in three shifts, the company began construction of another bunk
house and a boarding house. Teams of surveyors began a search through the surrounding
hills for a water source to supply the future mill. In March the superintendent was forced to
halt vertical work when the shaft reached the 400-foot level, which strained the old 15-
horsepower engine to its utmost. While the mine awaited its long overdue 40-horsepower
engine, the men were put to work in lateral explorations, pushing drifts and crosscuts out
from the shaft at the 200, 300 and 400-foot levels. Ore of good milling value was found on
all levels.
At the end of March, the company leased the water rights at Mud Springs, approximately five
miles north, and began improvements at the springs designed to increase the water flow to a
level sufficient enough to support a stamp mill. Although no detailed plans were yet reached,
the mine superintendent guessed that the future mill would have forty stamps. The Bullfrog
Miner printed a summary of development work at the Homestake-King on March 29th,

listing a total of 2,288 feet of underground work completed. Surface improvements consisted
of one 40-horsepower hoist (which had just arrived), one 24-horsepower hoist and the old
15-horsepower engine. In addition, the company operated a 10 by 12 compressor, which
powered the air drills used in the mine.
Then, on April 5th, the Homestake-King committed itself to the construction of a mill, a step
which the Bullfrog District had eagerly awaited. The directors voted $100,000 for mill
construction, but did not release any details concerning the reduction plans. The local papers
felt assured that nothing less than forty stamps would be considered. Con O'Donnel, general
manager of the company, gave the papers an estimate of 40,000 tons of $25 ore in the mine
as well as 90,000 tons of $15 ore. The Rhyolite Herald thought this estimate of $2,350,000 of
mineral content was too low, and speculated that the mine actually contained $5,000,000
worth of ore. Given either estimate, the company felt that all the paying ore in the mine could
be profitably mined since their experts had predicted mining and mill costs of $4 per ton.
Investors took heart at the announced plans, and Homestake-King stock rose slightly to $1.20
per share.
Committed to developing its mine on a large scale, the Homestake-King forged ahead. The
new 40-horsepower hoist was placed above the main working shaft and sinking resumed,
with the intention of doubling the depth to 800 feet. Since the ore discovered on the 400-foot
level had been the best yet discovered in the mine, the company hoped for further
improvements as greater depths were reached. At the same time, the surveyors reported that
Mud Springs could be developed in sufficient quantity to supply the mill with adequate
water, and the company negotiated for its purchase. In reply to constant inquiries, the
Homestake-King promised that the papers would be given complete mill plans, as soon as
water rights were secured. [65]
Work at the Homestake-King complex continued apace through the long hot summer months.
The main shaft reached the 500-foot level on July 20th, and continued to show good values
with increased depth. During August, the company directors met at Rhyolite to inspect the
mine and then retired to San Francisco to discuss details of the proposed mill. On August
24th, they cautiously announced their preliminary plans. The mill would be large, with twenty
stamps and a 100-ton daily capacity, but details of the reduction process would have to await
the results of ore tests. For this purpose, five tons of ore were shipped to San Francisco for
extensive tests, and representatives of several machinery firms were invited to visit the mine
in order to draw up and submit bids on the construction work. Meanwhile, the company
purchased the water rights at Mud Springs, and put seven men to work on a pipe line.
Ore tests were completed in October, and the company announced that the results indicated
that a 96% savings ratio was possible. President Milam returned to Rhyolite to participate in
ground-breaking ceremonies as the company began preliminary excavation work on the mill
site. Milam told reporters that the mill, with good luck, would be completed by March of
1908, but that final contractural details had not yet been resolved. In the meantime, the
miners were shifted from shaft work, and began lateral work on several levels in order to
develop quantities of ore for delivery to the mill.
Final plans were announced in November. The Homestake-King signed a contract with the
Nevada-California Power Company for the delivery of electric power to the mill site for ten
years. The next day; on November 23d, the company announced that the contract for the
construction of its mill had been let to the famous Colorado Iron Works of Denver, the
winner of the five firms which bid for the job. The Rhyolite papers differed as to the costs of
construction, with one reporting $150,000 and the other $200,000 but both gave details of the
mill plans.

The ore would first pass through a grizzly and a McCully gyratory crusher, for preliminary
crushing, and then would undergo final crushing by twenty-five stamps. From there the pulp
would pass over twelve feet of copper plates, then through a Door classifier and to three tube
mills for fine grinding. The slime would next be run through two settling tanks, each
measuring thirty feet across and six feet deep, while tailings from the tube mills would be
rerun over the plates. From the settling tanks, the slime would enter final reduction via two
seventeen-foot agitators, the stock slime tanks, a forty-frame Butters filter and the gold
storage solution tanks. Finally, the ore would be filtered through the zinc boxes, producing
the final bullion. In addition, two twenty-foot by five-foot sand tanks were provided to treat
the intermediate sands by leaching, as necessary. As was obvious to all concerned, the
Homestake-King mill was the result of much testing and thought, and represented one of the
finest stamp mills which money and modern technology could provide--an undoubted
contrast to the rather simple mill being built at the Gold Bar.
The mill building itself would be constructed of steel throughout, and Mr. Rothwell of the
Colorado Iron Works, who had supervised the construction of mills "in practically all the
camps of the United States and in Mexico," would personally supervise all construction
details. The design of the mill building would be such that the capacity could be increased
beyond the initial twenty-five stamps in the future without impeding the day-to-day
operation of the mill. On December 3rd, the Tonopah Lumber Company won the contract to
supply lumber for the mill construction, and three days later excavation work began in
earnest.
But despite the clear evidence of big plans in store for the Homestake-King, its stock took a
beating in the fall of 1907, as a result of the great panic which was sweeping the nation.
Prices fell steadily from 97¢ per share in July to 854: in September, to 75¢ in October and to
55¢ on December 4th, just a few days before construction work began. [66]
Delays almost immediately began to plague the company. The Homestake-King had
contracted with the Gold Bar Company for the water necessary to begin work on the concrete
foundations of the mill, but the water problems with the Gold Bar pipe line prevented it from
delivering any to the Homestake-King. Nevertheless, the company steadily worked on the
excavation and foundation work, with water painfully hauled from Rhyolite and from
Currie's Well. Another bunk house was built at the mine to accommodate the additional
fifteen men hired to work on the mill. By the end of December, the excavations were almost
complete, the mill foundations were well under way, and the Colorado Iron Works notified
Mr. Rothwell that the factory was ready to begin shipment of parts and machinery as soon as
he was ready for them.
By the middle of January, 1908, the excavation work was complete and the mill foundations
were almost finished. Carloads of material began to arrive over the Las Vegas & Tonopah
Railroad, and the company had in its employ one 10-mule team used solely in hauling water,
and two others for hauling rock and sand for the concrete. President Milam visited Rhyolite
in order to inspect the progress of the work, and informed reporters that the total weight of
the machinery to be delivered for the mill was in excess of 700 tons. Milam expected the mill
to be operating by the first of May. Towards the end of February, with the foundations
practically finished, framing for the mill building began, while operations in the mine
continued as it readied itself to deliver a steady supply of ore to the mill.
During March the foundations were finally finished, and a Bulletin reporter wrote that they
measured 231 feet from end to end and 103 feet from side to side. By now mill machinery
and material was arriving almost daily over the railroad, as well as pipes for the water line.
As April passed by, the battery bins were finished and the ore bins were started. The
foundations for the settling, sand, and leaching tanks were completed, and the steel frame of

the building was put in place. Cyanide tanks were under construction, the twenty-five stamps
were installed and the tube mills were put into position. Delays in certain deliveries, such as
steel sheeting to cover the building, slowed the pace of construction.
With construction lagging behind schedule at the end of April, the company increased its
force to sixty-three men. Final shipments of the delayed materials were soon received, and
the building began to take shape above the desert. The seventy-five ton ore bin was finished,
and the 350-ton bin to hold the crushed ore was completed. The ore crushers were installed
and the 50,000 gallon water tank was erected. Amalgamating tables were finished and work
began on the cyanide tanks. The Homestake-King made arrangements to tap the power line of
the Gold Bar mill soon after it shut down, in order to save on the cost of building another
power line to the site. The company received its shipments of electric motors, consisting of
two 30-horsepower, one 20-horsepower and two 10-horsepower.
During May, the company intensified the work schedule in the mine and purchased and
installed a six-drill compressor plant to power additional air drills. By the middle of the
month the sheet metal skin of the mill was half finished, as was the pipe line, and a week
later the Nevada-California Power Company began to install the electric connections between
the Gold Bar and the Homestake-King. A slight delay ensued when problems with the water
pumps for the pipe line were encountered, but on June 3d the mill was complete, except for a
few final finishing touches. Reporters who visited the site were dutifully impressed and
glowingly described the mill.
The mill foundations rested on solid rock, and the steel framework was securely fastened to
the foundations. Ample windows were provided for light inside the mill, and the company
awaited only the arrival of a new pump and the turning on of the power by the Nevada-
California Power Company to begin operations. According to the details of the construction
contract, the Colorado Iron Works representative would supervise the operation of the mill
for sixty days, and the Homestake-King would only take final acceptance of the mill after
that period, after the mill had proved to be operating flawlessly.
As construction on the Homestake-King Mill had progressed, stock prices in the company
had steadily gone downhill. After a brief flurry in December of 1907, when prices rebounded
to 75¢ per share, the sudden closing of the Gold Bar Mill, and all the dirt which that stirred
up had a deadening effect upon the fortunes of the Homestake-King. Although there were no
murmurings or rumors of fraud connected with the Homestake-King, the public obviously
felt that since its mill would run on the same ore ledge which had utterly failed in the Gold
Bar Mine, that the same fate would be repeated at the Homestake. Stocks fell to 57¢ per share
in January, to 48¢ in February, and all the way to 30¢ each in April, after the Gold Bar Mill
had closed. At that point the slide slowed down, and Homestake-King stock hovered around
304 per share for several months. [67]
On June 20, 1908, the Homestake-King Mill turned on its machinery for the first time. The
preliminary tests went well. No leaks were found in the water lines, and no vibrations were
felt in the mill, even when all twenty-five stamps were activated. The company proudly
announced that the mill was extremely well-built, and one of the finest of its kind to be seen
anywhere. It was automatic, in the terms of the day, so that a force of only twenty men was
needed to operate the mill around the clock. Best of all, in the light of the recent Gold Bar
disaster, the Homestake-King proudly announced that there were no mortgages or outstanding
loans against the company and that the mill was completely paid for. Thus, "there will never
be any question about the property being taken over for debt." As a further attempt to boost
the sagging investor confidence in the Bullfrog district, the company reiterated that it had
"never sold a single share of stock on any exchange. The stock that has been sold on the
exchanges did not come from the treasury, but has been offered by private parties."

During the first week of July, after preliminary mill tests were completed, production runs
began. Approximately eighty tons of ore were sent through the workings per day, and three
shifts of sixty men were at work in the mine and the mill. Towards the end of the month, the
mill's capacity had been increased to one hundred tons per day, with the mill extracting 90%
on the gold in low-grade ore and 95% in high-grade. On August 22d, the Homestake-King
made its first shipment of bullion, weighing 925 ounces. The Rhyolite Herald estimated the
shipment to be worth $17,000 and the Bullfrog Miner, guessed $25,000. Whichever was
right, the Homestake-King had entered the rare and proud company of producing mines.
But on September 1st, the mill was suddenly shut down, and the entire Bullfrog District
braced itself for a repetition of the Gold Bar story. Rumors flew thick and fast concerning the
cause of the shut-down, with the majority holding that the Homestake-King, like the Gold
Bar, had no ore in its mine. The company itself compounded the mystery and confusion by
remaining silent, giving the newspapers no reason for the closure. This time, however, the
district was blessed with a happier ending. Conflicts had arisen between the Homestake-King
and the Colorado Iron Works concerning the final payments due on the mill, and the mill had
been closed while the directors of the two companies met in the middle of September to iron
out a compromise. Late in September an agreement was reached and the mine and mill
resumed operations. President Milam, who belated realized the consternation which had
swept through the district, apologized for the lack of information given out by the company,
and promised a policy of full publicity in the future in order to avoid any further
misunderstandings.
Illustration 42. The Homestake-King Mill in May 1908, looking south

towards Bullfrog Mountain. Note that all the windows have not yet been put
into place. Photo courtesy of Nevada Historical Society.

Illustration 43. The Homestake-Gold Bar camp in June of 1908. The Gold
Bar Mill, now shut down, is at the left, with the almost-completed
Homestake-King Mill at the extreme right. Wooden buildings have taken
over the camp site from the tent dwellings of previous years. Photo courtesy
Illustration 44. Interior of the Homestake-King Mill, ca June 1908, just

prior to completion of the mill. This view is of the battery room, where the
ore exits the twenty-five stamps. The stamps are to the left, with one each
attached to each vertical shaft seen in the photo. In the rear, note the steel
framework of the building, covered with sheet-metal skin. Photo courtesy

Illustration 45. Another view of the interior of the Homestake-King Mill, ca

June 1908. The three tube mills, used for fine grinding of the ore, are
clearly visible. Note also one of the mill's large tanks to the right, and the
structural steelwork of the mill building overhead. Photo courtesy of
Through October, November and December of 1908, the mine and mill ran smoothly,
producing a steady stream of gold bullion. Exact production figures are hard to determine.
The Bullfrog Miner which seemed to have a habit of exaggerating, gave estimates of $25,000
for October, $25,000 for November and $11,000 in December. The more conservative
Rhyolite Herald gave estimates for the same months as $10,000, $12,000 and $12,000. The
company itself did not release monthly ore figures, but later stated that production for 1908
had amounted to $45,000 for the months of July through December. TheHerald, in the
meantime, took the Miner to task for publishing inflated production figures, for such
practices could only hurt the district when the truth was revealed.
But whatever the exact figures, it was evident that the Homestake-King mill was a grand
success. Following the lay-off of the construction workers, the company employed nineteen
men in the mine and eleven in the mill, and reduced its ore at a cost of only $4 per ton for
mining and milling. Since the average ore being run through the mill was worth $8.50 per
ton, the company was making a good profit. The Homestake-King Mill was one of the most
economical ones for its time, and had the smallest payroll for the amount of ore being milled
in the Bullfrog District. With the mine and mill running smoothly, the predominate question
which now affected the future of the company was the extent of its ore reserves. On
November 11th, by which time the mill had been running for four months, the mine
superintendent reported that the mine had. enough proven reserves to supply the mill with
eighty tons per day for six more months. Needless to say, the mine was exploring for further
ore reserves to lengthen that time, and had every hope that the ore ledges which it was
following would continue to contain good milling ore.
Towards the end of November, with the mine and mill running at full force, the Rhyolite
Herald ruefully recalled the panic of a few months earlier when the mill had shut down. So
many "wiseacres, it said, had been "looking for another such an announcement as was handed
out on Gold Bar, to the effect that there was nothing doing." Nevertheless, investors had been
burned too often to want to put their money into another mine at this late date, and
Homestake-King stock continued to slide. The panic caused by the short shutdown in

September had sent stock plummeting to 204: a share, and despite a weak rise in price after
the mill resumed operations, the October high was only 26¢. November saw stock in the
company fall to 164: and by the end of 1908 the mine which had produced $45,000 saw its
stock selling for a dismal 94 per share. There was nothing the company could do to reverse
the dismaying trend. Stockbrokers were as puzzled as was the company. As one reported,
"This property is now on a paying basis, and bullion shipments are regularly made. The stock,
which has always gone contrary to expectations, is as low as it ever was, and it is hard to
explain the slump." Even the report that the company had received patents to its property
from the U.S. government could not halt the slump. [68]
There was nothing the company could do except continue milling its ore and hope for a
revival of public confidence. This it did. In the meantime, the steady employment of miners
and millmen in the Homestake area brought other concerns to light. An unofficial census was
taken in the fall of 1908 which showed eighteen school-age children living at the Homestake-
King camp. Since it was considered an extreme hardship to force those children and their
mothers to live and attend school in Rhyolite, a movement was initiated to raise funds for a
branch school at the Homestake. Dances, picnics and other fund-raising activities were
scheduled during the last part of 1908 and the early months of 1909 to raise the necessary
money. Several buildings were donated by mining companies, parents volunteered efforts,
and the movement slowly build momentum.
The mine and mill, meanwhile, continued to operate, and in accordance with its new policy,
submitted its annual report for publication in the Rhyolite newspapers. Although the report
showed that the mine and mill were both well-equipped and operating efficiently, the
company itself was not in the best of financial shape. Its account books, for the period ending
on November 1, 1908, showed that the Homestake-King had expended $297,951.86 to date.
Of this amount, $160,977.50 had been the cost of constructing the mill and pipeline,
$86,032.90 had been expended in developing the mine and in the purchase of machinery and
tools for it, and $38,936.41 had been spent in operating costs for the mine and mill since the
mill had opened on July 1st. Since bullion sales from the mill had totaled only $20,116.65
between July and November 1st, it was clear that the mill was operating at a loss. As the
papers pointed out, however, it was normal for a large mill to take a loss during the
shakedown period, and bullion sales since November had improved, so there was little cause
for worry.
The treasury stock, however, had been heavily depleted. Most of it had been pledged as
security for loans to cover construction costs, which had been advanced by major
stockholders in the company. As a result, the company was left with an excellent mill and a
good mine, but with very little money to operate them until bullion returns improved.
Accordingly, the shareholders had authorized a $200,000 bond issue at the company's general
meeting during the first of December. The bonds were given to the company's creditors, most
of whom were stockholders, and in return the liens were lifted from the company's treasury
stock. Thus the Homestake-King hoped to be able to finance short-term operating costs from
the sale of treasury stock, and to retire the new bonds from- the proceeds of bullion returns.
The bonds carried a 10 percent interest rate, and were due for repayment on December 8,
1909. The interest was payable semi-annually, with the first installment due June 9, 1909.
$174,227.62 worth of bonds were immediately issued, which cleared the company from all
other forms of debt. Unfortunately, between the time the plan was decided upon and the end
of the year, the continued fall of stock prices meant that the Homestake-King would not be
able to finance as much from the sale of treasury stock as it had originally hoped.
Despite this somewhat gloomy picture of the company's finances which was revealed, the
Rhyolite Herald and other papers praised the company for its open and honest policy. It was
a good move, said the Herald which would "re-establish confidence" in the district, if

followed by other companies. Investors, however, were not so certain, and Homestake-King
stock continued to decline, ending January of 1909 at 8¢ per share.
The mine and mill continued to produce. The Bullfrog Miner estimated January's production
at $16,000, and the Rhyolite Herald at $15,000, but troubles with malfunctions in the tube
mills caused February's and March's figures to drop to an estimated $13,000 and $16,000.
The mine, in the meantime, failed to find new ore bodies, and time began to run out on the
Homestake-King. The best ore found during the month of February assayed at only $2 per
ton, far too low to consider milling. In March, small bunches of rich ore were found in the
lower levels of the mine, but not enough to call it a strike, and not enough to supply the mill
for more than a few days. Desperately, the company decided to increase its force of miners
and to sink below the 500-foot level in its search for additional ore. The mine superintendent
reported that all available miners were being shifted to a search for new ore, with only a
minimal force kept in the upper levels to supply the mill from the dwindling quantities of the
known ore reserve.
Investors smelled doom, and Homestake-King stock hastened in its fall. Prices fell from 7¢ to
6¢ and then to 5¢ in February, and further to 4¢ in March and 3¢ in April. The stock found
buyers at these low prices, but that was a small consolation to the company. Then, on April
19th, the inevitable news came. The Homestake-King mine and mill were closed. The
company announced that the shut-down was for an indefinite period, but no one was
deceived. Thirty miners and millmen sadly packed their belongings and prepared to move
elsewhere, and Homestake-King stock immediately dropped another point, to 3¢ per share.
The nine-month life of the Homestake-King mill had ended. [69]
Two days later, the Herald was able to furnish more details. In answer to telegraphic
enquiries, President Milam had admitted that the directors of the company had no definite
plans for the immediate future. Holders of the bond issue, however, had made no indications
that they planned to forfeit on the property if the June interest payment was not made. Since
the company had no hopes of raising the cash for that payment, this was good news. The
mine superintendent, Milam said, had informed him that the six-month supply of ore
reserves, which had been forecast last November, had been accurate. All that ore had now
been milled and despite feverish explorations on all levels of the mine, no new deposits had
been uncovered. Although much of the ground owned by the company was still not
completely explored, the company's treasury was exhausted. Thus, unless further means of
financial support were found, the Homestake-King would be unable to conduct more
development work. In summary, the directors could not promise that the Homestake-King
would be reopened, and the chances that it would were rather slim.
The closure of the Homestake-King mine and mill was a heavy blow to the hopes of the
Bullfrog District, but the circumstances surrounding it were entirely different from those
when the Gold Bar Mill had closed a year earlier. To all intents, the efforts to develop the
Homestake-King into a major Bullfrog producer had been businesslike and above-board, and
the Rhyolite papers paid the company its due. "Certainly the Homestake people have made a
good try," editorialized the Rhyolite Herald the Bullfrog Miner, agreed, calling the company's
efforts "frank and honest and conscientious." The final cleanup from the mill, made after
operations had ceased, netted the company $3,200.
But the Homestake-King was not ready to give up. After all, it had one of the best reduction
mills in the state, and its mine still had promise. In the short run, while the directors were
searching for ways to raise more development funds, the company negotiated with several
Pioneer District mines, trying to find companies willing to pay to have their ores milled at the
Homestake. The negotiations fell through, however, and as the summer progressed the big
mill lay idle. Stock, in the meantime, had fallen to 1 per share on May 15th, and finally

disappeared altogether from the trading boards by the end of June. When the second
installment of the 1908 county taxes fell due on June 1st, the beleaguered company did not
have the cash to pay, and the mine and mill were transferred to the county's delinquent list.
[70]
During the late summer and fall of 1909, however, it became apparent that certain minor
stockholders in the company were not satisfied with the operations of the Homestake-King.
Several threatened to sue, alleging that competent engineers would not have built the big mill,
because not enough ore was in sight to support it during a reasonable lifetime, and that the
directors had thus backed a questionable proposal. In addition, the issuance of a $200,000
bond issue when the company had only six months' known ore reserves seemed suspicious.
As the anger and frustrations of certain stockholders began to surface, the Rhyolite Herald
took a more cautious tone in its assessment of the management of the Homestake-King. "No
end of complications may arise when once the Homestake-King affairs are in court," it wrote,
"and those who purchased this alleged gilt-edge stock at par or better will be interested to
know if any crooked work was done, and on the other hand the friends of the promoters will
be glad to see the affair fully aired in order to efface any suspicion which may be cast upon
the good intentions of any officer or director of the company."
On October 2nd, the legal struggle commenced. Julius B. Fensterwald brought suit to recover
$5,000 owed him by the company. Since the trustees of the holders of the $200,000 bond
issued held a first lien against the assets of the property, Fensterwald sought to have that lien
overturned, alleging various vague illegalities. As 1909 ended, the matter wound its way
through the court system, without a decision being reached, and the Homestake-King, still
without the means to finance further development work, was forced to miss payment on its
year-end taxes.
As usual, mining suits such as this took inordinate amounts of time to become resolved. As
the case dragged along in early 1910, matters were further compounded when William Kelly,
another minor stockholder, also brought suit. Kelly's case was given much attention by the
papers, for he had been a former member of the Homestake-King's board of directors, until
being removed "by reason of the fact that he was not in accord with the methods and policies
of those in control.
By July of 1910, the Herald had grown more suspicious of the Homestake-King, and
suggested that the company might have dealt in fraudulent practices by releasing inflated ore
figures to the press in earlier years. At the same time, the Herald also hoped for a quick
solution to the court difficulties, so that the mine might be able to resume operations. The
paper was so anxious to see life revived in the now-dying Bullfrog District, that it even
proposed that the Homestake-King and other dormant companies be re-organized as
assessable corporations, so that stockholders might be assessed to pay for exploration and
development work. The plea is an indication that hard times had indeed hit the Bullfrog
District, for assessment had long been illegal in Nevada, due to widespread abuses of the
system during the Comstock boom years.
As 1910 stretched into 1911, the court cases slowly moved towards a decision. In the
meantime, the Homestake-King mine and mill lay idle, although the company employed a
watchman on the property to protect the mill building and machinery. At last, during March,
Fensterwald's case was heard in Tonopah district court, and the judge rendered a decision
wholly in favor of the company. All the financial and legal transactions of the Homestake-
King, he ruled, had been entirely legal and above-board, and the trustees of the $200,000
bond issue held a first lien upon the property. Shortly thereafter, Kelly also lost his case, for
similar reasons.

Following the conclusion of the court cases, the property of the Homestake-King was put up
for auction by the county sheriff, in order to satisfy the debts of the company to the
bondholders. Although this sale meant the end of the Homestake King Consolidated Mining
and Milling Company, and that all stockholders in that incorporation would be left with
nothing, it also meant that the new owners of the mine and mill would have a clear and
unencumbered title to the property, with no debts hanging over their heads. With that in
mind, rumors began to circulate concerning the future of the mine and mill. Most seemed to
believe that the trustee of the bonds would buy the property himself, thus nominally keeping
the Homestake-King in the hands of its previous owners, most of whom were bondholders.
A. S. Dingee, the trustee, fed these rumors by declaring that the Homestake-King was not
defunct and that he intended to get the property back into shape for some sort of activity.
Other rumors circulated, claiming that Tonopah and Manhattan mining concerns intended to
buy the mill and move it elsewhere, but on December 9th, Dingee bought the property.
Shortly afterwards, in company with former president Milam, Dingee visited the district in
order to inspect the mine and mill and to discuss the possibilities of resuming work. The. two
men received several offers to buy the mill, including one by a Goldfield company which had
watched its mill burn to the ground, but Milam and Dingee decided to give it another go. The
two announced that they would provide funds for further sinking and development work in
the mine. Only when it was proven that the Homestake-King had no more ore in the ground
would they consider selling the mill. Happily, with the ownership of the Homestake-King
estate settled in court, Dingee was able to pay the county taxes on the property and the
Homestake-King once again entered the active tax list of Nye County at the end of 1911.
[71]
During the early months of 1912, Dingee and Milam made an effort to discover more ore in
the mine, but had no luck. The Homestake-King mine and mill were soon back on the sale
block. Rumors circulated in the following months that the mill would be sold to mining
outfits from Tonopah and Hornsilver, but due to the demise of the Rhyolite Herald in June of
1912, details are scarce. The property appeared on the county tax roll at the end of 1912 as
being owned by one S.H. Brady of Tonopah, but the mill was not moved. During succeeding
years, it was slowly sold off in pieces, and the remainder began to deteriorate. The 1914
assessment roll lists the mill as having only fifteen stamps, indicating that ten stamps had
been sold, and noted that the engine and compressor were in poor, shape. By 1918, the mill
was simply assessed as an "Old Battery of 15 stamps," and was given a value of a mere $300,
as compared to $10,000 only five years previously. Sadly, the Homestake-King Mill did not
even have the honor of being given a second life at another mining camp, as was the usual
fate of such equipment.
Brady and another man named Thorkildsen continued to hold title to the mine and mill until
1921, when the Nye County treasurer seized them for back taxes. At the time of the
forfeiture, the mill equipment was still described as an old battery of fifteen stamps. B 1930,
however, when the property reappeared on the active tax list, the remnants of the mill had
completely disappeared--someone had appropriated the remaining equipment between 1921
and 1930.
The rest of the history of the Homestake-King is by now a familiar story. The property was
purchased by Roy J. Pomeroy of Los Angeles in 1930, along with the claims of the Original
Bullfrog, the West Extension and several other Bullfrog district mines. Pomeroy incorporated
himself as the Rhyolite Consolidated Mining Company, and shortly thereafter sold out to
D.M. Findlay of Beatty. Findlay retained title for several years, and operated the property
intermittently. A 1935 report, in a minor understatement, concluded that "lack of capital is
hindering developments at this property."

In 1937, the mine was described as being worked by fourteen men employed by the General
Milling Company of Beatty, which had equipped it with a gas hoist, a compressor and
machine drills. During subsequent years, however, the mine was reported to be idle, and
Findlay sold it to C.A. Liddell in 1940. Liddell and/or lessees of his worked on the property
again for several years, and finally discovered another vein of ore, such as Milam and Dingee
had vainly searched for in 1912. Between 1940 and 1942, a quantity of $35 ore was hoisted
from the mine and shipped out for reduction. The company reported that there was some $20
ore still in the mine, but that there was no profitable way to handle it, due to excessive
transportation and supply costs.
The property was again idle in 1943, and from then until 1960, remained in the hands of
Liddell. No work was done during those years, and the mine bounced back and forth between
the delinquent and the active tax rolls. In 1960, Mark Leff of Beverly Hills, California,
purchased the property and retained title to it until the mid-1970's when the Homestake-King
Mine was finally purchased by the National Park Service and made a part of Death Valley
National Monument. [72]
Total production figures for the Homestake-King mine and mill are hard to determine, due to
the lack of adequate records. The Rhyolite Herald reported in 1910 that the combined
production of the mine and mill had been $70,000 during its nine months of operation, but a
1943 study by the University of Nevada reduced that figure to $54,261. Using either figure, it
is obvious that the Homestake-King did not produce enough bullion to pay for the costs of
development and of mill construction. At least, in this case, everyone involved lost evenly,
for despite the later all allegations of disappointed stockholders, it appears that the
Homestake-King mine and mill were operated honestly. That in itself is a unique feature of
the mine, as well as a comment upon the times in which it operated.
Nevertheless, the Homestake-King Mill, even taking the lower figures reported in 1943,
stands as the fifth largest producer of gold in the entire Bullfrog District, and as the largest
producer of those Bullfrog mines which are located within Death Valley National Monument.
[73]
b. Miscellaneous Homestakes
Like most successful mines, the Homestake-King had its contingent of surrounding hopefuls.
Outfits such as the Daisy, the Winnebago, the Trinidad and the Bullfrog Winner briefly
staked out claims and attempted to find some ore. The most persistent of these companies
was the Homestake Extension Mining Company, organized in July of 1906. The Extension
found early indications of ore on its property, just northwest of the Homestake, and
succeeded in selling a considerable amount of stock at prices up to 18¢ per share. The
company promptly put its money into the ground, as good companies should, and managed to
create some sizeable development works. In March of 1907, at its height of promise, the
Homestake Extension had a 25-horsepower hoisting engine, an air compressor and air drills,
a blacksmith shop, a bunk house, a boarding house-and an engine house. The company had
completed 520 feet of development work, and reported ore values from $2 to $56 per ton.
Like so many other small mining companies which operated on a day-to-day basis, the Panic
of 1907 destroyed the Homestake Extension. Its principal backers were local stock brokers
and small-time mining promoters, just the type who were hurt most by the panic. With its
financiers' purse strings suddenly tightened and with the general plunge in stock sales brought
on by the panic, the Homestake Extension was cut off at the pass, before it really had a
chance to prove whether or not it could become a productive mine. The company retained
title to its claims for another two years, but no further work on the mine was possible. [74]

c. Present Status Evaluation and Recommendations
The Gold Bar-Homestake area will be nominated to the National Register. These two mines
and mills are as close in proximity as they were far apart in their histories. The Gold Bar
represents that all too frequent type of mining operation wherein the stockholders were taken
for all they were worth, while the Homestake-King was one of the most honestly (if not
wisely) run mining companies of its time. Thus the happy chance that the two properties are
adjacent presents the Monument with the rare opportunity to compare and contrast the best
and the worst of early twentieth-century mining history. In addition, the Gold Bar and the
Homestake-King mills were the only mills built in the Bullfrog District which fall within the
confines of Death Valley National Monument.
Illustration 46. Sketch Map, Homestake-Gold Bar Historic Site.
The historic structures at this complex run the range from relatively insignificant to
downright impressive. The former site of the Homestake-Gold Bar camp is today marked by
little more than piles of rusted cans, broken bottles, and scattered timber debris. Careful
examination of the area can result in the detection of several old building sites, but to the
casual observer little remains to mark the once thriving camp.
The mine sites are another matter. As usual, prospect holes, dumps and shafts dot the
landscape. The Gold Bar property had at least four shafts and two adits. A crude headframe
still stands over one of these shafts, but the huge ore bin and headframe of the main working
shaft has disappeared. The Gold Bar Mill was long ago carted away, as described above, but
the concrete and brick foundations of the mill still mark the site.
The Homestake-King ruins are far more impressive. Situated towards the top of the hill is the
large working area where the main hoisting shaft of the Homestake-King was located.
Extensive timber ruins of the collapsed headframe mark the spot, and the visitor can easily

see the double compartment, timbered shaft under the headframe ruins. Three shafts and an
adit are below the main shaft, and several more shafts may be found across the top of the
ridge to the north, on the old Gold King property.
The best, however, has been saved for the last. By following the old ore road around the side
of the hill from the Homestake-King shaft, one arrives at the top of the Homestake-King Mill
site. Although the only remains of the mill are the concrete foundations, the very size of
those foundations is utterly impressive. Six parallel rows of foundation walls step down the
side of the mill for several hundred feet. Some of the foundation walls are eighty feet from
side to side, and rise fifteen feet above the slope of the hill. In addition, several piles of
timber debris and one large collection of used cyanide flasks may be found.
But the concrete foundations of the Homestake-King Mill, situated on the side of the hilt
looking south towards Bullfrog Mountain, clearly dominate the scene. The mill foundations.
are visible for miles away from the desert floor, and grow more and more impressive as one
nears the site. The sheer size of the ruins, contrasted with the quiet desertion of the desert
around it, forces the viewer to attempt to grasp the seemingly illogical fact that this rather
isolated and desolate portion of the Nevada desert once teemed with life, activity, and hope.
The Gold Bar-Homestake complex, quite obviously, should be protected, preserved, and
interpreted. The protection and preservation efforts should be centered around the mill
foundations of the Gold Bar and the Homestake-King. Although both foundation sites
seemed stable enough to the untrained eye of an historian, a more expert opinion should be
obtained, in order to prevent any future damage to these impressive remains. The
interpretation of this area, like that of the rest of the Bullfrog District which falls within the
Monument boundaries, is absolutely non-existent at present. At the very least, signs or
exhibits which identify the remains should be posted. At best, the vast potential interpretive
value of this complex should be utilized. As stated before, this site offers the unique
opportunity to compare and contrast two opposite extremes of the mining business as
practiced in the early twentieth century.
As a final note, the Monument should immediately make some effort to mark its boundaries.
The visitor, especially one with access to a four-wheel drive vehicle, has a choice of almost a
dozen routes to take to the Homestake-Gold Bar area. Few of these roads are marked with
National Park Service boundary signs, which would warn the traveler that he has entered a
protected domain. Given the proliferation of souvenir and rock hunters found in this area, the
marking of the boundaries is the most critical passive measure of protection which could be
given to this complex.

Illustration 47. View of the Homestake-Gold Bar complex from the south.
All traces of the camp buildings have disappeared, and the two prominent
mill buildings which once dominated the scene have vanished. The Gold
Bar Mill foundations cannot be seen in this view, since they are tucked
behind a small ridge. In the center top are the dumps of the Homestake-
King, and the mill foundations of that mine are barely visible in the shadows
to the right of the picture. Compare this photo to those of 1906-1908, taken
from approximately the same spot, which show the camp in various stages
of activity. 1978 photo by John Latschar.

Illustrations 48-49. Top: Reverse of the preceeding view, looking south

from the top of the Homestake-King dump. The dump in the middle of the
picture marks the former working shaft of the Gold Bar. The large gallows
frame and ore bin were built on top of that dump, and the rather small
foundations of the Gold Bar mill can barely be seen to the left, below the
dump. The prominent wagon road in the top left of the picture leads south
towards Rhyolite. Bottom: Close-up view of a portion of the Gold Bar Mill
foundations. 1978 photos by John Latschar.

Illustrations 50-51. Top: The collapsed headframe of the Homestake-King

main working shaft. The old engine house, which may be seen in the 1906
photo printed above, sat in the foreground of this picture. Note the concrete
and steel foundations, where the hoisting engines were mounted. Below:
View of the Homestake-King Mill foundations, looking down towards the
old camp site. Although depth perceptions are not evident in the photo, the
mill was built on a decided slope, enabling it to utilize the force of gravity
as a power supplement. 1978 photos by John Latschar.

Illustrations 52-53. Top: Close-up of one tier of the Homestake-King

foundation walls, showing its dimensions. This wall was eighty feet in
length, over fifteen feet high, and was several feet thick. Bottom: The
Homestake-King Mill foundations from below. Although distances are
deceiving in photographs, the distance from the bottom wall to the small
concrete pedestal at the top is approximately one hundred and fifty feet.
1978 photos by John Latschar.

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION IV:
EAST SIDE
7. Las Vegas & Tonopah Railroad
a. History
The early twentieth-century mining booms at Tonopah, Goldfield and Rhyolite not only
produced major economic and social changes in the life of southern and central Nevada, but
also brought about a major restructuring of Nevada's transportation system. As the new camps
boomed and prospered, they soon outgrew the capacities of mule teams and freighters to
meet their demands, and for the first time railroads were enticed into this region of Nevada.
The lure of rich profits from the new camps was the catalyst which brought about the creation
of new rail lines, but it was the happy geographic chance that the new camps were situated in
a rough north-south line which made a new railroad link through Nevada possible.
Prior to the boom years, Nevada was served by two east-west lines which passed through the
state. In the north, the original Central Pacific Railroad, part of the first continental system,
served Reno. Now absorbed by the Southern Pacific, this route had been the main railroad
link from Nevada to the rest of the country for several decades. In the south, the recently
completed San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad connected the southern part of the
state to the west coast and the Rocky Mountain region. Between Reno in the north and Las
Vegas, 435 miles to the south, however, there were no rail links. Thus the fortunate chance
that the new boom camps of Tonopah, Goldfield and Rhyolite appeared, in succession, in a
north-south line between Carson City and Las Vegas made the possibility of the construction
of new railroad line connecting those two areas a distinct possibility, the first time.
Such a railroad would cost a great deal of money, though, and the traffic volumes in the early
1900s simply did not warrant the construction of a single line. As a result, the north-south
line was connected little by little by a group of independent railroads, built from one camp to
another. By the time the Bullfrog boom was well underway, this process had already begun.
The Tonopah Railroad Company completed its line from the north into Tonopah in July of
1904, which connected that camp with the Southern Pacific, via the Nevada & California
Railway and the Virginia and Truckee Railroad. Within another year, as Tonopah and
Goldfield were proven to be solid producers, and Rhyolite appeared to be following their
examples, various plans were laid to continue the south-bound connections. The Tonopah
Railroad became the Tonopah & Goldfield Railroad in late 1905, and shortly thereafter began
construction of a line from Tonopah south to Goldfield. [75]
With the completion of a railroad to Tonopah, which was about half way between Carson
City and Las Vegas, the northern half of the connection was completed. In the meantime,

several plans for the southern half were beginning to take shape, at least on paper. "Borax"
Smith had long contemplated a railroad which would connect his various borax mines in
southern Nevada and southeastern California with the outside world, for the days of the
famous twenty-mule team borax wagons had long since become economically infeasible.
When Senator William Clark completed his San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad
in January of 1905, Smith decided to connect his mines with that railroad at Las Vegas.
Verbal agreements between Clark and Smith were reached, and Smith soon announced the
formation of the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad.
Clark, however, was also looking at the new gold camps to the north of his railroad, and
slowly came to the realization that he wanted to build his own line into the interior. The
agreements with Smith were thus broken and Clark announced the formation of a rival
company, the Las Vegas and Tonopah Railroad. As the names implied, both these southern
roads envisioned extending their lines not only to the Bullfrog district, but beyond to
Goldfield and Tonopah, thus tapping the potential of all three mining camps.
Clark was the first to set to business. His engineers conducted a preliminary survey from Las
Vegas to Tonopah in early 1905 and completed it late in February. The proposed line would
run north towards the Bullfrog District, but would bypass the district itself by running through
Beatty instead of Rhyolite. The route via Beatty would be comparatively flat and smooth, and
would avoid extensive construction costs which would have been necessary to climb the
mountains into Rhyolite. After several months of negotiations with Borax Smith, who was
forced to shift his operations from Las Vegas on the San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake
line to Ludow, California, where he would connect with the Santa Fe Railroad, construction
on both roads began in the fall of 1905.
At about the same time, a third railroad entered the picture when John Brock, of the Tonopah
and Goldfield Railroad, also spotted the potential of the Bullfrog District, and announced the
formation of another railroad company. This one would be a nominal extension of the
Tonopah and Goldfield Railroad, and would extend those lines south from Goldfield into the
Bullfrog District. It soon became obvious to all parties involved, the first railroad to complete
its line would have the greatest chance of success, and a race ensued.
In January of 1906, the first rails were laid on the Las Vegas & Tonopah, north of Las Vegas,
and a month later the road had been completed for twenty-four miles. Although Rhyolite was
ecstatic at the prospect of being connected to three railroads, the town's leaders also realized
that the prestige and prosperity of the town would be threatened if rail connections were
made at Beatty, four miles to the east, rather than at the metropolis itself. Rhyolite did not
want to be on a branch line of any railroad, and began to take steps. After several discussions
between the town and the company, an agreement was reached. The Las Vegas & Tonopah
agreed to extend its line through Rhyolite, rather than bypassing the city, and the town in turn
guaranteed to secure property rights and right of ways through the town. Although this
change in plans meant heavy additional construction costs--the Las Vegas & Tonopah
estimated that it would cost as much to build a sixteen-mile "high line" through Rhyolite and
back out of the Bullfrog Hills to the north as it would to build the entire 115 miles from Las
Vegas to Beatty--the town convinced the railroad that the extra expense would pay off. If the
railroad ran directly through Rhyolite and the Bullfrog Hills, numerous mines would be able
to ship directly on the railroad, rather than having to pay freight expenses to have their ores
hauled across the hills to Beatty. Since this meant that more mines would be able to ship their
ore, and that more low-grade or could be profitably shipped, the increase in freight profits for
the railroad would offset the additional construction costs. Besides that, passenger traffic
would be dominated by the railroad which connected directly to Rhyolite, for who wanted to
go to Beatty anyway? Despite the fact that the steep grade from Beatty to Rhyolite would
mean that the railroad would be forced to stop each train at Beatty and hook on additional

engines to negotiate the pass, the railroad was convinced.
Illustration 54. Sketch Map, Las Vegas & Tonopah Railroad grade.
The Rhyolite Board of Trade put the matter to a vote of the citizens, who approved the plan.
The town announced that it would provide all necessary right of ways and property rights for
the railroad if it in turn guaranteed that the route through Rhyolite would be a through route,
and not just a branch line. The Las Vegas & Tonopah concurred, and plans were formalized.
Doubling the pleasure of Bullfroggers, the Bullfrog Goldfield Railroad, which had recently
incorporated to build south from Goldfield, also announced that its terminus would be in
Rhyolite. This road, however, would avoid the hilly route between Beatty and Rhyolite, and
would instead build to Beatty, then swing to the south around the hills and hook back to the
north, entering Rhyolite from the south.
Construction on the Las Vegas & Tonopah proceeded apace through the early part of 1906.
By March, fifty-three miles of track had been laid, and graders were working eighty-four
miles north of Las Vegas. To the southeast, "Borax" Smith's Tonopah and Tidewater railroad
was inching out of Ludlow, but it appeared that the Las Vegas and Tonopah would win the
race to the Bullfrog District. By the middle of June it had finished its grade all the way into
Beatty, although the rails were still twenty-nine miles short of that town. The Tonopah and
Tidewater had extended its rails seventy-five miles out from Ludlow, but the heat of the

summer put a halt to its construction work. In the meantime, the Bullfrog Goldfield had
finally started work on its line on May 8th, but initial progress had been slow.
The Las Vegas & Tonopah surveyed and laid out its rail yards at Gold Center, where the
trains would be made up, and where northbound trains would pick up extra engines for the
climb from Beatty to Rhyolite. Its future grade was surveyed through Rhyolite out to the west
around the Bullfrog Hills, then back up to the north towards Mud Summit. This sixteen mile
stretch, called the "high line," would constitute the most difficult part of the construction of
the entire line between Las Vegas and Goldfield, for after cresting the ridge at Mud Summit,
the rest of the sixty-some miles was relatively flat and smooth. The surveying of this line laid
to rest recurring rumors that the Las Vegas & Tonopah would stop at Rhyolite and let the
Bullfrog Goldfield handle north-bound traffic.
Grading work on the "high line" between Beatty and Rhyolite began during August of 1906,
and the rails in the meantime slowly crept up the already completed grade towards. Beatty.
On October 7, 1906, the first work train pulled into Gold Center on its completed tracks, and
two weeks later the railroad was completed as far as Beatty. Clark had won his race, for he
entered the Bullfrog District a full six months ahead of his competitors. Beatty, as usual, held
a wild and grand Railroad Day Festival, and all Bullfroggers joined in the celebration, for
their town was at last connected with the outside world.
In the middle of November, work on the laying of rails between Beatty and Rhyolite
commenced, and on December 14, the first Las Vegas and Tonopah train pulled into the east
end of Rhyolite. Freight shipments immediately followed the ceremonial first train, and long
awaited carloads of lumber, supplies and mine and mill equipment began to arrive. The
completion of the railroad freed the Bullfrog District from the exorbitant freight rates
necessitated by long mule-team hauls over the desert, and a veritable building boom got
underway, as Rhyolite began to change from a tent city to a more permanent town. Within a
week of the arrival of the first train, over one hundred cars stood on the yard tracks in
Rhyolite, and more were coming in each day. As soon as the confusion was somewhat
cleared, the Las Vegas & Tonopah extended its track through town, before putting a halt to
the laying of rails. Further construction, it announced, would await the completion of grading
work in the vicinity of Goldfield.
In March of 1907, the first regular Pullman service between Los Angeles and Rhyolite was
inaugurated, with daily trains. Grading work around Goldfield progressed, and the town of
Rhyolite breathed a sigh of relief as it became evident that it would indeed be on the main
line of the railroad, and not be left dangling at the end of a branch line. Then, in April, the
Bullfrog Goldfield Railroad finally finished its line into Beatty. Although the event was not
met with nearly the degree of enthusiasm which had heralded the arrival of the Las Vegas &
Tonopah, it actually had much more significance, for the north-south rail line through Nevada
was now complete. True, it was necessary for passengers to change trains five times between
Carson City and Las Vegas, but for the first time it was possible to make the trip in relative
comfort and speed.
By the end of May 1907, grading of the Las Vegas & Tonopah line to Goldfield was almost
complete, and work began again on the laying of the tracks. During June the railroad slowly
extended itself out of Rhyolite, around the Bullfrog Hills, and to the north towards Goldfield.
By the middle of August, the rails were completed through the entire Bullfrog District and
were extended as far north as Bonnie Claire, a third of the way between Rhyolite and
Goldfield. Construction continued despite the financial problems brought about by the Panic
of 1907, and on October 26, the ceremonial final spike was driven at Goldfield, marking the
completion of the Las Vegas & Tonopah tine. Few citizens, however, were in a mood to
celebrate.

Four days later the Tonopah & Tidewater Railroad entered Gold Center from the south, and
linked its tracks with those of the Bullfrog Goldfield. Not surprisingly, the two railroads soon
announced plans for joint cooperation, and Goldfield and the Bullfrog District were thus
served by two complete southern lines. Potential passengers and shippers could travel the Las
Vegas. & Tonopah all the way from Goldfield to Las Vegas, where connections to the west
coast and the Rocky Mountains were possible, or they could take the Bullfrog Goldfield to
Beatty and switch there to the Tonopah & Tidewater for the trip to Ludlow, California, with
similar east-west connections at the southern terminus. Although the Las Vegas & Tonopah
had been the first railroad to arrive in the district, the Tonopah & Tidewater immediately
gained an advantage over its rival, for the latter's connections to, the west coast were quicker
and more economical. The Las Vegas & Tonopah countered by advertising that its route went
"all the way" and that passengers would be spared the necessity of changing trains in Beatty.
Now, that the race was over, the competing roads settled down to business--hoping that the
market for hauling in supplies and equipment and hauling out ore would justify the costs of
construction. The Las Vegas & Tonopah concentrated on improvements to its property,
including the rail yards at Rhyolite and its passenger station, which was finished in June of
1908. Although events would prove that passenger traffic never warranted the construction of
such a large station, the company reaped short-term benefits of publicity for being the owner
of what was rightly called one of the showplaces of the southern Nevada desert.
Unfortunately, traffic volumes on all the railroads serving the Bullfrog District proved to be
lighter than expected, since the district never became the producer as had been predicted
during the early years of the boom. The Las Vegas & Tonopah made a small profit during the
first year of operation, but that was the last year that it did. Due to its decision to utilize the
"high line" in order to tap the mines of the Bullfrog Hills, the Las Vegas & Tonopah was
saddled with heavier operating expenses than were its rivals, since all northbound trains were
required to stop at Beatty and add an extra engine in order to negotiate the climb into
Rhyolite. The ore from the high line never reached the predicted levels, and thus the railroad
was left with the excessive costs of construction, without the ensuing profits from heavy ore
shipments.
Although both the Bullfrog Goldfield and the Tonopah & Tidewater were experiencing much
of the same problems, their shorter and cheaper route to the west coast helped them maintain
higher shipping volumes than the Las Vegas & Tonopah was able to manage. In addition,
"Borax" Smith had a monopoly upon the shipment of ores from his borax mines along the
route of the Tonopah & Tidewater, which helped the revenues of that road considerably. As a
final burden, the railroads were burdened with poor public relations. Almost as soon as the
railroad days celebrations were over, miners and businessmen began complaining about the
high freight rates charged by all the lines. As the mines developed into very low-grade
propositions, freight rates announced in previous years began to look like highway robbery.
Although the miners had a small point, for the prevalent rates made many mines unprofitable,
most of the Bullfrog District mines would have had to be given free shipment of their ores in
order to stay in business. Although all the railroads lowered their rates from time to time, no
one was ever satisfied. The sentiment that the railroads were making huge profits seemed to
predominate from Rhyolite to Tonopah, and as a result, the property of their lines were
heavily taxed. The Las Vegas & Tonopah, for example, paid taxes to Nye County amounting
to $11,942.70 at the end of 1907. [76]
To make a sad story short, the Bullfrog railroads--and in particular the Las Vegas &
Tonopah--declined in direct ratio to the decline of the Bullfrog District. Passenger and freight
traffic fell off as mines closed and miners left town. The exodus had a ripple effect, for a
smaller population in the district meant that fewer supplies were hauled in to support the
remainder. A similar story was affecting the gold camps to the north, for although both

Goldfield and Tonopah far out-lived Rhyolite, mines in those northern camps had passed
their peak by the 1910s and were beginning what would be a much longer period of decline.
In 1911 the Tonopah and Goldfield Railroad offered to sell its line to the Las Vegas &
Tonopah, thus giving the latter a direct line through most of Nevada. Senator Clark was
interested, but following the death of his son on board the Titanic in April of 1912, he turned
apathetic towards business affairs, and the matter was dropped.
Matters were now becoming serious, and it became evident that unless the three competing
lines were somehow consolidated, that all three would fail. The smallest of the three, the
Bullfrog Goldfield, was the first to take action, but its attempt to sell itself to the Tonopah
and Goldfield Railroad fell flat. The Las Vegas & Tonopah then stepped in and the two
railroads made plans to consolidate their lines. Since both roads had tracks running between
Beatty and Goldfield, the decision was made to utilize the best parts of each line, and to
abandon the remainder. Accordingly, the Las Vegas & Tonopah tracks would be used from
Goldfield to a point just south of Bonnie Claire, where a shift would be made to the Bullfrog
Goldfield tracks from there south to Beatty. This move would cut maintenance costs for both
lines, and would enable the Las Vegas & Tonopah to avoid running its trains over the costly
"high line" from Beatty through the Bullfrog Hills. Through service would run through
Beatty, bypassing Rhyolite completely, although that town would still be served by a short
branch line. All the track west and north of Rhyolite, however, which includes the section of
track which ran through the present boundaries of Death Valley National Monument, was
abandoned.
The plans were approved by the Railroad Commission of Nevada, despite the protests of
Rhyolite citizens, and the new combined route went into effect in June of 1914. For the first
time, the Bullfrog Goldfield Railroad made a profit--ironically, much of it came from hauling
ripped-up tracks and ties from its old roadbed north to Goldfield for salvage. The Las Vegas
& Tonopah, however, was not so lucky, and continued to run in the red. Service over the
remaining portion of the "high line" from Beatty to Rhyolite was finally discontinued in
1916, and the rails were removed. [77]
As the years slowly passed, revenues and traffic on the Las Vegas & Tonopah continued to
decline. Daily service between Las Vegas and Goldfield was maintained until February of
1917, when tri-weekly service was substituted. Then, the problems brought about by World
War I spelled the end of the line. Due to war shortages and efforts to economize, the Freight
Traffic Committee of the U. S. Railroad Administration ordered that all perishable and
merchandise traffic which formerly traveled via the Las Vegas & Tonopah would
immediately be shipped only on the shorter Tonopah and Tidewater connections to the west
coast. In other words, the Las Vegas & Tonopah was not allowed to haul anything but ore,
and there was not much ore to be hauled. For a short while, the railroad was run by the
Railroad Administration, but that body soon decided that the Las Vegas & Tonopah was "not
considered essential or necessary to the uses of the Government," and was turned loose.
By this time, it was a moot question whether the railroad was essential or necessary to
anyone, and the end soon came. The Las Vegas & Tonopah had lost money every year since
1908, but never enough to make it consider abandonment of its lines. Revenues now plunged
drastically and the road was faced with bankruptcy. The high prices paid for scrap metal
during World War I stimulated Clark to salvage as much of his railroad as he could, and on
September 18, 191-8, he applied to the Railroad Commission of Nevada for permission to
cease operations. On October 31st, the last train pulled off the line and the tracks were taken
up and sold. With the demise of its line, the Las Vegas & Tonopah also abandoned its
passenger station in Rhyolite, and one of the last surviving structures in that dying town
entered the delinquent tax list. [78]

Following the death of the Las Vegas & Tonopah, the Bullfrog Goldfield Railroad returned
to its old partner, the Tonopah & Tidewater, and the two roads combined operations. For all
practical purposes, the Tonopah & Tidewater operated the line for the entire distance from
Ludlow to Goldfield, for the Bullfrog Goldfield had almost no rolling stock or engines left.
Nevertheless, the railroad continued to operate as long as the Goldfield mines operated. As
the 1910s gave way to the 1920s, those mines began to close down one after another, and
revenues on the Bullfrog Goldfield slowly and surely declined. Finally, in January of 1928,
that railroad was also abandoned.
Thus the Tonopah & Tidewater, which had been the last railroad to reach the Bullfrog
District, was left as the last and only railroad operating in the vicinity. As the gold mines in
the region began to play out, the Tonopah & Tidewater relied more and more upon its borax
mines in the vicinity for revenue. Other scattered clay, marble and talc mines contributed
enough freight to enable the railroad to operate feebly through the 1910s and the 1920s, and
the road became a life line to the scattered population of the southern Nevada desert.
But towards the latter part of the 1920s, the borax mines began to close, and the life of the
Tonopah & Tidewater was threatened. The Borax Consolidated Company, the parent of the
Tonopah & Tidewater, continued to operate the road at a loss, preserving the rails and stock
in case of future need, but heavy losses year after year became too much for it to handle. In
1938, the Tonopah & Tidewater applied for permission to abandon its lines. Local patrons of
the road caught the ears of their politicians, and approval of the abandonment was delayed for
several years, as means were sought to keep the line operating. But those efforts were
ultimately unsuccessful, and on June 14, 1940, the Tonopah & Tidewater ceased operations.
The railroad tracks were left in place for two years, in hopes that the railroad could resume,
but the need for scrap metal during World War II caused them to be salvaged in 1942 and
1943. The last Bullfrog district railroad had finally died.
The demise of the railroads did not end their influence upon the transportation history of
southern Nevada, for during the early days of highway construction in that state, the old
roadbed of the Las Vegas & Tonopah was designated as part of the state highway system.
When construction of U. S. route 95 between Las Vegas and Carson City began, which was
the first major north-south highway through the state, the road was built along the old grade
of the Las Vegas & Tonopah from Las Vegas to Beatty. Today, the traveler heading north out
of Las Vegas towards Beatty and Carson City will travel along the same line which carried so
much hope and optimism during the days of the Bullfrog boom.
Due to the use of the old Las Vegas & Tonopah grade as a base for highway 95, all traces of
the railroad bed have disappeared between Las Vegas and Beatty. Still visible to the visitor,
however, is the old "high line" which ran from Beatty into Rhyolite and then through the
Bullfrog hills to the north. This portion of the road, which was the first part of the railroad to
be abandoned in 1914, winds for twelve miles through Death Valley National Monument.
For most of this distance the old grade is clearly visible against the desert floor, and with its
cuts and fills is in quite good condition, considering the ravages of time and weather.
With a few exceptions, today's visitor may walk or drive on the old roadbed from Rhyolite to
the Original Bullfrog Mine, up through the cuts towards Mud Summit, north to Currie's Wells
and on north out of the Monument's boundaries. The walk is a haunting one, for while tracing
the route on its lonely way across the desert landscape, one can almost he the whistle and
rumbles of trains gone by. Just north of Mud Summit, more concrete evidence of the past
may be found in the ruins of an old section camp. Here, where the helper engines were
dropped after the trains had climbed the grade up the "high line," may be found the site of

several edifices which supported the railroad. Concrete foundations, a ground cistern and
what is probably the foundations of an old water tank mark the spot. While there is not
enough left at the site to make it particularly significant in itself, its location along the
railroad grade makes it worthy of protection.
That portion of the Las Vegas & Tonopah Railroad grade which winds its way through Death
Valley National Monument will be nominated to the National Register. The construction of
this railroad had regional as well as local significance, since it formed a major part of the
first and only north-south rail line through the state of Nevada. Although the section within
the Monument boundaries was abandoned before the Las Vegas & Tonopah itself folded, the
fact that it constitutes a major portion of the remaining visible grade makes its preservation
important.
The story of the Las Vegas & Tonopah should be interpreted for visitors, in order to
introduce to them the role which railroads played in the life and death of early twentieth-
century mining camps, and the grade itself should be protected. In itself, the site of an
abandoned railroad grade is as startling and as nostalgic a reminder of the dead hopes of
bygone eras, when men attempted to wrestle a fortune from the forbidding deserts of
southern Nevada, as is the lonely Homestake-King Mill foundations standing guard over a
deserted desert.

Illustrations 55-56. Top: Las Vegas & Tonopah Railroad grade, looking
west towards the Original Bullfrog Mine from a point approximately one
mile east of the Death Valley National Monument boundary line. The
dumps of the Original Bullfrog are barely visible in the center background.
Bottom: Portions of the railroad grade, looking southeast from the point
where the Hometake-Gold Bar wagon road leaves the railroad, about 2
miles northwest of the Original Bullfrog. The grades in these two pictures
are clearly marked, as they have been used for many years as auto roads.
Illustrations 57-58. Top: A portion of the Las Vegas & Tonopah grade,
looking northwest from Currie Well. Notice the fill in the background, and
the cut through the small ridge in the background. Bottom: The grade runs
straight as an arrow once it leaves the hills and valleys of the Bullfrog
district. In this photo, taken two miles north of Currie Well, the road bed
may be discerned as it meets the horizon in the background. This portion of
the grade is less obvious, since it has not been used as an auto road. 1978
photos by John Latschar.

Illustrations 59-60. Top and bottom: Front and rear view of the Las Vegas
& Tonopah passenger station in Rhyolite. Since the demise of the railroad,
the station has been used variously as a private residence, a casino, a gift
shop, and a restaurant and bar. Although the structure is now in good
condition, the present owner is very old, and local residents have no idea
what will happen when she dies. Although the station itself is structurally
intact, numerous changes have been made. The trees surrounding it, for
example, were no more than seeds during the highlight of Rhyolite. 1978

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION IV:
EAST SIDE
8. Leadfield
a. History
The ghost town of Leadfield has become identified in western mining lore as an example of
fraud, deception and deceit at its worst. Located in the middle of Titus Canyon about twenty-
two miles west of. Beatty, Leadfield boomed briefly in 1925 and 1926. The extensive
promotion which surrounded the camp, the unsavory character of its chief promoter, and the
swift and sudden demise of the boom has led to unkind treatment at the hands of popular
writers of western history. Betty J. Tucker, writing in a 1971 issue ofDesert Magazine is a
good example:
This town was the brain child of C. C. Julian, who could have sold ice to an
Eskimo. He wandered into Titus Canyon with money on his mind. He blasted
some tunnels and liberally salted them with lead ore he had brought from
Tonopah. Then he sat down and drew up some enticing, maps of the area. He
moved the usually dry and never deep Amargosa River miles from its normal
bed.
He drew pictures of ships steaming up the river hauling out the bountiful ore
from his mines. Then he distributed handbills and lured Eastern promoters into
investing money. Miners flocked in at the scent of a big strike and dug their
hopeful holes. They built a few shacks. Julian was such a promoter he even
conned the U. S. Government into building a post office here. [79]
So goes, the usual, tale, which is fairly well duplicated by most writers of popular lore over
the past forty-odd years. The true story, however, is somewhat different. Although Leadfield
did set a record of sorts for being one of the shortest-lived towns in western mining history,
there was more to it than merely an out-and-out stock swindle. Nor can C. C. Julian be
blamed solely for the life and death of Leadfield.

Illustration 61. Map of Leadfield area.
Leadfield, in fact, had ore from the beginning, which was in 1905, not in 1925. During the
early days of the Bullfrog boom, Titus Canyon, like most of the territory surrounding the
Bullfrog District, was examined by hopeful prospectors. In the fall of that year, W. H.
Seaman and Curtis Durnford staked out nine lead and copper claims in the canyon,. and came
into Rhyolite with ore samples that assayed as high as $40 to the ton. The prospectors were
soon bought out by a consortium headed by Clay Tailman, a local attorney and promoter, and
the Death Valley Consolidated Mining Company was incorporated. The company
immediately began a development and promotional campaign, and shares of its stock were
sold for 2-1/2¢ each.
As usual, the news of the strike stimulated other prospectors and companies to get in on the
potential bonanza, and claims were filed for miles around the Death Valley Consolidated
property. The Bullfrog Apex Mining & Milling Company, for example, which we have
already seen trying to exploit ground near the Original Bullfrog, purchased a group of four
claims next to the Death Valley Consolidated. The former company, in the meantime, went to
work, and as initial prospects looked encouraging, the price of the stock rose to on the local
exchanges.
By May of 1906, the Death Valley Consolidated had progressed far enough to start, taking
out its better ore for shipment to the smelters. The company soon realized,, however, that the

long and arduous trip between its mine and Rhyolite and the high freight rates prevalent
between Rhyolite and the far-off smelters, made the shipment of its ore absolutely
unprofitable. As a result, the company ceased operations, and after a brief six-month long life
span, the Death Valley Consolidated Mining company disappeared. [80]
Illustration 62. Advertisement from the Rhyolite Herald, 23 March 1906.
So matters stood for almost twenty years. Then, in March of 1924, three prospectors named
Ben Chambers, L. Christensen and Frank Metts wandered into the canyon and began to stake
out numerous claims on some lead deposits which they found. The three men 'worked their
claims for over a year, before selling out to a local promoter named John Salsberry. Salsberry
had been involved in Death Valley mining since the Bullfrog days, and was a former
promoter of several mines on the west side of the valley, including some in the Ubehebe
Mining District in the early 1900s, and the Carbonate Mine in the 1910s. Salsberry purchased
twelve claims from the three prospectors and a few weeks later formed the Western Lead
Mines Company, with 1,500,000 shares of stock worth 10¢ each. Salsberry extended the
prospecting work in the district and by the end of 1925 the Western Lead Company had
accumulated over fifty claims in Titus Canyon and had started to work. A compressor plant
was installed to power the company's air drills, and eighteen men and six trucks began to
build a long and steep auto road out of Titus Canyon towards the Beatty highway.
In January of 1926, the company built a boarding house, and began to lay a pipe line from
Kiare Spring, two miles down the canyon, to the mine site. The young camp was entering the
boom stage. Following an enthusiastic Associated -Press report on the new camp, the Inyo
County Recorder reported that location notices were pouring into his offices. By January
30th, the town had been officially named Leadfield, and half a dozen mining companies were
in operation. Sales of the stock of Western Lead Mines Company were opened on the San
Francisco exchange in late January, and within twenty-four hours 40,000 shares had been
sold, with the price soaring to $1.57 per share.
Eastern California, and especially Inyo County, was long overdue for a mining boom, and it
seemed that the entire county jumped on the bandwagon. Hard times had begun to depress the

county's economy, and this new boom was just the shot in the arm which the local merchants
had been waiting for. Likewise, Beatty, on the other side of the state line, began to experience
a' revival in its economy, and the small railroad town, which had barely eked out an existence
since the collapse of the Bullfrog boom, found itself as the new supply metropolis for the
miners and companies swarming into Leadfield. No one was willing to look this gift horse in
the mouth, and no one questioned the reality of the new boom--to do so would mean a swift
ride out of town on a pole as a "knocker."
Then, in early February, came the announcement which seemed to assure the future of
Leadfield. C. C. Julian, the "well known oil promoter of Southern California, who had been
much in the limelight of late years on account of his spectacular oil operations," had bought
into the Western Lead Mines Company, and was its new president. With the backing of such
a successful and skilled promoter, Leadfield seemed assured of obtaining the necessary
financial support to take it from a prospecting boom camp into a producing mine town. The
Inyo Independent greeted the arrival of Julian with a glowing description of his character and
abilities. "Julian is recognized as one of the greatest promoters of the country and it is a
certainty that with his enthusiastic backing that something will come of Leadfield if there is
anything there. Quite a different endorsement would be printed in later years, after the mines
had folded and everyone was looking for a scapegoat. [81]
Illustration 63. Life in the early days of a boom camp was always hectic,
and a man had to sleep whenever and wherever the opportunity presented
itself. Although this photo is undated, the proliferation of autos and the
construction in the background indicates that it was taken during the early
days of the boom. Photo courtesy of Death Valley National Monument
Library, #8189.
The boom was now on in earnest. During February, the Western Lead Company was reported
to have a hundred men working in its mines and on the Titus Canyon road, and talk of
building a 500-ton mill was heard. When the road was completed in late February, a steady
stream of trucks began entering the canyon, carrying timber, machinery and supplies. The
Western Lead Company expanded its payroll to 140 men, and at least six other companies
were engaged in serious mining. Average values in the tunnels of the Western Lead Mine
were 8% to 30% lead, with seven ounces of silver to the ton, more than enough to make the
mine a paying proposition if the ore held out as exploration continued.
The California State Corporation Commission, however, was not so impressed with the

company, which had failed to secure a permit before it began selling shares of stock. Rumors
of investigations by the Commission raised the righteous indignation of local folk, who
refused to allow anyone to try to prick their balloon. The local attitude of Inyo County was
well summed up by the Owens Valley Herald
. . . the State Corporation Commission is using its every endeavor to try and
prejudice the people against this latest promotion of Julian's. This commission
has never sent a man into the Leadfield district to look it over, and it would
appear that the stand they have taken is purely spite, just because Julian at one
time refused to be dictated to by arrogant members of that Commission. The
Commission does not seem to realize that in the stand they are taking that they
[are] trying to hinder the development of the resources of this State, and the
Commission also does not seem to realize that such arbitrary methods have no
place in any development anywhere.
After all, the paper pointed out, Julian was not trying to swindle anyone. He had started a
promotional campaign with full-page advertisements in the Los Angeles papers, but he
clearly underlined the risks involved. "In the advertisements that he has recently been running
in Los Angeles papers he has told in plain words just what he thought of the proposition and
has advised people who could not afford to take a gamble not to buy any stock in it--for, as
is well known, all mining development is a gamble." In addition, Julian had publicly invited
any reputable mining engineer in the world to make a visit to the Leadfield District. If he did
not find conditions as stated by Julian, then all expenses of his trip would be paid. In spite of
the interference by the Corporation Commission, the paper concluded, "the future of
Leadfield seems very bright, and it would not be at all surprising if the mines there did not
turn out to [be] the biggest lead producers that the world has ever known." This Inyo County
newspaper, obviously, reflected the attitude of the citizens--they desperately wanted and
needed a mining boom, and the last thing they wanted was the over-zealous interference of
the State of California.
As the paper could well have pointed out, Julian was far from being the only promoter
singing the praises of the Leadfield District, for numerous other companies were also trying
to cash in on the boom. Such companies, by March of 1926, included the Leadfield New
Roads outfit, presided over by Walter J. Frick, who announced that his company had good
shipping ore in its tunnels, and would begin regular ore shipments soon. This company had
just built a mine office on its property, and was bringing in additional machinery in order to
rush the development work. Other companies in business included the Burr-Welch, the
Leadfield Carbonate, the Joplin and the Joplin Extension companies, the South Dip mine, the
Leadfield Metals, the Last Hope, the Cerusite, the Sand Carbonate and several others. There
was, of course, a company called the Western Lead Extension, in the best traditions of
mining booms.
But the Western Lead Mines Company, Julian's pet, was leading the pack. It was forging
ahead with its development work, with one of its tunnels six hundred feet inside the
mountain. The company purchased a 180-horsepower Fairbanks-Morse diesel engine in
March, as well as a second air compressor to power its machine drills. The town of Leadfield
was also trying to keep pace with the boom, which was attracting miners from all over the
country, and announced that a large hotel would soon be built. The cosmopolitan nature of
the boom was emphasized in early March, when eighteen former Alaskan miners sat down in
Leadfield for a reunion dinner. [82]
Then on March 15th, came the day which put Leadfield on the map, when the first of Julian's
promotional excursions pulled into Beatty. A specially-chartered train pulled into the sleepy
town on Sunday morning and disgorged 340 passengers, who had been chosen from among

the 1,500 who applied for the trip. Together with another 840 visitors from Tonopah and
Goldfield, the entourage overwhelmed Beatty until loaded into ninety-four automobiles for
the trip through Titus Canyon into Leadfield.
After bumping over the spectacular new road and down into Leadfield, the visitors were
served a sumptuous outdoor feast by the proprietor of the local Ole's Inn, who reported that
he dished up 1,120 meals. The dinner was served to music provided by a six-piece band
imported from Los Angeles. Lieutenant-Governor Gover of Nevada gave the key-note
speech, ridiculing the persecution of Julian by the California Corporation Commission, and
praising Julian for overcoming the numerous obstacles which modern governmental
bureaucracies put in a man's path. Several other speeches followed, including one by Julian,
voicing much the same opinion. During the afternoon the Tonopah orchestra played for those
who wished to listen or dance (twenty-four women had come on the train), and the more
serious visitors were conducted on a tour of the Western Lead Mine by John Salsberry. The
mine, said Salsberry, was still in the early stages of development, but more serious work
would get under way with the arrival of over $55,000 worth of machinery which the
company had recently ordered. The visitors were then driven back to Beatty for another night
of partying, before going home. The trip, obviously, was a big success, and Western Lead
stock advanced 25¢ on the San Francisco market the next day.
The Leadfield boom was now in its height. Plans were announced to build a forty-room
hotel, and a week after the grand excursion the town had its own newspaper, the Leadfield
Chronicle By the end of the month of March, Western Lead stock had soared to $3.30 a
share, and over 300,000 shares in the company had been sold. In addition to the general
public, ore buying and smelting concerns were becoming interested in the camp, and several
sent representatives to the district to discuss reduction and smelting rates. The Tonopah &
Tidewater Railroad, eager for more business, also sent representatives to Leadfield, in order
to estimate the amount of ore which the mines might be sending over its tracks. [83]
Illustration 64. Two views of Leadfield, taken in March of 1926. The top
view looks up the canyon to the northwest, and the bottom from the
opposite end of the canyon, looking southeast. The buildings in the
foreground of the bottom view belong to the Western Lead Mines.
Company. Photo courtesy of Special Collections Library, University of
Nevada, Reno.
In the months following the great train excursion, Leadfield continued to develop. More
companies, including the Western Lead Extension, were given permission to sell their stocks

on the exchanges of various states, and several, including the New Roads Mining Company,
began to sort their high-grade ore for shipment. Salsberry, manager of the Western Lead
Company, announced plans to build a 400-ton concentration plant at Leadfield, and new'"
mining companies, such as the Western Lead Mines Number Two, opened for business.
Since it cost $18 per ton to haul ore from Leadfield to the railroad terminal at Beatty--which
prohibited the shipment of most of the ore--local operators began to call for an extension of
the railroad to Leadfield. The Tonopah & Tidewater, however, coldly replied that definite
"plans for building a railroad spur into Leadfield have not been made, as present business
does not warrant its construction."
During April, the town continued to grow. The new 180-horsepower diesel engine for the
Western Lead Mine arrived and was placed on its concrete foundation near the portal of the
main tunnel, next to the twelve-drill air compressor. The machines, unfortunately, were not
put into immediate use, due to delays in the shipment of fuel oil. The New Roads Company,
Western Lead's greatest competitor, continued to sack its high grade ore for shipment, and its
new air compressor and air drills arrived. Then, on April 30th, the townsite of Leadfield was
officially surveyed, and the town's plat was submitted to Inyo County officials for approval.
The ambitious plat showed 1749 lots, arranged into 93 blocks. The central street was aptly
named Salsberry street, while the least desirable lots, which sided upon a small ravine, were
also aptly named Poverty Gulch. Significantly, all the land upon which the town was platted
was upon the claims of the Western Lead Company, which donated that land to the townsite
company. Although their names do not appear, it thus is obvious that the directors of the
Western Lead Company were working closely with the directors of the townsite organization.
The plat was approved by Inyo County officials the following month.
But in the meantime, the State of California was breathing hard upon Julian's neck. The
Corporation Commission hauled a brokerage company into court for selling Western Lead
stock without a state permit. The company argued that the stock which it had sold was not
treasury stock of the Western Lead Mines, but was Julian's personal stock in the company.
The former required a state permit, but the latter did not. Expert witnesses were called to
testify, and according to the Tonopah Mining Reporter, fifteen to twenty qualified mining
engineers and geologists testified that the Western Lead Mine was a quite legitimate
proposition. "No testimony, except that of two engineers for the commission, was
unfavorable." if the sale of stock was found to be illegal in California, the paper said, sales
would merely shift to Western Lead's offices at Reno, from which California buyers could
telegraph their orders.
But the continued investigations by the state of California began to hurt the sales of Western
Lead stock, and another factor began to take a toll. Shortly before Julian had become
involved in Leadfield, he had sold his controlling share in the Julian Petroleum Company to a
former partner. His former partner shortly thereafter had engaged in a fraudulent overissue of
Julian Petroleum stock, which soon caused that company to collapse. Although it appears that
Julian had nothing to do with that affair, his name was firmly linked to the petroleum
company in the public mind, and his credibility began to shrink. In one two-day period, the
price of Western Lead dropped 175 points on the west coast trading boards, and the company
never recovered from the panic which set in. [84]
Nevertheless, Julian, the Western Lead Mine, and the numerous other mining companies
involved in the Leadfield boom continued to pursue their exploration and development
works. Late in May, the sixteen men working in the New Roads Mining Company opened a
good strike of lead ore. At about the same time, Julian bought into that company, which gave
him control of the two largest mines of Leadfield. With both the New Roads and the Western
Lead companies showing steady improvement, Julian announced definite plans to construct a
large milling plant at Leadfield.

As summer approached, the Leadfield boom showed no signs of peaking. More companies
came into the district and began operations, including the Boundary Cone Mining Company,
the Pacific Lead Mining Company, and several others. The new companies found favorable
public response on the west coast stock markets at first, for the continued boom in Leadfield
made it appear that the California Corporation Commission was indeed playing a sour grapes
role. The district even showed signs of becoming a producer, as the New Roads Company
announced that its first shipment, consisting of two or three carloads of $50 to $90 ore, would
soon be ready.
The Corporation Commission, however, had other ideas, and in late June of 1926, ordered
that sales of Julian's personal stock in the Western Lead mines must immediately cease on the
Los Angeles stock exchange. The decision was made due to "the evidence introduced at the
hearing. . . that the sale of shares of the capital stock of the Western Lead Mines Company, a
Nevada corporation, in the State of California, would be unfair, unjust, and inequitable to the
purchasers thereof." It is interesting to note, in light of the heavy criticism which Julian has
received in later years, that the commission was careful to omit any reference to any
fraudulent or illegal activities on the part of Julian.
But despite this heavy blow to the financial fortunes of Julian, developments at Leadfield
proceeded. The Mining Journal a respected Arizona publication, printed a long detailed
report on the Leadfield District in July, which helped to restore public confidence.
"Indications are that the lead deposition in the Grapevine Mountains along the edge of Death
Valley is one of the large deposits of the west and one that can be made commercially a
factor in the lead production of the country." Once again, private and uninterested geologists
and engineers seemed to be indirectly accusing the Corporation Commission of persecuting
Julian. The mines agreed with the independent experts and continued to work. The Burr
Welch Mine reported the location of new ore deposits, and the Boundary Cone Mining
Company ordered and installed a new 25-horsepower hoist and headframe. The new plant
had a lifting capacity of 500 tons per day, and the company increased its work force to
twelve miners. The New Roads Company let a contract for the driving of another 100 feet in
its main tunnel, and announced plans for early ore shipments.
At the same time, during late July, the Western Lead Mining Company and its president, C.
C. Julian, brought a $350,000 damage suit against the Los Angeles Times and the California
Corporation Commission, saying that the paper and the Commission had slandered Julian and
the company without due cause and without sufficient evidence. The suit, however, was
quickly thrown out of court for insufficient cause, "it being the duty of the corporation
commission to investigate stocks and securities offered for sale in California."
During August, another new mining company, the Pacific Lead Mines No. 2, was
incorporated and began work. The California Corporation Commission gave this company
permission to sell its stock, 1,000,000 shares of which were offered to the public at 254 each.
This decision was important, for it indicated that the Commission had finally been persuaded
that Leadfield itself was a legitimate mining boom. The Commission would allow the sale of
stock in Leadfield companies which were not controlled by Julian. In the meantime, the U.S.
Postal Service had also decided that Leadfield was a family permanent mining camp, and on
August 25th a post office was. opened in the young town.

Illustration 65. View of Leadfield, looking southeast down Titus Canyon

from the Western Lead Mine. Undated, ca. 1926. Photo courtesy Western
History Collection, University of Colorado, Margaret Long Collection.
During September and October, drilling and tunneling continued in Leadfield's mines. The
incline shaft of the Boundary Cone Mine reached a depth of 200 feet, and the Pacific Lead
Mines, Inc., reported lead assays of 8 percent in its ore. But in late October, two events took
place which spelled the end of Leadfield. The main tunnel of the Western Lead Mine finally
penetrated the ledge which the company had been tunneling towards, where its geologists
had felt the best lead deposits would be. Instead of finding high-grade lead ore, the company
found almost nothing. The ore assayed only 2 percent lead, far too small a percentage to mine
profitably, considering the high freight costs.
This would not have been the killing blow, however, if the company had been able to regroup
and look elsewhere for the elusive lead ore But at almost the same time, the California
Corporation Commission dealt Julian another blow when it halted sales of stock in the Julian
Merger Mines, Inc. This holding company, which Julian apparently intended to use as
backup financial support for the troubled Western Lead Mine Company, had been his last
financial resort. When sales of Julian Merger Mines were forbidden, Julian's hopes were
crushed, and his empire fell apart. One writer later declared that Julian expended nearly
$3,000,000 buying up stock after the decision was announced, desperately attempting to keep
the system from collapsing. But even if this were true, which seems rather unlikely, the effort
was futile. Julian was now broke, which meant that the Western Lead, the New Roads and
the Leadfield Townsite companies were also broke. With the leading mining companies and
the leading promoter of Leadfield out of the picture, investors in other companies quickly lost
heart, and the collapse of Julian's companies had a domino effect. The other mines slowly
closed, one after another, and Leadfield became a ghost town in a matter of several months.
The Post Office, opened only few months before, closed in January of 1927. [85]
As usual, the failure of a mining district lead to a flurry of law suits. Several individuals sued
the New Roads Company for back wages arid debts, and for their efforts won the dubious
title to the mine. Julian appealed the decision to halt sales of Julian Merger stock to the
Second District Court of Appeals of California, but lost his appeal in February of 1927. Early
in the summer of that year, the Western Lead Company, with no further hope of developing
its property, removed its heavy machinery and the pipe line to a mine which the company
owned in Arizona. By July of 1927, the Mining Journal reported that the only work in the
district was being done by seven lonely miners who were still sinking in the Burr Welch
Mine, using hand tools.

Between 1927 and today, little activity has taken place in Leadfield. The National Park
Service reported that sporadic prospect work was done in Titus Canyon as late as 1959, but
no actual mining has been done. Julian, in the meantime, went on to the Oklahoma oil boom,
where he organized the Julian Oil and Royalties Company. After several years of operation,
he was indicted for using the mails to defraud investors, but he jumped bail and fled to
Shanghai, China in 1933. A year later he committed suicide at the age of forty. [86]
Miners, prospectors, promoters and newspapers usually look for a scapegoat after the failure
of a mine or a mining district, and in the case of Leadfield they had a ready-made villain at
hand. After Julian was indicted in Oklahoma in 1933, everyone conveniently forgot that he
had never been indicted or even considered for indictment for any of his activities in
Leadfield, and the story of that ghost town gradually grew into what it has become today--the
story of an out-right fraud from the very beginning, instigated solely by C. C. Julian. Such an
opinion was quoted at the beginning of this section.
In fairness, that interpretation of Leadfield must be revised. In the first place, it is quite
obvious that there was ore at Leadfield, and that it was not put there by Julian. He in no way
salted the mines, for the existence of lead ore in the district had been known as far back as
the Bullfrog boom days of 1905. As pointed out above, the concensus opinion of mining
engineers and geologists during the boom days was that there was lead ore in the district, and
that opinion was shared by the California Corporation Commission, which allowed companies
other than Julian's to sell their stock. Finally, in another conveniently forgotten report, the
California Bureau of Mines and Geology reported in 1938 that the main ore-bearing ledges of
Leadfield carried lead ore of five to seven percent per ton, in add to five ounces of silver per
ton--enough ore to support a mining operation.
A second major point to keep in mind in that Julian did not start the Leadfield boom, and that
he had plenty of help in supporting the boom once it had started. Julian was not even
involved in the Western Lead Mine until several months after the boom had begun. Then,
like so many other mining promoters, he hurried to get in on the ground floor. And the boom,
once started, had the whole-hearted support of the citizens of Inyo County, California and
Nye County, Nevada. The economies of both counties needed all the help they could set, and
no one promoted the mines and attacked the interference of the California Corporation
Commission with more fervor than the local newspapers. These things are quickly forgotten,
however, once a boom has died. But it should be more than evident that Julian neither started
the Leadfield boom nor was solely responsible for promoting it.
Finally, as a side note, it should be emphasized that the collapse of Julian's financial structure
came at the worst possible time for Leadfield. When sales of Julian's various stocks were
halted, his mines and others had spent thousands of dollars on the preliminary development
work necessary to produce a paying mine. Miners had been hired, tunnels and shafts had
been driven, machinery had been ordered, and the Titus Canyon road had been built. Then,
just before the mines were ready to begin shipping ore and turning into producing companies,
the collapse of Julian's finances brought about the desertion of the district. Although it seems
doubtful that Leadfield had enough ore to support more than a small mining company or two,
indications are that without the sudden panic of the fall of 1926, that mine or two could have
survived. Harold Weight, one of the few writers who has not jumped on the blame-Julian
bandwagon, gives the only satisfactory assessment of Leadfield. " . . . we will never know
whether the camp, honestly financed and developed, would have made that big mine. We'll
never know whether that once, Julian, as he protested, was making an honest effort to
develop it."
We cannot close this section without acknowledging the one very real thing which Julian did-
-which was to build the Titus Canyon road. This effort, which cost an estimated $60,000, was

no mean feat. The road winds up through the mountain passes for over fifteen miles from
Leadfield to the Beatty highway, and climbs from an elevation of 3,400 feet at the highway
to 5,200 feet through the passes and back down to 4,000 feet at Leadfield. The road was
rightly considered an engineering marvel at the time, and today presents the visitor with one
of the most spectacular routes in Death Valley National Monument. Without Julian, that road
would not have been finished, a point which awed visitors fail to realize when reading the
popular literature which castigates Julian for promoting the ghost town of Leadfield. [87]
The road into Leadfield is dotted with mines, dumps, tunnels and prospect holes, which may
be seen from almost two miles east of the town site to two miles west of it. The townsite
itself is covered with wood and tin debris and faint scars of numerous tent and wooden
building sites. Extant remains include four wood and tin buildings, three of which were
connected with the mines, and one which appears to be an old store building. Other
structures include a well-preserved dugout, complete with square-set timbering on the inside,
and the cement foundations of the mill, which represent the only part of the mill which was
ever built.
Leadfield is on the National Register of Historic Places, but for all the wrong reasons. The
historian who prepared the nomination form relied upon the popular writers for his evidence,
and as a result, his statement of significance reiterates the popular myths: "Located in Titus
Canyon, this mining town began in 1925 as a promotion scheme based on spurious claims. C.
C. Julian advertised the town, making exaggerated claims . . .
The significance of the site lies in the fact it was an example of one of the get-rich-quick
schemes of the wild 1920s. This statement should be revised, for Leadfield not only belongs
on the National Register, but it belongs there for the right reasons.

Illustrations 66-67. Top: Leadfield in 1978, looking northwest up Titus

Canyon. The old store building is in the center, with a mine building on the
dump above. The buildings of the Western Lead Mine may be seen in the
distant background. Below: Opposite of the above view, looking at the store
from the dumps of the Western Lead Mine. Note the mill foundations in
front of the store. 1978 photos by John Latschar.

Illustrations 68-69. The two frame and tin buildings of the Western Lead
Mine, viewed from the southeast. Below: Main street, Leadfield, in 1978.
Although not discernable in this picture, the ground on both sides of the old
street are covered with former building and tent sites. 1978 photos by John
Latschar.

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION IV:
EAST SIDE
9. Miscellaneous Bullfrog Hills Properties
This section will cover a number of the less important sites within the Bullfrog Hills area.
Some of these properties were identified with the Bullfrog District mining boom, while some
are from later years, but for want of a better means of organization, all will be lumped
together and discussed here.
a. Happy Hooligan Mine
The Happy Hooligan Mine, situated on the east slope of the Grapevine Mountains, about
eleven miles west of Rhyolite, was one of the earlier discoveries within the Bullfrog District.
The mine was first located by three prospectors named McMann, Stockton and Wilson in
May of 1905. Within a month the rich surface ore brought in by the prospectors led to the
sale of their five claims to Curtis Mann and the Gorrill brothers, who incorporated
themselves as the Happy Hooligan Mining Company.

Illustration 70. Map of the Grapevine Mountains.

Illustration 71. Map of the Bullfrog Northwest Portion of the Bullfrog Hills.
In July of 1905, a visitor left a description of the month-old workings at the mine site. The
mine itself consisted of an open surface cut and a discovery hole, he wrote, where ore values
of $22 to the ton had been uncovered. The miners working at the Happy Hooligan lived in a
large cave about one-half mile west of the mine, near a spring. The abundance of water and
of wood--which was unusual for the Bullfrog District--made the camp a most pleasant place
to visit and work. The owners of the Happy Hooligan informed the visitor that they had
extensive development plans for the mine, including the erection of a mill at the water source.
As usual, the publicity given the Happy Hooligan by this and other visitors soon resulted in
the area around the mine becoming covered with location notices. For example, the Bullfrog
Apex Mining Company, discussed before, located seven claims in the immediate vicinity of
the Happy Hooligan in July of 1905.
Apparently due to the extreme heat of the summer, very little work was done on the Happy
Hooligan between July and September of 1905. With the arrival of cooler weather, however,
mining began in earnest in October, and ore values uncovered during that fall proved
encouraging. The mine announced that ore ranging from $10 to $100 per ton was found in the
surface trenches in October, and the following month an exploration shaft was begun. By the
end of November, Curtis Mann reported that the ore values persisted with depth, as good ore
had been found in the bottom of the new shaft, which was now seventy feet deep.

Development was increased, and the company began to cut a wagon road from Rhyolite west
to its mine, while Mann enthusiastically predicted that the company would build a stamp mill
within six months.
As 1905 closed, indications at the mine continued to be encouraging, according to its owners.
W. W. Stockton, the mine superintendent, reported that the ore vein was two feet wide and
that the three shifts of miners employed on the property had sunk the inclined shaft to a depth
of 120 feet. But F. L. Ransome, the government geologist who visited the Bullfrog District
late in 1905, recorded a different impression. The ore vein was rarely more than a few inches
in width, he reported, and the future of the Happy Hooligan would depend entirely upon what
conditions were uncovered as the shaft went deeper. [88]
In January of 1906 the Happy Hooligan reported that values, were increasing with depth, and
that the company had ordered a gas hoist for the property. Curtis Mann made a trip to San
Francisco, where he arranged for the sale of Happy Hooligan shares on that city's stock
exchange. Work continued through February and March, and the company announced that it
would soon be ready to sack its high-grade ore for shipment. Simultaneously, the company
opened an advertising campaign, and within three days after its first large ad appeared in the
Rhyolite Herald had sold 50,000 shares.
During March, the company began construction of a blacksmith shop and a boarding house
on its property, finally letting the miners escape their somewhat primitive accommodations in
the cave. The road to the property was finished and the Rhyolite Herald reported that it was
suitable for auto travel. Ten men were employed at the mine and the company began
construction of an ore bin, in anticipation of the arrival of its hoist. On the 30th of that
month, Taylor & Griffiths, one of Rhyolite's leading stock brokerages, wrote that sales of
Happy Hooligan stock were satisfactory, with most purchases being made by eastern
investors. The present price of 20¢ per share led the brokers to declare that they "recommend
the purchase at these figures. We expect to see it go higher." It should be noted, however, that
Taylor & Griffiths recommended the purchase of every stock which they discussed in their
market report, all of which could coincidently be purchased at their offices.
As April went by the blacksmith shop at the Happy Hooligan was completed, and the
company received a supply of 500 ore sacks, in order to prepare its high-grade ore for
shipment. The company had started a new working shaft, which was down eighty-five feet,
and expected that the arrival of the railroad in a few months would enable the Happy
Hooligan to ship the high-grade ore at a profit. Within a month the 500 ore sacks were filled
and waiting, despite delays caused by high winds which had blown down the new blacksmith
shop. By the end of May, the company had finally located its hoist, which had been lost on a
railroad siding during shipment, and began preparing the ground for the installation of it.

Illustration 72. From the Rhyolite Herald, 2 March 1906.
During the hot months of July and August, work was suspended at the mine, although
whether this was due to the heat or to the lack of funds is not known. On September 14th, the
company's stockholders voted at their annual meeting to resume work at the mine in the
"immediate future." The long-delayed hoist was expected at any time, and the company
announced that it had plenty of money to pursue development work for a number of months.
Investors, however, were somewhat suspicious of the dearth of work at the mine since May,
and stock prices began to slip. The high of 20¢ per share which the company had enjoyed in
March had fallen to 16¢ by May and slumped further to a low of 9¢ by late September, when
work was resumed at the mine.
During the first week of October, the Happy Hooligan reported that the cement foundations
for the long-delayed hoist were nearly complete, that the new working shaft was down to 130
feet, and that the company had 500 sacks of ore waiting on its dump--which indicated that
the company had not sacked any ore since May, when it had reported 500 sacks ready for
shipment. Then, on October 19th, the long-awaited 15-horsepower gasoline hoist finally
arrived, and was soon installed. With the new hoist working, sinking was resumed in the
shaft, and the mine began to sack more high-grade ore. As these operations picked up during
October and November, investors again took heart in the prospects of the company and stock
prices started to rise. Shares in the Happy Hooligan sold for 10¢ each in October, and then
for as high as 16¢ in early November, before closing that month at 14¢. With some of the
money from the stock sales, the Happy Hooligan increased its estate by purchasing twelve
adjacent claims, which had been located and briefly worked in previous years by prospectors
who had since given up hope. [89]
The Happy Hooligan began to experience financial difficulties in early 1907. Despite the
excellent showings which the company reported in its mine, and the fact that it had a carload
of high-grade ore ready to ship to the railroad, the mine shut down in January and did not
resume operations until April. In the meantime, however, the Happy Hooligan talked a good
fight, announcing that grand development plans were being finalized and that the mine had
$200,000 worth of ore blocked out.
By this time, the announcements from the Happy Hooligan were becoming somewhat
contradictory. In May of 1906, the company had announced that it had 500 sacks of high-
grade ore ready for shipment, and in March of 1907 it again stated that 500 sacks were

waiting at the mine--despite the fact that the company had announced several times in the
interim that more ore was being sacked. Either the company's management was not sure what
was going on, or the Happy Hooligan was very clumsily trying to fool the public. Not many
people were fooled, however, and Bullfroggers began to ask why the company did not ship
its high-grade ore, now that the railroads had arrived in the Bullfrog district. Investors asked
these same questions, and prices of Happy Hooligan stock fell from 12¢ in January to 9 on
April 5th, when work was finally resumed in the mine.
After over a month of work, things had not changed much. By the end of May, the company
still could count only 500 sacks of ore on the dumps, but it did announce that a shipment
would soon be made. Contrary to that announcement, however, the mine was then closed,
before any shipments were made, which makes one wonder if those 500 sacks of ore ever
existed. For the rest of 1907 the Happy Hooligan was idle, and the only work performed at
the site for the next three years was the minimum necessary annual assessment work to
enable the company to retain title to its claims. In 1911, however, even that was not
performed, and the Happy Hooligan property re-entered the public domain of the state of
Nevada.
Although the story is not at all clear, the Happy Hooligan had apparently run out of
development funds in May of 1907, and before refinancing could be obtained, the Panic of
1907 had wiped out any chance that the company could ever resume operations. As a strange
epilogue, stock in the Happy Hooligan remained on the trading boards long after the mine
had closed. When work ceased in May of 1907, Happy Hooligan was selling at 3-1/2¢ per
share, but instead of dropping completely off the board when the mine closed, the stock hung
on for almost another year. Prices slowly slipped from 3¢ to 2¢ and then to 1 per share
through the rest of 1907, but not until March of 1908 did the stock finally disappear from the
trading boards.
Details regarding the Happy Hooligan mine after its closure in 1907 are sketchy, although it
is certain that nothing significant took place on the property during the ensuing decades.
Physical evidence indicates that someone lived at the the mine and attempted to work it on a
very small scale during the 1930s, and in 1951 the property was actively owned under
another name. It is evident, however, that nothing more that surface scratching and
prospecting took place during these periods. The mine is idle today and bears every indication
of having been so for quite a number of years. [90]
Remains at the Happy Hooligan site are not impressive, and consist mostly of small dumps
around shallow adits and shafts. Car parts litter the site, as well as assorted tin and wood
debris, most of which seem to have come from a crude sort of reduction attempt in the 1930s
era. An abandoned frame and tin shack may be found about one-half mile west of the mine,
which is also tremendously littered with car parts and junk. The debris is the sort which one
would expect around the home of an unknown desert hermit, who probably took refuge there
during the depression, and feebly tried to work the mine. There is nothing at this site which
deserves protection, preservation or interpretation.

Illustration 73. Site of the Happy Hooligan Mine, showing the two main
dumps. 1978 photo by John Latschar.
Illustration 74. The main well at Currie Well, showing the deteriorated
remains of earlier attempts to improve the water source. 1978 photo by John
Latschar.
b. Currie Well
Currie Well's claim to fame rests mostly on its use as a desert watering hole for stages and
trains traveling between Rhyolite and Goldfield. Located some eleven miles north of
Rhyolite, or seven miles north of the Original Bullfrog Mine, the water from this site was
first used to supply thirsty horses, mules, teamsters and passengers traveling through the area.
The site was claimed in succession by several miners and entrepreneurs, who tried to eke out
a living by selling water to travelers and by providing meals for men and forage for animals.
There is no indication that these efforts, which lasted intermittently from 1907 to 1909, ever
paid off. Sporadic efforts were also made in later years to improve the well site, with no
obvious degree of success, and in 1911 two intrepid souls attempted to start a farm garden
and alfalfa field. Again, the short life of these operations indicates that they were entirely
unsuccessful.

The two brief spurts of real activity which surround the well site came during 1907, when the
Las Vegas & Tonopah Railroad's construction crew made the place a work camp due to its
water source, and during 1909, when the owner of the well tried unsuccessfully to improve
the water flow in order to pipe it to adjacent mines. These spurts of activity were brief,
however, and soon died out. Several short-lived mining companies also briefly tried to
develop their claims in the area, but all these efforts died a quick and merciful death. [91]
The area around Currie Well is littered with various types of debris which tell the story of
brief and unsuccessful attempts to exploit the water rights. Piles of barbed wire depict the
site of an old corral, probably the one used for stage horses during the stop-over. Various
piles of junked sheet and tin metal are left behind by those who attempted to control the flow
of water from the well, which seemed to prefer seeping out of the ground at unlikely and
unwanted spots. The only remains of any note are the ruins of two small beehive furnaces.
Some people believe that these crude furnaces mark an attempt to smelt ore from local mines,
but it is much more likely that they were used by the railroad construction crews as open-air
blacksmith forges. None of these remains are of National Register significance. Until a
historical archaeologist can determine more about them, these sites should be treated with
benign neglect.
c. Mexican Camp
Mexican Camp, located in the Grapevine Mountains about thirteen miles west of Rhyolite,
was the site of a short-term wood cutting operation during the early years of the Bullfrog
boom. Located at a small, intermittent spring, the camp was the headquarters of a group of
Mexicans (hence the name), who cut timber from the surrounding hills, and hauled it out to
Rhyolite via a trail which connected the camp to Titus Canyon. Operations at the camp
appeared to be marginally successful, until the arrival of the Las Vegas & Tonopah Railroad
in the Bullfrog District in December of 1906. After that, the Mexicans could no longer
compete with the price of lumber brought in by the railroad, and the camp was abandoned.
The site of Mexican Camp has apparently remained on USGS maps to this date primarily
because no one knew what it was and thus dared not take it off. There is nothing of historic
significance at the site today, although it may have historical archaeological potential. [92]
d. Phinney Mine
The Phinney Mine, located about eighteen miles northwest of Rhyolite in the Grapevine
Mountains, is the site of a small-scale, two-man mining attempt during the 1930s. The mine
was first located by Charles E. and F. C. Phinney of Beatty in 1930, and between then and
the end of operations in 1938, the two men managed to ship out approximately fifty tons of
ore worth $17 per ton--for a grand total of $850. Not surprisingly, with the advent of better
times towards the end of the depression era, the Phinney Mine was abandoned, and Charles
Phinney moved to Beatty, where he died in 1952. [93]
Structures at the site include two adits and small dumps associated with them, a small pipe
line which funneled water from a spring above the mine down to the work area, and a
decrepit twelve- by twenty-foot cabin built on the mine dump. The cabin shows all intentions
of plunging off the side of the dump in the near future, due to erosion, and no one should be
particularly concerned if it does.
About one-half mile above Phinney Mine' is the site of another small-scale mining attempt,
which also appears to date from the depression era. Remains at this site consists of a tent site,
an old ore loading dock and a small shaft with a collapsed hoist. No known name can be
associated with this mine for certain, and the site has no historical significance. [94]

e. Strozzi Ranch
The Strozzi Ranch site, located two miles southeast of the Phinney Mine, or about sixteen
miles northwest of Rhyolite, was the scene of a 1930-era ranching effort in the Grapevine
Mountains. The site was homesteaded by Caesar Strozzi around 1931, and was seasonally
used between then and 1947. Apparently Strozzi lived at the ranch during the summer months
and resided in Beatty during the winter. Since his tax lists show assorted numbers of cattle,
goats and chickens throughout these years, he evidently used the ranch as a summer grazing
ground, and herded his animals back to Beatty for the winter.
Illustration 75. Decrepit wood and tin shack on the dump at Phinney mine,
emphasizing its precarious future. 1978 photo by John Latschar.
Illustration 76. View of Strozzi's Ranch. The tallest building in the center of
the picture is the main living quarters, and support buildings are scattered up
and down the small valley. The roof of the dugout is visible to the right of
the vehicle. Note the fence posts scattered about. 1978 photo by John
Latschar.

The ranch is located just north of Brier Springs, which Strozzi used for a water source, and
evidence at the site that he also grew several small crops. A few peach trees, for example,
may still be found fighting a desperate battle against the weeds. During the sixteen years that
Strozzi utilized the ranch site, he erected several major improvements. Today the visitor may
see the remains of a main house constructed of wood and tin, and five shacks, which served
as a blacksmith shop, a chicken house, and the like. In addition, two dugouts are on the
property, one of which is in fairly good shape. Extensive fragments of fence posts and
fencing material indicate efforts which Strozzi took to keep his livestock under control. The
National Park Service has added to the scenery of the site through the installation of two
port-a-johns for the benefit of picnickers, who cannot reach the site anyway since the access
road is completely washed out.
In the absence of more detailed information, the Strozzi ranch seems to be the site of one
man's efforts to exploit free grazing rights on a seasonal basis, rather than a year-around
residence. The attempt has no historical importance, and the buildings at the ranch do not
deserve preservation. Although Strozzi's son is still alive and living in Beatty, he was
uncooperative when asked for information by a representative of the National Park Service,
which is not an unusual attitude among the local population. [95]

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION IV:
EAST SIDE
B. The Funeral Range
1. Introduction
The canyons and hillsides of the Funeral Range, running down the east side of Death Valley,
have seen a wide and varied mining history. One of the first mines in the Death Valley
region, the Chloride Cliff, was discovered and worked here in the early 1870's, and one of
Death Valley's most productive mines, the Keane Wonder, is also located in this area. But the
real burst of activity within this region, lie so many others within Death Valley National
Monument, was a result of the great Bullfrog boom.
In a sense, the Funeral Range and the Bullfrog Hills areas had a symbionic relationship.
Although we cannot be sure, it is a good possibility that one of the reasons that the locators of
the Keane Wonder mine chose the Funeral range to prospect in was their knowledge of the
Chloride Cliff mine, which had operated briefly some thirty years before. Although the
original Chloride Cliff mine was never really successful, that was due more to the difficulties
and costs of transportation in the nineteenth century than to the lack of ore content at the
mine, and the knowledge that there definitely was ore in the area probably drew the attention
of early twentieth-century prospectors. We do know that once the Keane Wonder Mine was
located, its early fame drew other prospectors to the region, two of whom went on to discover
the Original Bullfrog Mine, which kicked off one of Southern Nevada's most spectacular
mining booms.
The great success of the Bullfrog boom, in turn, stimulated a secondary rush to the Funeral
Range, as prospectors fanned out over the adjacent territory on the theory that one good
discovery would lead to another. In fact, as the Mining World wrote in January of 1906,
when the rush to the Funeral range was well under way, "Death Valley is the best prospected
section in the world. For many years the danger accompanying the investigation has lured
men to prospect this ground, hoping that the danger had kept other men away."

Illustration 77. Map of Funeral Range Area.
Although there is no doubt that the Funeral Range was covered with a swarm of prospectors
during this time, their expertise was an arguable point. Another publication, the Mining &
Scientific Press later called for a more thorough investigation of the possibilities of Death
Valley, on the theory that the first mad rush to the region had been made by prospectors of
questionable skills. "On the side favoring further prospecting around Death Valley it should
be said that the prospectors have previously been the laziest lode-hunters on the desert. Much
of the alledged prospecting has been done by "desert-rats," those half-mad desert tramps who
never made more than a pretense of looking for ore. Their search was generally confined to
trails between water-holes." The writer had a point, for many of the prospectors of the
western mining frontier were no better than out-door bums, who followed the booms from
one camp to another in order to cash in on the free-spending days of boom fevers. They were
a representation of the losers of society, who found it easier to wander the hills in a vague
search for gold while living off someone else's grubstake, than to look for a steady job.
At any rate, whether experienced or not, dedicated or bums, the Funeral Range was
thoroughly prospected in the years between 1905 and 1907, as the Bullfrog boom rose to its
peak. Numerous mines and mining camps were established during that period, enough to
cause the formation of two distinct mining districts subsidiary to the Bullfrog District. The
South Bullfrog District was centered around the Keane Wonder and Chloride Cliff mines, in
the northern half of the Funeral Range, and the Echo-Lee Mining District straddled the lower

Funeral Range from Schwab on the west to Lee on the east. Between Daylight Pass on the
north and Furnace Creek wash on the south, there was hardly a square mile of territory which
did not contain a mine or prospect during this period. There was gold in the hills.
Unfortunately, there was not enough gold to support the number of miners who wanted some.
The mines and prospects of the region were greatly exaggerated and over-publicized, due to
the excesses of the boom fever. Every new location within these booming districts was hailed
as the new Comstock lode, while similar discoveries in isolated regions which were not
booming were totally ignored. Once that fever began to subside, however, the smaller mines
were quick to fade away. Their demise was helped by two disasterous events which affected
all of western mining: the San Francisco earthquake and fire in the spring of 1906 and the
Panic of 1907. To a lesser extent the San Francisco disaster cut short the amount of investor
funds which were available to the young mines of the two districts for exploration and
development, but the real disaster was the Panic of 1907. It hit the booming districts just
when the mining companies needed money the most, in order to build mills, improve roads,
invest in machinery, and continue development.
These two events, coupled with the gradual demise of the Bullfrog District itself, foretold the
eventual end of the South Bullfrog and the Echo-Lee districts. The smaller mines were the
first to go, but they were soon followed by the larger ones, before any really had a decent
chance to find out whether the ore in the ground was rich enough and extensive enough to
make a real producing mine. The towns of the districts, such as Lee and Schwab, likewise
died with their mines, and never were given the opportunity to develop into substantial
mining camps.
By 1910, the South Bullfrog and the Echo-Lee districts were almost deserted, with the
notable exception of the Keane Wonder Mine, which steadily produced gold bullion
throughout the years of discovery, boom and bust. But it, too, ran out of ore in the mid-
1910s, and closed down. The Funeral Range was then left much as it had been found, except
that uncounted shafts, tunnels, and prospect holes now dotted the countryside. Between 1920
and today, no significant mining has taken place within this region, although brief efforts
were made to revive several of the larger mines. The scene today around most of these mines
is much the same as it was seventy years ago. The only access to most of the region is along
the old wagon roads and burro trails blazed by the Bullfrog era miners, and as years and
washouts help the desert to slowly reclaim these roads, travel to the old mines and camps
becomes more and more difficult.
But the South Bullfrog and the Echo-Lee districts were more typical than not of the life and
death of mines and mining camps anywhere in the American west. For every famous mine
and town, such as Goldfield and Tonopah, there were always hundreds of other mines and
camps which tried and failed. The Funeral Range is, by and large, the history of such. [1]

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION IV:
EAST SIDE
2. Chloride Cliff
a. History
Chloride Cliff is a term which has been applied to a geographic area, a series of mines, a
town, and a mining district. For the purposes of this discussion, Chloride Cliff will be used in
its geographic sense, to define an area four miles square. This area starts at the Cliff itself on
the south, where one may stand on an old mine dump and gaze down upon a spectacular
view of Death Valley some 5,000 feet below, if the wind does not blow you offthe side of
the cliff. From here, the mining area stretches northwest beyond the site of Chloride City,
with old mines and dumps covering the ridges and shallow valleys along the way.
The oldest mine on the east side of Death Valley National Monument, and one of the oldest
within the entire Monument, is the original Chloride Cliff Mine. It was discovered on August
14th, 1871, by A. J. Franklin, a civil engineer employed by the U.S. Government to assist in
surveying the Nevada-California state line. Although the story varies--some say he picked up
a rock to kill a rattlesnake and found ore--Franklin somehow found what he thought was a
vein of chloride of silver. He immediately staked out seven claims, called the Franklin Group,
and the following October formed the Chloride Cliff Mining Company.

Illustration 78. Map of North Central Portion of Chloride Cliff Area.
In April of 1872, Franklin returned to his locations and began to work. Crude on-site tests
indicated that his silver ore was worth between $200 and $1,000 per ton, and he began to dig
a shaft. By July of 1873, when Franklin was employing seven miners, the shaft had been
sunk to seventy feet, and he had nearly 100 tons of ore on the dump, ready for shipment.
Transportation, however, was a definite problem, for there were as yet no distinct roads
connecting Death Valley with any point of civilization. The mine was dependent upon San
Bernardino, 180 miles away, for food and supplies, and although one man set a record for
riding the distance in fifty-six hours, the normal string of pack mules took considerably
longer to cover the route.
During 1872 and 1873, when the Chloride Cliff Mine was operating, pack trains arrived with
supplies about every three months. As these mule teams traveled back and forth, they slowly
identified the best route between Death Valley and San Bernardino, and by 1873, Franklin
was proudly able to boast that a fully laden wagon could travel to within three hundred feet of
his mine. This early route into the heart of Death Valley was subsequently used during the
first years of borax mining at the Harmony and Eagle borax works.
But even with a new road to follow, the great expenses of packing in supplies and hauling
out ore made the Chloride Cliff Mine unprofitable, unless a cheaper method of reducing the
ore could be found. A newspaper reporter who visited the mine in 1873 summed up the

situation facing Franklin. "in many things the prospects seem favorable, they have
unquestionably struck a vast amount of ore but as yet the ledge is not sufficiently prospected
to justify a great expenditure of capital in erecting works . . ." And while Franklin was trying
to make up his mind, the great Panamint boom started on the west side of Death Valley,
which made his small mine relatively unattractive to those who had capital to invest. After
nearly two years of operation, the Chloride Cliff Mine shut down.
Given the poor records which have survived from these early days of mining, we have no
estimate of production from the mine. The papers mentioned several times that pack mules
were bringing out ore, but nothing more definite can be stated. But Franklin and his mine had
a decided effect upon the future history of Death Valley. The wagon road blazed by his
suppliers was used and improved by the large borax teams in later years, and Franklin had
proved that there was ore in the Funeral Mountains. Thirty years later, when the Nevada
mining boom began at Tonopah and Goldfield, prospectors remembered the old Chloride
Cliff Mine, and came back to have another look at the area.
Franklin, in the meantime, did, not abandon his mine. Every year, he traveled back across the
desert to perform the annual assessment work on the Chloride Cliff Mine, until his death in
1904. Then his son, George E. Franklin, followed in his footsteps, and kept the claim active
via the required assessment work. Thus when the Bullfrog boom hit southwest Nevada, the
younger Franklin held an active and valid claim, which could once more be profitable as
transportation and supplies became cheaper through connections at the new boom town of
Rhyolite. [2]
With the exception of the Franklins, the Chloride Cliff area was virtually deserted between
1873 and 1903, when the Keane Wonder Mine was located about two miles to the southwest
of Chloride Cliff. Then, in 1904 the Original Bullfrog Mine was discovered, and the great
Bullfrog boom was on. As the ground around the Bullfrog Hills was soon covered with
locations, prospectors gradually spread farther afield and their attentions were naturally
drawn rather quickly to the Chloride Cliff area. This region, after all, had already produced
two mines, the Franklin Mine in 1873 and the Keane Wonder in 1903.
George Franklin was on the scene, and the new excitements caused by the Keane Wonder
and the Bullfrog boom made him redouble his efforts on the old Chloride Cliff Mine. In the
meantime, numerous other mining companies were appearing, as locations were made,
bought and sold, and consolidated. The area around Chloride Cliff, from Daylight Springs in
the north to Furnace Creek in the south, and from Death Valley on the west to the Amargosa
Valley on the east, was swarming with prospectors, and in September of 1905 the South
Bullfrog Mining District was formed. The old Chloride Cliff Mine, which was now
commonly called the Franklin Mine, was included in the new district.
George Franklin soon had plenty of company. In the immediate vicinity of his mine, the
Mucho Oro Mining Company began operations in April of 1905, the Bullfrog Cliff Mining
Company was formed in October, and the Death Valley Mining and Milling Company
appeared in November. These three companies, along with Franklin's mine, soon dominated
the best ground in the Chloride Cliff area, and squeezed out the smaller companies and
prospectors. By the end of 1905, the Mucho Oro had a tunnel in sixty feet and reported
assays of $25 per ton. The Bullfrog Cliff Company, described as being "near" the Franklin
Mine, was working ten miners, had a fifty-foot deep shaft, and reported ore values from $30
to $100. The Death Valley Mining and Milling Company, operating on ground next to the
Bullfrog Cliff, reported five miners at work on two tunnels, with ore worth $40 to $60 a ton.
George Franklin, still carrying on alone, reported average ore values in his old mine of $28.

Illustration 79. Copy of an early stock certificate, date September of 1905.

Courtesy Dr. Richard Lingenfelter.
All this mining activity, naturally, called for a supporting townsite, or at the very least a
small mining camp, and Chloride City was born in 1905. Located in a shallow and wide
saddle 4,800 feet above Death Valley, the little town was placed in a very picturesque spot,
for those who could stand the winds which constantly whipped across the Funeral Mountains
and brought snow and blizzards during the winter months. Chloride Cliff is depicted on a
1905 map as being a few blocks square, and surrounded by mines and prospects. Water for
the mines and miners was packed in from Keane Springs, three miles north, and wood for the
barren Chloride Cliff region was brought in from ten miles away. Prospects were promising,
however, and the Chloride Cliff area had all the indications of becoming another boom camp.
[3]
During the first months of 1906, developments proceeded at the Chloride Cliff mines. The
Bullfrog Cliff reported that it had enough ore in sight to support a small mill, and purchased
water rights near Keane Springs. J. Irving Crowell, the mine's principal owner, went to San
Francisco to conduct mill tests and arrange for financing. The Death Valley Mining and
Milling Company continued to drive its two tunnels and reported in February that it had fifty
tons of $50 ore on the dumps, and one hundred tons of lower grade. The company announced
that it would send its ore to the new custom mill at Gold Center for processing, when that
mill was completed. While awaiting that time, the mine shut down temporarily. The Franklin
Mine also continued to work, reporting in March that its shaft was 150 feet deep, with
average ore values of $17 per ton.
In April The Death Valley Company began mill tests upon its ore, to determine the best
method of treatment, and let a contract to have its tunnel extended another 350 feet. Then, the
San Francisco earthquake and fire occurred, and the Chloride Cliff mines cut back on
operations, as everyone waited to see what effect the destruction of the West Coast's financial
center would have upon the mines. Very little work was done through April and May, and in
June the Death Valley Mining & Milling Company owned the only Chloride Cliff mine
which was able to resume operations.
The San Francisco disaster seemed to be the last straw for George Franklin. In July he finally
gave up and sold the mine which had been in his family since 1871 to a Pittsburgh syndicate
for a reported $150,000. The new owners, however, made no immediate moves to reactivate

the mine. The Death Valley Mining & Milling Company, however, forged ahead with its
development plans and work, and began considering a mill of its own, since it was becoming
evident that the Gold Center mill would never be completed. The company inserted large
advertisements in the Rhyolite newspapers, pointing out to potential investors to opportunities
presented by the promising mine. But the post-San Francisco climate was not conducive to
investment in a small and unproven mine, the advertisements proved futile, and the Death
Valley Company abruptly shut down operations in late July. All the Chloride Cliff mines
were now idle. [4]
The mines of Chloride Cliff then went through a period of hiatus. During the last half of
1906, and all through 1907, 1908, and 1909, while the rest of the Bullfrog District and the
South Bullfrog District were experiencing their biggest boom years, the Chloride Cliff mines
lay idle. Despite the fact that the Keane Wonder Mine to the west was now producing gold
month after month, and that the Chloride Cliff mines were surrounded by the boom and bust
cycle taking place elsewhere in the South Bullfrog District, these mines saw no activity. The
Death Valley Mining and Milling Company did announce plans to resume work in April of
1907, but it never did.
During this period, however, one thing did happen, for most of the Chloride Cliff mines were
slowly consolidated into one large company. Exactly when this took place is unknown. The
Franklin group was sold again in February of 1907, but the transactions involving the
Bullfrog Cliff and the Mucho Oro mines are unrecorded. By December of 1907, though, the
Chloride Cliff Mining Company had been formed, which included the properties of the
Franklin Group, the Bullfrog Cliff and the Mucho Oro companies. J. Irving Crowell, the
former president of the Bullfrog Cliff Mine, was the president of the new company. Crowell
announced that work would be resumed on the combined property in December of 1907, but
his promise went unfulfilled.
All during 1908 the only activity at the combined mines was the required assessment work,
and the same was true in 1909. !n December of that year, however, Crowell was finally able
to announce that work would be resumed shortly and this time his promise was met. The
mines had been leased to the Pennsylvania Mining and Leasing Company, which intended to
develop the properties of the Chloride Cliff Mining Company. The stockholders of the
Pennsylvania company, said Crowell, were "disposed to put the property into producing
condition," and had ample funds available for the task. [5]
Finally, in December of 1909, after an interval of over three years, serious work began on the
property of the Chloride Cliff Mining Company. Development work began that month, and
by the first week of 1910, the company was beginning to sack ore for shipment. The mine
made a small twelve-ton shipment to a Rhyolite mill for testing purposes, and began to
consider the construction of a mill at Chloride Cliff. The Rhyolite Herald proudly announced
the resumption of work and described the holdings and prospects of the company in glowing
terms. The Chloride Cliff Mining Company, it reported, had leased its entire holdings to the
Pennsylvania Mining and Leasing Company. Prior developments on these properties, which
included the claims of the former Franklin Group, the Mucho Oro Mine and the Bullfrog
Cliff Mine, consisted of four tunnels ranging from forty feet to two hundred feet in length,
and eight shafts from eighty to one hundred feet in depth. Prospects were extremely
promising, said the Herald and the world would soon see a flow of gold from the long
neglected mines of Chloride Cliff.
The ore tests carried out in Rhyolite were successful, with average values of $37 per ton
obtained, and in late January of 1910 the Pennsylvania Company announced definite
intentions to build a mill. During February the company began improving the road between
its estate and Rhyolite, in order to facilitate the delivery of mill machinery. The Nevada-

California Power Company, which was considering the extension of power lines to the Keane
Wonder Mine, promised to extend another branch line to the Chloride Cliff mines when the
Keane Wonder line was built. In late March the company's small mill arrived and was
installed. It was only a one-stamp prospecting mill, with a ten to twelve ton daily capacity,
but its purpose was to enable the company to conduct ore tests on the spot. The mine had a
small supply of high grade ore, and hoped that by running it through the little mill, funds
would be generated to build a larger one. The mill was installed on the side of the cliff below
the old Franklin Mine, which was the main group of claims being worked.
By the end of April, the Rhyolite Herald was able to announce that the Chloride Cliff Mine
was finally making good. The Pennsylvania Mining and Leasing Company had now
expended $10,000 on improvements and developments on the property, and the new mill was
installed. Hardly was it placed in operation, however, than the company found that the
available water supply was too small to run the mill, and it was shortly abandoned. With its
new mill useless, the company shifted gears and proposed to lease one of Rhyolite's idle
mills, and to haul its ore into town for reduction there.
But developments came slowly. The company succeeded in leasing the Crystal Bullfrog Mill
at Rhyolite, and obtained a 12-horse team to haul ore to the mill site, but as June stretched
into July, no ore shipments were made. The company was employing eight miners at the
mine, but developments proceeded at a rather slow pace. In the meantime, the Pennsylvania
Mining and Leasing Company was undergoing internal reorganization, and in August J.
Irving Crowell, president of the Chloride Cliff Mining Company, emerged as president of the
Pennsylvania Company. Crowell was thus in charge of the company which was leasing
ground from the mining company of which he was also president.
After the reorganization, activities quickened. One hundred tons of ore were treated at the
Crystal Bullfrog Mill in August, and Crowell announced that the mine could keep the mill
well supplied for quite some time. Average values of the ore taken to the mill were $35 per
ton, and the mill reported savings of 90 percent of the value of the ore. Taking these figures,
the mine should have received returns of $3,250 for the ore which was treated in August.
With the initial successes, the company announced plans to increase its ore shipments in the
near future, and searched for more horse teams to haul ore. The company still owned a good
water right about three miles from the mine, but the cost of installing pipe and pumping water
uphill to the mine would be high. Nevertheless, the company planned to do just that, provided
that the ore values in the mine held up with development. Although sporadic work was being
done on all the company's claims, the main mining effort was still being concentrated on the
old Franklin Mine.
From August to October of 1910, the company continued to work. Ore output was increased,
and the company soon had four sets of horse teams hauling ore from the mine to the mill.
The dumps at the mine contained over 200 tons of milling ore, and seven tons were delivered
to the mill each day. During September, the Pennsylvania Mining and Leasing Company also
began to ship some high-grade ore directly to the smelters at Needles, California and
Goldfield, Nevada. Then, in the middle of October, work stopped while more plans were
made.
The company announced that it had decided to enlarge its own one-stamp mill at Chloride
Cliff. Three hundred tons of ore had by now been processed at the Crystal Bullfrog Mill, but
the average mill savings had only been 60 percent on the average $30 ore. The company was
obviously losing much of its ore content, which it could not afford to do. The company
planned to continue sending selected high-grade ores directly to the smelters, but would add
two. more stamps to its own mill, as well as concentrating tables and cyanidation treatment.
Water development was in progress at the company's source near Keane Springs, and the

enlargement of the mill was of necessity dependent upon the delivery of water to the mill
site. To do this, the Pennsylvania Company intended to install a four-mile pipe line and a
pump at the springs. The costs would be high, but J. Irving Crowell stated that the ore
uncoverings in the mine justified this kind of expenditure. The Rhyolite Herald supported
Crowell's plans, for more development meant more work for local miners. Although only
nine men were employed at the Franklin Mine, the company had hired as many as nineteen
while ore shipments were being made, and the enlargement of the mill at Chloride Cliff
would mean work for double that number of miners. [6]
As often happens, when a mine ceased work in order to develop future operations plans, it
really meant that the company had no clear idea of what to d next. This was the case of the
Chloride Cliff Mining Company and the Pennsylvania Mining and Leasing Company.
Neither company had the resources to develop a small and isolated mine into a paying
proposition, even if there was enough ore in the ground to warrant such expenditures. As a
result, the Pennsylvania Company let its lease expire, and the mine lay idle as the Chloride
Cliff Company searched for another source of capital. The solution was not found until April
of 1911, when it was announced that the Chloride Cliff property was to be sold to an English
corporation "of considerable financial strength."
J. Irving Crowell, who had been in London to negotiate the deal, told the Rhyolite Herald
upon his return that a company was being formed in London to take over the property, and
that a fund of several hundreds of thousands of dollars would be provided for a thorough
prospecting and development of the twenty claims of the Chloride Cliff property. As soon as
sufficient ore was uncovered, suitable machinery for reduction would be installed. This would
likely involve the erection of an extensive wire tramway which would stretch from the mine
to a new mill site, which would be located near the water source. In the meantime, the old
Bonanza Hotel would be removed from Rhyolite and rebuilt on the Cliff property to house
the miners.
The new company evidently meant business, for a representative of the Lechion Cable and
Tramway Company of Denver, which had built the aerial tramway for the Keane Wonder
Mine, arrived in mid-April to inspect that tramway and to propose plans for building another
one for the Chloride Cliff Mine. But snags developed in the negotiations for the sale of the
Chloride Cliff mines, and towards the end of May, the Rhyolite Herald was forced to
announce that "negotiation for the ultimate purchase of the Chloride Cliff property is still in
progress . . . ." The purchase was still expected to be completed, however, which would
"result in activity on an extensive scale very soon."
For the next two months, negotiations lagged. Although the Herald reported that the second
of three payments for the property had been made, final transactions were still stalled, and
the paper speculated that the deal would be made in time for mining to start with the cooler
weather of October. But during the following month of September, the sale was still not
completed, although Crowell announced that the final payment of the $250,000 purchase
price was expected soon, and that the new company intended to spend at least another
$250,000 in developments and improvements on the property. But still the sale was not
completed. Crowell made another trip to London in October, and reported on his return that
everything was progressing well. The English syndicate in turn sent a mining engineer to
inspect the property in November, and Crowell again announced that the deal was
progressing satisfactorily.
By late December, the patient Herald was able to announce that the deal had finally been
closed, and that the English managers were expected in town early in 1912, when work would
be started. But in February the paper was still saying the same thing. By March of 1912 it
became apparent that the sale had not been made, and that it never would be. Crowell worked

the property himself for a short time, before announcing in June that "Permanent operations
on this property are again placed in the future. . ." [7]
At this point our knowledge of the detailed activities at the Chloride Cliff become less
perfect, as the Rhyolite Herald ceased publication. Still, even with the death of the Bullfrog
District, Crowell hung on and worked the property by himself from time to time. In April of
1916 a small Lane mill was constructed on a group of claims just west of the abandoned site
of Chloride City, but the mill operated only a few days, due to the shortage of water. A sixty-
foot deep well which Crowell had dug about a mile from the new mill site went dry almost
as soon as the mill was started. The mine and mill were listed as idle in 1917.
But Crowell still held on. Annual assessment work was done on the property through at least
1922, although Crowell was forced to sell a portion of his claims that year to satisfy some
debts. In 1926 the mine was reported to be idle, and in 1928 it was sold to Louis McCrea of
Beatty, who made several shipments of ore to a Salt Lake City smelter. The only recorded
shipment during this time resulted in a profit of $47 per ton for thirty tons of ore. Between
1928 and 1931 several more shipments were made, but all were of small quantities, and in
1931 the property was being operated by the Chloride Cliff Mining & Milling Company, a
new organization, which leased the mines from Louis McCrea. The new company, as usual,
had grand plans to develop the mines and to pipe in water from twenty miles away, but as
usual, nothing happened.
The mine, however, was still active in 1935, when six men were employed, who shipped 100
tons of ore in that year. At this time, all the mining work was being done on the surface, and
it was reported, in an understatement, that the company needed "further equipment." In 1938,
the California Journal of Mines and Geology reported that the mine, still owned by McCrea
and his associates, had shipped about thirty tons per month between 1932 and 1936, before
leasing the mine to the Coen Company who operated it from 1936 to 1937. After a few years
of inactivity, McCrea was again reported to be shipping gold ore to a mill at Benton,
California, in 1941.
During that same year, the Chloride Cliff area saw yet another mine make its appearance,
when cinnabar was discovered a short distance northwest of the Chloride City site. The
Crowell Mining and Milling Company undertook to develop this discovery, and erected a
five-ton Cottrell mercury plant. But before more than an estimated 150 tons of ore could be
processed, the small mercury plant caught fire and burned to the ground. The loss was too
much for the company to absorb, and the cinnabar mine in turn was abandoned. This marked
the last gasp of the Chloride Cliff area mines. Although intermittent prospecting and a few
very small operations continued for several more years-forty-four claims were filed with the
National Park Service between 1956 and 1960--no further significant activity took place. [8]
b. Present Status, Evaluation and Recommendations
The entire Chloride Cliff area is cluttered with old shafts, adits and dumps, as well as
collapsed buildings, dugouts, and several rather modern shacks. Some of these old mine sites
indicate that activities were carried out over a period of several years, but most point to
efforts lasting little more than several months. The mines were scattered over a four-mile
square area, and significant remains may be found in five distinct groups.
At the southern end of the mining area, the site of the original Chloride Cliff Mine, or the
Franklin Mine, can be positively identified. This mine group, which consists of four or five
adits, with large stoped out areas in between, is situated on the very edge of a steep cliff
(hence the original name), from which a spectacular view ranging from Badwater to Mt.
Whitney may be seen. This is the, site of the original discovery of the Chloride Cliff Mine by

A. J. Franklin in 1871. The mine was worked for two years by Franklin, and was then revived
by his son and succeeding owners in 1905-6 and 1910. There are no structural remains at this
site, and there is no way to identify which part of the mine was worked in the 1870s and
which in the 1900s.
Illustration 80. Map of Chloride Cliff Area.
Part way down the cliff below this mine group stands the 1-stamp mill erected in 1910. There
is very little evidence of a trail leading from the mine to the little mill, although a trail does
descend from the mill site down into the ravine below. Remains of a primitive ore chute can
be seen stretching from the mine about half way down to the mill site. The ore chute was
obviously constructed of very cheap materials, and was used for a short time to slide ore
from the mine down to the mill site. Several short exploration adits may also be seen along
the trace of the ore chute. In addition, remnants of one inch pipe are scattered down the cliff
side, tokens of the ill-fated effort to pipe water to the mill.
The 1-stamp mill itself is in excellent shape. Undoubtedly this is due to its inaccessibility, for
anyone climbing the hill from the mill to the mine above would rue the addition of any extra
weight. The mill machinery bears the markings of the Union Tool Company of Los Angeles,
and the main support timbers stand twenty feet tall. The total lack of debris, waste rock or
tailings around the mill indicate that it was briefly, if ever, used. When operations were
abandoned at the mine above, only the engine and flybelt were salvaged. With a little oil, it
looks as if the mill could run today, for virtually all its parts are intact.

Illustration 81-82. Top: Dumps of the Franklin Mine, site of the original
1871 discovery of silver ore. The floor of Death Valley, 5,000 feet below,
can be seen in the background. Bottom: The one-stamp mill below the
Franklin Mine, erected in 1910, but apparently never used. The Franklin
Mine is over the top of the ridge in the upper background. The individual
standing beside the stamp is six feet, two inches in height. 1978 photos by
John Latschar.

Illustration 83-84. Top: One of the three dugouts located about one-half
mile north of the Franklin Mine. This structure, which measures twelve feet
by twenty feet, was divided into two rooms. The roof over the far room has
been blown away, as the rocks which weighted down the tin roof had
gradually disappeared. Bottom: Chloride City, viewed from the north. The
town site itself was centered around the bare area in the center of the photo.
The Franklin Mine is located on the south side of the ridge in the
background, the 1916 Lane millsite is near the road visible in the right
background, and the 1941 site mercury mill is to the right of the
photographer.
About one-half north of the Franklin. Mine is a group of three dugouts, obviously the homes
of several miners during some stage of Chloride Cliff mining activity. The dugouts are lined
up against the bank of a small wash, which shelters the structures from the ravages of the
constant winds which sweep over the Funeral Mountains. The dugouts are constructed of
native rock, stone, wood, and tin, and are in reasonably good shape. Although the historical
data is unable to identify these dugouts with any particular phase of mining, bottles from a
small dump down the wash date mostly from the 1930s, although some purple glass is
evident. The relative intactness of these structures, one of which measures twelve feet square,
and the others which are approximately twelve by twenty feet, would indicate that they were
probably built in the 1930s.

The third major grouping of structures is the site of old Chloride City. The town at its height
in 1906 contained no more than four wooden structures, but two dugouts and numerous tent
sites may be found in the area. Chloride City died in late 1906, when the local mines shut
down for several years, and when mining returned to the area in the 1910s and the 1930s, the
remnants of the building were used for whatever purpose seemed necessary. The wooden
structures are now all collapsed, and have been stripped of most of their lumber. The largest
of these collapsed structures, which undoubtedly was the boarding house, measures twenty-
four by thirty feet, and the rest are about eight by twelve feet in size. The area around the old
town site is heavily covered by prospect holes, adits and dumps, and it appears that the major
mining efforts during the 1905-06 period took place in the general vicinity of Chloride City.
Near one of the old adits, just south of the town site, is the grave of James Mckay, who died
at an unknown age, at an unknown time, and of an unknown cause. His gravesite, situated in
the midst of a long-forgotten mining camp, seems like a symbolic "tomb of the unknown
miner."
Illustration 85-86. Top: Chloride City, showing the remains of the boarding
house. Bottom: Grave of James McKay, located about a quarter mile south
of Chloride City. 1978 photos by John Latschar.

Illustration 87-88. Top: Ruins of the 1916 Lane mill, located just southwest
of Chloride City. Photo was taken from the dump above the mill, showing
the remnants of several concrete pedestals. The mill tailings are visible to
the right front of the person in the photo, and the stone wall built to contain
those tailings are just above his head. Bottom: Ruins of the 1941 mercury
mill, showing the water tanks, and several levels of workings. 1978 photos
of John Latschar.
To the southwest of Chloride City, across the top of a small ridge, is the site of the 1916 Lane
mill, built by McCrea and his associates. The mill is built on a medium-sized mine dump. A
water tank was positioned on the side of a hill across from the mill, site, and a four to six foot
high stone wall was built below the mill, to prevent the tailings from being washed down the
mountain. The mill site itself occupies an area about thirty feet square, but only concrete
foundations and posts remain to mark the site. Several adits, a leveled tent site, a dugout and
an old frame and tin shack may be found in the vicinity of the mill.
Finally, about a quarter mile northwest of Chloride City, is the site of the 1941 mercury
plant. There are more physical remains to mark the site of this mill, for a galvanized water
tank, extensive concrete foundations, and the ruins of a brick furnace are easily identified.
Although erosion makes it difficult to judge, the amount of tailings around this mill would
seem to indicate a life of several months before the complex was destroyed by fire.

In summary, the structural remains in the Chloride Cliff area include three mill ruins, several
dugouts, several wood and tin shacks, and the collapsed buildings at Chloride City. Together
with the proliferation of mine dumps, adits and shafts too numerous to describe, these
remains present an interesting panorama of mining efforts carried out in this region between
the 1870s and the 1940s. Although the total output of all the Chloride Cliff mines is
estimated to be only $35,000 during all these years, the variety of efforts represented in the
area, together with the identification of the original 1871 Chloride Cliff Mine, make this
property eligible for nomination to the National Register as a historic district. In addition to
the remains described above, the ruins of the Big Bell Mine, situated one mile southwest of
Chloride City, will also be included in the Chloride Cliff Historic District. The Big Bell Mine
itself is discussed in a subsequent chapter.
The entire Chloride Cliff area cries out for protection. At present, there, are no attempts being
made to protect the valuable and fragile historic resources remaining at the area, and the
combined efforts of motorcyclists, four-wheel drive enthusiasts, bottle-hunters, and general
scavengers are fast destroying the area. At least one of each type was seen in the vicinity
when the author was examining the sites. The area should be thoroughly posted and regularly
patrolled to discourage and prosecute destructive users.
In addition to protection, the Chloride Cliff district also presents Death Valley National
Monument with a unique opportunity to interpret mining from the 1870s to the 1940s. The
area is perfect for a self-guided tour, with visitors wandering the wind-swept region, stopping
at various unmanned interpretive sites to reflect upon its long and varied history.

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION IV:
EAST SIDE
3. Keane Wonder Mine
a. History
in December of 1903, two prospectors wandered into the Funeral Mountains on the east side
of Death Valley. Like so many others, these two men were among the horde of prospectors
scanning the deserts and mountain ranges of southern Nevada for gold, spurred on by the.
fabulous riches discovered shortly before at Tonopah and Goldfield. What brought them to
this particular area is unrecorded, but perhaps they had heard about the old Chloride Cliff
Mine, which had operated briefly in the Funeral Range in the 1870s.
At any rate, the two prospectors, named Domingo Etcharren and Jack Keane, found an
outcropping of silver ore in the northern Funeral Range in December of 1903. The two men
worked their discovery for several months, attempting to trace the outcropping to a silver
lode, but they were unsuccessful. Then, quite by accident, Jack Keane discovered an immense
ledge of free milling gold ore a short distance from the original silver location. The discovery
was aptly named the Keane Wonder, and represented Keane's first major strike after eight
years of desert prospecting.
Like the 1870 operators of the Chloride Cliff Mine, which was located only two miles above
the new Keane Wonder, Etcharren and Keane were dependent upon Ballarat for supplies. But
unlike 1871, eastern California and southern Nevada were prepared for a gold rush in 1904,
and when the two men came into Ballarat in May of that year for a rest and re-equipment,
news of their strike touched off a genuine gold rush. Other prospectors rushed to the Funeral
Mountains to get in on the strike, and promoters began to negotiate with Keane and Etcharren
for the purchase of their locations. By late May, the strike was "confirmed--that is, other
prospectors and experts in the employ of mining promoters had examined the site--and
Keane and Etcharren began to receive offers to sell their eighteen claims.

Illustration 89. Map of Northwest Portion of Chloride Cliff Area.
The two men, however, knew that they had something big, and decided to wait until the right
offer came along. It did not take long, for within a few weeks the Keane Wonder was bonded
to a well-known California mining operator, Captain J. R. Delamar. The terms of the bond
called for Delamar to pay the locators $10,000 in cash immediately, for which Delamar
obtained the rights to develop the locations for one year, with an option to purchase the mine
at the end of that time for $150,000. The bond agreement was signed, sealed, and placed in
the Inyo County Recorder's office on June 24, 1904, even though no one seemed to know for
sure whether the mine was located in California or Nevada--a telling indication of the great
lack of knowledge about the Death Valley region.
Delamar at once went to work, and shipped machinery and supplies to the mine. By the end
of July he had thirty men working on the property. In the meantime, a decided rush was on to
the Funeral Mountains, several other important discoveries had been made, and the Inyo
newspapers reported that there "is a rush for the field from Ballarat and vicinity and pack
jacks and canteens are in demand." By the end of July, one paper estimated that there were
five hundred prospectors in the general vicinity of the new discovery. Two of these were
"Shorty" Harris and Ed Cross, who were soon to discover the Original Bullfrog Mine. [9]
During the rest of 1904, Delamar's men feverishly worked the Keane Wonder Mine, racing
against the one-year deadline to determine if it was worth the purchase price of $150,000. An

assay office and a general office building were built at the site, and a wagon road was cut
across the desert to within a mile of the mine, which was situated mid-way up the steep
Funeral Range above Death Valley. By early 1905, their efforts to develop the mine were
frustrated by the beginnings of the great rush to Bullfrog, which made horses and wagons
almost impossible to obtain, and development work of necessity was slowed down.
Nevertheless, enough teams were found to make the sixty mile haul from Ballarat, and
fifteen men were still employed in driving two exploratory tunnels in March of 1905. The
results of this work made the Keane Wonder look like a truly great prospect. "There is,"
reported the papers, "enough quartz in this mountain, and float, if it carries sufficient value,
to run a 100 ton-a-day plant for twenty years."
By this time strikes were popping up all around the Keane Wonder. Stimulated both by it and
the even greater Bullfrog strikes, literally hundreds of prospectors were swarming through the
Funeral Mountains. In an effort to maintain some order and to record the numerous locations
being made, the South Bullfrog District was soon created, encompassing within its
boundaries and Keane Wonder Mine. Just to its north, the Chloride Cliff Mine had been
reopened, the Big Bell had been discovered between the Keane Wonder and the Chloride
Cliff, and numerous other mines began operations. Inevitably, these peripheral mines
included one incorporated as the Keane Wonder Extension Mining Company.
As May 15th approached, when Delamar's bond on the Keane Wonder would expire,he
started negotiations with Keane and Etcharren. In late April, he offered to buy the mine, but
at less than the $150,000 stated in the bond agreement. Unfortunately for him, Keane and
Etcharren had closely watched the development work done by his men during the past year,
and they fully realized that they had a real mine on their hands. Such a thing happens only
once in a lifetime, and they refused to accept a penny less than $150,000. Delamar either
could not or did not want to pay that sum, and his option expired.
After Delamar's men left the property, Keane and Etcharren performed only sporadic work
during the excessive heat of Death Valley's summer, while awaiting a new purchaser. They
knew that their mine was too big for them to develop properly on their own, but all available
investment money was being poured into the booming Bullfrog mines, and the Keane
Wonder became almost forgotten. The two men, however, were patient and bided their time.
With the advent of cooler weather in September, Keane and Etcharren resumed work on their
own. A small shipment of high-grade ore was sent to the smelter, and with the $28,000
which they received for it (which amounted to $1,867 a ton), they were able to employ a half
dozen miners. Costs were comparatively low, since the mine could be worked through
tunnels, thus avoiding the expenses of sinking and timbering shafts and hoisting the ore. With
a bit of good luck, the shipment of occasional high-grade batches of ore would thus pay for
the development of the mine on a small scale. With this plan in mind, the two men continued
to work on their own through the remainder of 1905, employing five or six men, and waiting
for the dust to settle around the Bullfrog boom, after which men with money would be able
to see that their mine also had great potential. [10]
In early 1906, the prospectors' patience won out, as offers for the purchase of the mine were
again made. L. L. Patrick obtained a bond for the property, similar to Delamar's of the
previous year, with an option to purchase. Patrick immediately announced grand plans for the
mine, including the erection of a 20-stamp mill at the foot of the Funeral Range, a mile from
the mine and two thousand feet below it. Patrick and his men worked the mine for several
months, while his engineers prepared surveys for an ore tram from the mine down to the mill
site. But for an unknown reason Patrick decided not to exercise his option to purchase, and
his bond expired in early March.

But by now promoters were standing in line for a chance at the mine, as soon as Patrick's
bond expired, John F. Campbell and his associates jumped in. Campbell and his backers
bought the Keane Wonder Mine outright, for a reported price of $250,000, $50,000 of which
was paid to Etcharren and Keane in cash, and the rest given in form of stock in a company to
be organized to develop the mine. The new company was incorporated in late March, with a
capitalization of 1,500,000 shares. Jack Keane, who held a controlling stock interest, was
elected president of the new company, with Campbell serving as vice president and Domingo
Etcharren as secretary. The new company claimed to have forty to eighty thousand tons of
gold ore on its twenty claims, and within a week, full page ads began to appear in the
Rhyolite newspapers, offering stock for sale to the general public. The initial response was
quite favorable, with Keane Wonder stock selling for 42¢ on May 4th, and 50¢ a week later.
Illustration 90. Rhyolite Herald, April 6, 1906.
The new owners immediately resumed development on the property, and new ore strikes
were soon made. Prospects looked extremely favorable for the company, for both wood and
water were available within a reasonable distance from the mine, and the ease of tunnel
mining indicated that development and extraction costs at the Keane Wonder would be

relatively low. Within a short time the company had two mining camps established, one at
the mine high on the side of the Funeral mountains, and the other located on the floor of
Death Valley below. [11]
The Keane Wonder was by now receiving attention from papers as far away as Denver,
Colorado. The mine had grown to twenty-two claims, comprising 240 acres of land, but even
with the expenditure of $35,000 over the past year in development work, still only five of
those twenty-two claims had been explored at all. But just when things looked brightest,
disaster struck. The great San Francisco fire and earthquake of April 1906 effectively wiped
out Campbell's fortune, which had an immediate effect upon the finances of the Keane
Wonder Company. Development abruptly slowed down, and within a month reports were
printed that Campbell was meeting in California with parties interested in buying the mine.
Campbell and his associates had no difficulty in finding a buyer. In late June, Homer Wilson,
president of the Sildman Consolidated Mines Company of San Francisco, was in the Bullfrog
District looking at various investment possibilities. On August 10th it was announced that
Wilson and his associates had purchased the Keane Wonder Mine. The sale was heartily
approved of by the local newspapers, which by this time had realized the financial distress
caused Campbell by the San Francisco disaster. Wilson, who owned a string of mines in the
Mother Lode country of California, was extolled as "one of the boldest and most successful
operators" in California. The sale price was not released to the newspapers.
After several disappointments arising from previous sales, Jack Keane and Domingo
Etcharren were now ready to sell out all their interests in the Keane Wonder, and this time
they accepted full payment in cash, thus terminating their interests in the Keane Wonder
Mine which they had discovered. Etcharren dropped completely out of sight and was never
heard from again, but Keane's subsequent career can be sketchily traced. With the money
from the sale of the Keane Wonder, Keane "who recently joined the ranks of those living on
Easy street," invested in almost fifty claims in the Skidoo District on the west side of Death
Valley. Within a few month's, however, Keane's luck turned sour. In September he was
involved in a shooting affair in Ballarat, California, where after a night of drinking he
wounded two local peace officers. Shortly after that he disappeared, to surface in Ireland in
the fall of 1907, where it was reported that he was sentenced to seventeen years in jail for
killing a man. The Rhyolite papers sadly commented upon this tragic end for one of the
region's few lucky prospectors, but noted that when "drinking he usually resorted to his gun
on very slight provacation." [12]
In the meantime, Homer Wilson and his associates went to work. The Homer Wilson Trust
Company was incorporated, as a holding company for the Keane Wonder and other Wilson
interests, and the new Keane Wonder stock was offered to the public. Advertisements in
December of 1906 claimed that the first allotments of stock offered for sale at 50 per share
had been oversubscribed in forty-eight hours, and that stock was now for sale from the
company at 65¢ per share. Work was resumed at the mine in early November, and the
company immediately ordered a 20-stamp mill and auxiliary equipment. The milling plant,
announced Wilson, would consist of crushing by stamps, with amalgamation, concentration
and cyanidation, and was expected to cost between $75,000 and $100,000. Wilson promised
the press that his mill would be the first one in the Bullfrog region to begin operations.
Ten men started preliminary grading work for the mill buildings in early December, and plans
were drawn for a gravity tram to bring the ore down from the mine on the mountain to the
mill site in the valley below. By late December, mill machinery began to arrive over the new
railroad, including an 85-horsepower Coreless oil burning steam engine, which would be
used to power the mill. The aerial tramway from the mine to the mill was surveyed, and the
company decided to install a Riblet gravity tram, 4,700 feet long, wherein the loaded ore

buckets coming down the mountain would pull the empty ore buckets and supplies back up to
the mine. By the end of December, construction on both mill and tramway was under way,
and in addition twenty men were still employed in the mine. The company announced that it
had $650,000 worth of ore blocked out, which would suffice to feed the mill for several
years. [13]
As 1907 began, luck stayed with the Keane Wonder Mine, sometimes in almost unbelievable
proportions. The mine continued to look well, for as more tunnels were driven, more ore was
found. Then, when some men began sinking a well near the mill site below the mine, they
struck another gold ledge instead of water. The well was immediately turned into another
working shaft. Twenty-five men were employed by the company in early January, and the
foundations for the mill buildings were excavated.
During February, more mill machinery and equipment arrived over the Las Vegas & Tonopah
Railroad. The machinery contract had been let to the Risdon Iron Works of San Francisco,
and Walter Lyons, formerly employed by the rival Union Iron Works of the same city was
hired as construction superintendent. The Porter brothers of Rhyolite, after intense
competition, won the contract to haul some 255 tons of machinery, timbers and supplies from
Rhyolite over Daylight Pass to the mill site, twenty-six miles away. As February and March
progressed, machinery and supplies continued to arrive with regularity, and the Keane
Wonder Mill began to take shape. As the framework for the main mill building began to rise
above the desert in early April, the price of Keane Wonder stock rose with it, for investors
were impressed by the final resources and energetic management of Homer Wilson. Keane
Wonder stock was sold for 75¢ in early April, and 80¢ late in that month.
As equipment arrived, mill construction took priority over development of the mine, and all
available labor was put to work at the mill site. The framework for the mill building was
finished in April, the ore bins were built and the mortar blocks set. More men were added to
the payroll, which reached $3,000 per month. Final costs for the mill were estimated at
$85,000. At the same time, a group of men were put to work on the water supply for the mill,
which was being developed in several different spots. As a hedge, the Keane Wonder
Company purchased Keane Springs, about seven miles away towards the top of the Funeral
Range, as well as the young townsite at the springs. The company also bought up several
claims adjoining its own, in order to obtain a right of way for its aerial tramway between the
mine and the mill, bringing its total holdings to twenty-six claims, comprising some 450
acres. Arrangements were made to extend a telephone to the mill site, from the Rhyolite-
Skidoo line. As construction proceeded, stock demand rose, but few shares were offered for
sale. "The holders of this stock are evidently willing to wait for the dividends which seem
sure to come within a few months," surmised the Rhyolite Herald.
By mid-May, all the mill equipment and machinery had arrived, and most had been installed.
In addition, the company had finished the construction of a new boarding house at the mill
site, to accommodate the construction crew and the. future mill crew. Then, in July, with the
mill essentially completed, the construction crews were shifted to the building of the aerial
tramway. This would prove to be a long and laborious task, especially with the intense heat
of summer, but the Keane Wonder Company pressed on, for it was in a decided race with the
Montgomery Shoshone Company of Rhyolite to see who would have the first running mill in
the Bullfrog region. The Keane Wonder was at a disadvantage in the race, for in addition to
building a mill, it was also required to complete a tramway and many other auxiliary features.
For example, in mid-July, a huge 25,000 gallon galvanized iron tank was built beside the
railroad tracks in Rhyolite, to be used as a storage tank for the crude oil which would be
hauled to the mill site to fuel the plant. According to the Bullfrog Miner, "This is the largest
tank of the kind in the country."

But the construction proceeded well. By late July, the tramway towers were beginning to
arise along the ridgeside, and the company predicted that the mill and tramway would be
completed by September 1st. In the meantime, some miners had been put back below ground,
and another strike of ore almost immediately resulted. Delays on the delivery of the huge
tramway timbers slowed construction for a while in July and August, but other construction
continued. The water and crude oil tanks at the mill were completed in early August, and the
timbers for the tramway were laboriously dragged up the mountainside. Twenty-one thousand
board feet of lumber were required for the upper tramway terminal, 28,000 for the lower, and
25,000 for the intermediate towers. The tramway had thirteen towers, with the longest span
between them being 1,200 feet, and the vertical fall from top to bottom was 1,500 feet.
During the height of tramway construction, the Keane Wonder Company employed no less
than five mill wrights for framing the timbers for the terminals and tramway towers. Each
tower rested upon a foundation measuring twenty-four feet square, in many cases blasted out
of solid rock.
Despite the 105 degree temperature at the construction site in mid-August, the workers toiled
on, with most work being accomplished during early morning and late evening hours. Finally,
on September 14th, the last load of equipment for the towers was hauled out to the mill site,
making a total of 1,500,000 pounds of freight which had been hauled from Rhyolite during
the course of construction at a cost of $11,000.
Work was delayed somewhat in mid-September, when several men quit, stating that the food
served at the Keane Wonder boarding house was "absolutely the worst ever put before a crew
of working men on the desert." Mrs. Hull, the company cook, took exception to the
accusation, and replied that "the provender is good and the parties making complaints are
soreheads." Nevertheless, new men were found, and construction continued. In early October
the tramway cable was stretched, and only the hanging of the buckets remained for the
tramway to be completed. Homer Wilson arrived in town to witness the first days of the mill
tests, and also to award a contract to the Porter brothers of Rhyolite for the transport of crude
oil from the storage tank in Rhyolite to the mill site. Two tank wagons, holding twenty-one
and twenty-seven barrels respectively, would make nine trips each per month, in order to
satisfy the demands of the big steam engine. The tank wagons, which were owned by the
Keane Wonder Company, were special heavy duty Studebaker models.
Finally, in late October, everything was ready for the machinery to be turned on for the first
time. Homer Wilson, in an understandably pleased mood, told reporters that he hoped the 80-
ton capacity mill would turn out $1,000 worth of gold per day when running at full speed. All
mill tailings, he said, would be impounded, for the company expected to add cyanide tanks
within a year in order to rework the tailings and thus extract the utmost in gold savings. In
the meantime, the miners had 2,000 tons of ore broken down in the mine, ready to feed the
mill. But due to the Panic of 1907, which had just hit the Nevada mining fields, Wilson was
forced to make an emergency trip to Goldfield on October 27th, the day that the Keane
Wonder Mill began to operate.
For the next month, everyone involved held their breath, waiting to see if the huge investment
in labor and equipment would pay off. The equipment was turned slowly at first, as constant
checks were made for defects in the machinery, and only forty tons were treated per day. But
all the equipment worked well, and soon the tonnage was increased. On November 11th, the
first bars of gold bullion were brought into Rhyolite, the result of the first three weeks run,
and were estimated by one local paper to be worth $40,000. That figure was undoubtedly
exaggerated, however, for the Keane Wonder Company did not announce its production
figures, and another paper estimated the total output for all of November at only $25,000. But
regardless of figures, the tramway and mill were evidently working well, and the company
formally invited reporters and interested miners to visit the site and take a ride in its

tramway.
In early December, a Rhyolite Herald reporter made such a visit. The mill was now running
twenty-four hours a day, he reported, and was treating seventy to seventy-five tons per day.
The ore being treated at the mill averaged $18 to $20 per ton, and the present mill equipment
was saving 65% of the gold content. The tailings, which were being saved for later
cyanidation, assayed at $3.95 per ton. Homer Wilson estimated the known ore reserves at
100,000 tons, and development work in the mine was increasing that figure faster than the
mill could reduce it.
The ore bin at the upper tramway had a capacity of 100 tons, and an especially unique
feature. Power from the gravity pull on the tramway was used to operate a preliminary ore
crusher at the upper terminal, through which the rock passed before descending to the mill. In
addition, a supplementary 13-horsepower gas engine was installed on the upper tramway
terminal, so that the ore crusher could be operated when the tramway was idle. The tramway
was supported by twelve towers and one breakover station. The highest tower was thirty feet,
the lowest eighteen. The longest span between towers was 1,280 feet and was 500 feet above
the floor of the canyon below. Each ore bucket on the tramway carried 600 pounds, and was
loaded automatically. The material for the tramway included 95,000 board feet of timber and
fifty tons of wire rope and terminal material, and the tramway rose on a grade of 1,000 feet
per mile.
The ore buckets dumped automatically into the mill bin at the lower tramway terminal, which
had a capacity of 200 tons. From there the ore passed onto suspended Risdon feeds, and
under the Golconda pattern batteries, whose twenty stamps weighed 1,000 pounds each and
dropped 100 times per minute. Inside amalgamation was by back plate and chock block with
the ore passing from the screens onto a lip plate, and then falling into distributing pots and
onto the apron plates. From the plates the pulp passed into the amalgam trap, and the sands
went to the original classifier, with the coarse sands sent to two Wilfleys vanners and the fine
sands to four Johnson vanners. Tailings were pumped into four Callow tanks, each eight feet
in diameter, where 75% of the water was secured and pumped back into the tanks for use in
the stamps. The tailings were impounded in dams and allowed to settle, with remaining water
again recycled back through the mill. The amalgam was retorted and melted at the mill and
finally converted into gold bullion.
Water for the mill was drawn from a well shaft 285 feet from the mill, and was pumped into
a tank above the mill by an artesian pump. The mill itself was driven by a Corliss steam
engine, with steam generated in a 126-horsepower Sterling boiler. The exhaust from the
engine was used to heat a 100-horsepower Cochrane feed water heater, which heated the
water to 210 degrees, thereby driving off the soda and other minerals which would have
clogged the boiler. Crude oil was used to fire the boilers, and the works were lighted by
electricity generated at the mill site.
The mill building was framed, and covered with galvanized iron. All the floors were
concrete, with concrete foundations, mortar blocks and retaining walls. The tramway
materials were from the Leschen Brothers & Company, a St. Louis outfit specializing in
aerial tramways. Over forty different designs and combinations, said Wilson, were studied
before the company finally decided upon this arrangement. Finally, the reporter concluded,
the Keane Wonder Company had a fine camp established at the mill site, where Mr. and Mrs.
Wilson lived. Other families included those of Vice-president and Mrs. Rogers, and mill
superintendent and Mrs. Lyons. The Kimball brothers had established a twice-a-week stage
line between Rhyolite and the mill, to satisfy transportation demands. [14]

Illustration 91. The left half of the Keane Wonder Mill complex, which
should be matched with the opposite photo. Note the piles of lumber and
other materials, which would soon be used for the support buildings of the
mine complex, the two small tent structures, and the large storage building.
The cyanide plant, which would be built several years later, would stand on
the slightly higher ground behind the large storage building. Photo from the
Rhyolite Herald, 6 December 1907.
Illustration 92. The new Keane Wonder Mill, as photographed for the
Rhyolite Herald in December of 1907. Although it is not a very good
picture, it is one of the few remaining. The basic mill buildings have just
been completed, but none of the support buildings, such as the building
which later covered the lower tramway terminal (which is located behind
the mill), have yet been erected. The tent houses in the foreground were
boarding and bunk houses.
But despite the excellent success of the Keane Wonder Mill, all was not well with the
company. The Panic of 1907 hit the Nevada mining industry quite hard, and one of the
earliest casualties was the State Bank and Trust Company of Goldfield, and its president,
Thomas B. Rickey. When the State Bank and Trust failed and went into receivership in
November of 1907, the effects upon the future of the Keane Wonder Company were made
evident when the newspapers reported that the bank had loaned the company $200,000 for
the construction of its mill and tramway. President Rickey promised that the loan would be
made good, but as the Inyo Register pointed out, "The Keane Wonder is now practically

owned by the State Bank and Trust Company," and the future of the company's finances was
much in doubt.
But while waiting for the financial picture to become clearer, the Keane Wonder Mill
continued to produce. It is difficult to give a reasonable estimate of mill output, since Homer
Wilson was not in the practice of announcing bullion figures, but we do know that the mill
was working steadily. Wilson brought in a bar of gold bullion to Rhyolite on December 7th,
the result of twelve days' run, and the papers estimated its worth at around $16,000. Another
gold brick was brought in on December 21st, estimated at $6,000. As a unique feature of the
Keane Wonder operation, the gold bullion was shipped to the mint, which processed it and
shipped back gold coins to the company, which were used to pay the Keane Wonder
employees. The mill was still not running at full capacity by the end of 1907, due to
difficulties in obtaining enough of a water flow to satisfy the mill demands. Average daily
runs through the latter part of 1907 averaged seventy-five tons per day. But still, based upon
a compilation of the more conservative newspaper estimates, the Keane Wonder Mill
produced around $36,000 in gold bullion in 1907. [15]
As 1908 opened, the Keane Wonder Mill continued to produce, although the lack of an
adequate water supply kept the mill from running at full capacity. Bullion estimated at
$15,000 was brought in or January 9th, and another shipment estimated at $8,000 was sent to
Rhyolite on February 5th. Even without being able to run full time, the mine and mill seemed
to be operating most efficiently, for the entire costs of mining, traming and milling the ore
was put at a mere $3 per ton. This efficiency, of course, was greatly helped by, the fact that
the soft rock being mined at the Keane Wonder was being pulled out of horizontal tunnels
and stopes, which alleviated the costly necessity of sinking and timbering shafts and of
installing and operating hoisting machinery.
Illustration 93. View of one of the working faces of the Keane Wonder
Mine, showing the ease of mining. The ore at this point could be stripped
directly off the face of the cliff, which saved the company thousands of
dollars over the costs of tunneling, shafting, and timbering. From a booklet,
"Bullfrong Mining District," published by the Rhyolite Chamber of
Commerce, 1909.
As could be expected, the troubles of the State Bank and Trust Company, which received
wide publicity, caused a number of rumors to circulate concerning the Keane Wonder

Company. The Inyo Register reported on February 13th that the mine and mill would close,
due to those complications, but Homer Wilson hotly denied the rumor, stating that the mine
had ore reserves sufficient to supply the mill for two more years. Two days later, as if to
prove his point, Wilson brought in another gold brick estimated at $4,000.
By late February, the newspapers were able to begin untangling the affairs of the Keane
Wonder Company and the State Bank and Trust. The Rhyolite Daily Bulletin reported that T.
B. Rickey, the former president of the bank, had personally taken over the debt of the Keane
Wonder Company to the bank, which amounted to $195,000. Since Rickey was also a heavy
stockholder in the Keane Wonder Company, this seemed to bolster the future of the mine, for
such a move would enable the Keane Wonder to avoid the long drawn out receivership
settlement affecting the bank and all those connected with it. Further good news followed, for
the discovery of an additional water source enabled the mill to begin running around the
clock in late February. It immediately began to treat almost 80 tons per day, near full
capacity, and Homer Wilson brought in another gold brick on March 5th, estimated at $7,500,
bringing February's production to an estimated $15,000.
Further bullion shipments were made later in March, as an estimated $5,000 was brought in
on March 19th, and another $1,700 on March 28th. A short time was lost for minor repairs,
but the mill continued to function well. In late March, Homer Wilson, realizing that the
continued rumors connecting the State Bank and Trust Company with his mine were having a
detrimental effect, granted a long interview to a reporter from the Rhyolite Daily Bulletin.
The Keane Wonder, he said, had two years of ore supplies already blocked out, and further
development work would undoubtedly increase those known ore reserves. The average ore in
the mine, like that which had already been run through the mill, was around $16 per ton. The
company would soon begin the construction of a cyanide plant to treat the mill tailings. At
present the mill, without cyanidation, was saving about 62 percent of the ore content, and the
addition of a cyanide plant would increase that savings ratio to 92 percent. When the plant
was completed, Wilson hoped for a monthly production of $25,000 from the combined
works.
Water shortages, however, were continuing to plague the company. Even with the addition of
a new water supply, and with the unusual recycling arrangements built into the mill, full time
operation was impossible. Thus the mill had settled into a schedule of twenty-four hour
operation for four days, followed by sixteen hours for the next three, while the water supply
was built back up.
Concerning the rumors connecting the mine and the bank, Wilson was most specific. The
finances of the Keane Wonder Company, in his opinion, were in good shape. With the output
of the property the last three months the company had paid off every cent of its indebtedness,
and would be able to begin paying dividends the next month--unless, of course, such profits
were put back into the expansion of the facilities, such as a new cyanide plant. The Keane
Wonder Company, said Wilson, had absolutely no connections or entanglements with the
State Bank and Trust Company. The mine did not owe the bank a penny, and whatever
troubles Mr. Rickey was having involved only his personal stock in the Keane Wonder, and
not the company itself. Rickey and Wilson together owned 875,000 of the 1,500,000 shares in
the Keane Wonder, and whatever happened to Rickey's portion of those shares would have no
effect upon the mine itself. In addition, the company still had 350,000 shares of treasury
stock. These shares, which the company had never put on the market, could be sold at any
time when the company faced financial difficulties. In summary, Mr. Wilson quite candidly
put his mine into perspective. "We have not got what may be called a big mine or a high
grade mine," he said, "but a nice little proposition that will clear good and dependable money
every month in the year, and from the looks of things, for many years hence." [16]

April proved to be another good month for the Keane Wonder. Homer Wilson brought in
three gold bricks estimated as being worth $30,000. The output for future months looked
even better, for during April yet another source of water was located, which the company said
was sufficient to supply a 60-stamp mill. Pipe line and pumping machinery were ordered, for
the new water supply was 3,500 feet from the mine and 100 feet below it. Work on the
cyanide plant, the company announced, would begin after the new pipe line was laid.
In addition, new ore bodies were discovered in the mine, which increased the company's ore
reserves. Some of the new ore was high grade, and was called the best discovery in the
history of the mine. Homer Wilson essentially agreed with that assessment, and stated that
there "is perhaps enough ore in sight to wear out the 20-stamp mill that we now have in
operation on the property." Even the announcement that a disgruntled stockholder named E.
H. Widdekind had filed suit in the Esmeralda county district court, asking for a receiver to be
appointed to the Keane Wonder Company, failed to dampen the enthusiasm surrounding the
mine. Widdekind alledged "all kinds of crooked work," chiefly that Wilson had appropriated
large amounts of the company funds to himself, but no one seemed inclined to believe the
accusations.
During May, the mine and mill continued to produce, with an estimated total of $21,600. The
decrease in bullion was due to continuing water difficulties, as the heat of summer cut down
on the available water supply. Material for the new pipe line, however, was delivered in late
May, and the company hoped to solve that problem shortly. But delays began to plague the.
company in June. Leaks in the new pipe line delayed its utilization, although pumps and even
a windmill was installed at different water sources. Still the twenty-five employees of the
mine and mill managed to produce an estimated $15,200 during the month, with the mill
running only about half the time. The long awaited cyanide plant was not yet started, due to
the water problems.
In July, the extreme heat of Death Valley's summer began to take its toll. At the end of that
month, the company announced that temperature had not been below 90 degrees for weeks,
and was often above 124 even at midnight. Daily temperatures were usually up to 112 by
breakfast and 124 by noon. Most men slept out of doors, and even eating was difficult, since
the silverware was often too hot to handle. The boarding house cook flatly refused to allow a
thermometer near his kitchen. The hot weather kept the water at near boiling temperatures,
which made mill operation difficult. Still, over $11,000 was produced that month, and the ore
reserves were enlarged. In addition, three new buildings were added to the camp, including a
sixteen by forty-two foot residence for Homer Wilson and his family, a two-room office
building and a new cook house. [17]
In August, a peculiar side-effect of the labor struggles currently running through Nevada hit
the Keane Wonder. Early that month, the Rhyolite Miners Union adopted the Tonopah scale
of wages, designed by the Nevada miners unions to set standard pay scales across the state.
The Keane Wonder Company soon announced that it would honor the new scale.
Unfortunately for its employees, the Keane Wonder had formerly been paying higher wages
than the scale called for, and the move meant that the average miners' wages were cut from
$5.00 to $4.50 per day. When the company announced the new rates, along with only a 25¢
reduction in the daily room and board charges, twenty men quit the mine. Wilson, however,
had no trouble in hiring additional men, and even the former foreman of the Keane Wonder
Mine, who quit on principle, told the papers that the Keane Wonder was "unquestionably one
of the greatest mines in this section of the country."
Thus production and development went on, and in late August Wilson announced that the
"biggest strike in the history of the Keane Wonder has just been made," when over eighteen
feet of high grade gold ore was uncovered. In addition, some of the water problems were

resolved, and in spite of the continued heat, average mill days of twenty hours were possible.
Partly to alleviate the heat and discontent of his miners, Wilson made arrangements to put in
a small ice plant at the mill.
Production in August was estimated at $14,000 worth of gold bullion.
In late August, the Mining & Scientific Press, the esteemed San Francisco mining journal,
printed a quite reasonable assessment of Keane Wonder mine, although it was not one
designed to endear that paper with local boosters. "Death Valley has one actual mine," wrote
the paper. "It is the Keane Wonder, a wonder if for no other reason than that it is the only
producing property of the region. While not a bonanza, it is paying. Forty miners are busy
supplying $20 ore for a 20-stamp mill. Now and then a gold bar finds its way to Rhyolite,
and figures in the press dispatches . . . ."
A week later, the Keane Wonder found itself in yet another national magazine, when the
Engineering & Mining Journal printed an assessment of the suit of Edward Widdekind
against Homer Wilson. In essence, Widdekind claimed that he had once held an option on the
mine, and that Wilson had illegally manuevered him out of the deal. In addition, he charged
that through complicated and shady stock transactions, Wilson had pocketed some $100,000
of the mine's money. He asked that a receiver be appointed while the case was heard, and
also asked for half of Wilson's stock which he claimed was due according to their original
agreement.
Wilson ignored the allegations and continued to supervise the work at the mine and mill. The
easing of the summer's heat helped with the water problems, although they were still not
completely solved, and the Rhyolite Herald estimated September's production at $13,000. In
the meantime, the stockholders of the company met in Phoenix and ratified several actions of
the board of directors, among which were the election of two members of the Thomas Rickey
family to positions on the board. [18]
In October, the full extent of the financial troubles of the Keane Wonder Mining Company in
relation to Thomas Rickey and his defunct bank became apparent. The Rhyolite newspapers
had attempted to stay clear of the turmoil, but the much more aggressive Goldfield papers
gave them full coverage. According to one, the Goldfield Chronicle Rickey was a financial
manipulator of the first order. Even today, sifting through the accusations of the papers and
the statements of the individuals involved, it is difficult to piece together the financial puzzle.
Someone, it is evident, had borrowed money for the Keane Wonder to use from the State
Bank and Trust Company, and had pledged several hundred thousand shares of Keane
Wonder stock against the note. When the bank failed, Rickey had personally taken over the
responsibility for that debt, which indicates either that he had borrowed the money from his
own bank in the first place, or that he was trying to protect the Keane Wonder Company, of
which he was a heavy stockholder, from the results of his bank's failure. Along with the debt,
Rickey had also taken from the bank vaults the Keane Wonder stock which the bank had
held as a lien against the debt.
But other interests felt that they had first call on the stock of the Keane Wonder. One such
was D. Mackenzie, president of the Francis Mohawk Company of Goldfield. His company
had lost a large amount of its deposits when the State Bank folded, and Mackenzie claimed to
have exchanged his company's claims against the defunct bank for the bank's claims against
the Keane Wonder. Thus Mackenzie felt that the Francis Mohawk Company had first rights
to the stock which the Keane Wonder had left in the State Bank as security for its loan.
Mackenzie wanted to hold that stock, which would force the Keane Wonder to either repay
its debts to the Francis Mohawk, or to come under the control of the latter company.

But according to the Goldfield Chronicle Rickey had played yet another trick.
Rickey and his ubiquitous and perpatetic attorney, J. F. Peck, put their heads
together. They conceived the idea of having the company make a short time note
for some of its indebtedness and mortgage the company's mines and mill as
security for its payment. So they called the stockholders together at Phoenix,
Ariz., on August 22 last. A note for $43,000 was made to the Rickey Land and
Cattle company, and to secure it a trust deed conveying all of the company's
magnificent holdings to Peck was delivered to that individual. This note will fall
due on Sunday, the 25th day of this month, and on that day Peck can, under the
terms of a trust deed, for the comparatively paltry sum of $43,000, sell the mine,
the aerial tram, the mill, Keane Springs--in a word, gut the Keane Wonder
Mining company to its last farthing.
Homer Wilson denied the "sensational story from Goldfield," but did little to clear up the
confusion, since he refused to comment upon the details of the Keane Wonder's financial
picture. He did, however, intimate that a reorganization of the company was imminent, and
he pledged to protect the interests of everyone concerned. "You can say for me," he told the
Rhyolite Herald that if I don't get killed in this matter, every stockholder in the Keane
Wonder Mining Company will be fully protected." Wilson also stated that he knew for sure
that Rickey had no intention of foreclosing on the company and with that, left for San
Francisco to try and straighten out the mess.
In the meantime, the Keane Wonder mine and mill continued to hum along, and October's
production was estimated at $15,000. Although the company was continuing to try to find a
solution to the water problem, the mill was still unable to run full time. But even with good
production figures, the uneasiness about the various court suits involving the company had a
disasterous effect upon its stock, which plummeted all the way to 8¢ per share by mid-
October. Stockbrokers, even when taking into account the various rumors concerning the
mine's future, could not understand this climatic fall. How, asked one, can stock in a mine
which is producing an average of almost $20,000 per month fall to such a ridiculously low
figure?
Despite these financial questions, Homer Wilson seemed to be sure that his property would
survive intact, and work proceeded normally. Gold bullion was regularly brought into
Rhyolite during November, and production for that month was estimated between $16,000
and $25,000 by the Rhyolite newspapers. In the meantime, the Nevada-California Power
Company began negotiations with the Keane Wonder to extend a branch line to its property,
and the company finally began preliminary grading work for the future cyanide plant. The
payroll was increased to fifty miners and millmen. A well respected mining engineer made a
thorough examination of the mine for Wilson and reported that the Keane Wonder was "one
of the greatest mines in the state, and one capable of much better results than even the great
showing it has already made."
But at the same time, the various lawsuits surrounding the Keane Wonder and the State Bank
and Trust grew more complicated. Early in November, D. Mackenzie was granted a
temporary injunction preventing Rickey from foreclosing on the Keane Wonder for his
$43,000 trust deed. A week later, Mackenzie and F. L. Wildes brought joint suit against
Rickey and Homer Wilson, charging that they were using the mine to further their personal
interests. The suit asked for a restraining order, and that the company be put in the hands of a
receiver, in order to protect the stockholders of the Keane Wonder as well as the stockholders
and creditors of the State Bank and Trust Company. Wildes, who was the bank examiner for
the state of Nevada and also the appointed receiver of the State Bank and Trust, claimed that
the large stock holdings of Rickey in reality belonged to the assets of the bank, and thus

should be returned to it, for division among the banks creditors and stockholders.
But in mid-November, when the case was heard, the decision was decidedly in favor of
Wilson and Rickey. The complaints were ruled out of order, and the judge remarked that he
"failed to see wherein a receivership would be justifiable, when the Keane Wonder company
is doing business, meeting its bills and making a profit upon its operations." In reporting this
decision, the Rhyolite Herald continued to extend its sympathy towards Homer Wilson, and
printed his version of the complications. The Keane Wonder Company, according to Wilson,
was not indebted to the State Bank and Trust company. Its only indebtedness was to Rickey,
in the form of the trust deed for $43,000, which had been extended to help cover the costs of
mill construction. The complications surrounding the 975,000 shares of stock held by Rickey
and Wilson were merely personal matters between Rickey and D. Mackenzie, and Wilson
hoped that Ricky would resolve these soon, in order to enable those treasury shares to be
returned to the control of the company. Other people, however, were not so trusting of
Rickey as was Wilson, especially after the Inyo Register printed a rumor that Rickey was
selling out his real estate interests in the Reno area, and transferring his funds to Germany.
[19]
Whatever the case, the legal complexities settled down for several months, and Wilson was
able to return his attention towards production and the construction of the new cyanide plant.
In early December, Wilson announced that the machinery for that plant had been assembled
at Los Angeles and was being shipped. Construction, with good luck, would be completed by
February 1st. The plant would have eleven tanks, including six 25-foot diameter leaching
tanks, each five feet tall, two 18-by-10 foot solution tanks, two 12-by-10 foot settling tanks,
and one wash water tank. Zinc boxes would also be installed, with the equivalent capacity of
another tank. When completed, the plant would be able to process a minimum of 100 tons of
tailings per day, although the company hoped that the capacity would reach 200 tons. With a
capacity of at least 100 tons at the cyanide plant, compared with the maximum 80-ton daily
capacity of the mill, the cyanide plant would spend the rest of its time processing the 20,000
tons of tailings impounded from the mill during the previous years of mill operation. Thus it
would be several years before the cyanide plant ran out of work.
In the meantime, development in the mine continued apace. Although Homer Wilson rarely
gave out ore reserve figures, one of his shift foreman told the Bullfrog Miner in early
December that the Keane Wonder mine now had a three years ore reserve in sight.
Production at the mill proceeded fairly smoothly during December, despite a rare snowfall in
the middle of the month, accompanied by a drop of. the thermometer to 36 degrees, the
lowest anyone could remember. Final production figures for that month were $12,000, an
estimate for once agreed upon between the Rhyolite Herald and the Bullfrog Miner. Total
1908 production, according to figures released by Wilson, amounted to $140,092.37. Average
monthly production, based upon Wilson's calculations, was $11,674, which indicates that
both Rhyolite newspapers had been overestimating production figures throughout the year.
$140,000 was enough, however, to mark the Keane Wonder Mine as the largest producer of
gold in the county of Inyo, California, during 1908, which emphasizes its relative importance
to the local economy. The Engineering & Mining Journal ironically noted that "judging by
the complicated litigation over the stock of the Keane Wonder Mining Company, it out to be
a good property."
With the law suits thrust to the background through the early months of 1909, the Keane
Wonder mine and mill continued to grind out ore and bullion. January's production was
estimated at between $13,400 and $15,000, and February's at $13,000. No production
estimates are available for March, but Homer Wilson announced on the 24th of that month
that the mill had produced $35,000 during the first three months of 1909. Mine development
continued apace, and "though nothing of a sensational nature has been uncovered, yet the

steady and consistent advancement made in the showing of mineral wealth justifies the
official statement that the property never looked so good."
During this period, construction of the cyanide mill finally began. The first carload of
machinery for the mill arrived in early January, and more supplies and equipment followed.
By the end of February, the mill was virtually completed, and test runs began. Delays in the
delivery of some items of equipment, however, kept the new mill from entering full
production runs until March 18th. Although Wilson admitted that it would take several
months to determine the full capacity of the plant, which depended upon the always
unreliable water supply, he hoped that the addition of cyanide treatment would increase the
company's production by 80 percent, to around $20,000 worth of bullion per month. With the
cyanide mill in operation and the stamp mill and mine looking good, Wilson again extended
open invitations to reporters and miners to visit and inspect his complex. The visitors were
also invited to take a ride over the aerial tramway, "provided they assert that they are not
afflicted with heart disease." [20]
Illustration 94. The Keane Wonder Mill, at the height of its activity, in
March of 1909. Note the new buildings erected since 1907, especially the
lower tramway terminal building, with its two distinctive horseshoe
openings, above the mill. When the mill was salvaged in 1937, the tramway
building was left, and today its framing timbers are the dominant feature of
the Keane Wonder mill ruins. Photo courtesy of Stanley Paher collection,
copy from Death Valley National Monument Library.
But in April, the complicated financial affairs of the Keane Wonder Company again spilled
into the courts. Sometime during the early part of 1909, T. B. Rickey and D. Mackenzie, the
former antagonists, had made a deal, whereby Mackenzie dropped his claims against the
975,000 shares of Keane Wonder stock. In return Mackenzie received a new joint trust deed
with Rickey for nearly $195,000. The new trust deed also replaced Rickey's older trust deed
of $43,000. The deal enabled Homer Wilson to regain control of the commanding block of
Keane Wonder stock, if he could meet the interest obligations of the new trust deed.
But due to financial demands for the construction of the cyanide mill, Wilson failed to meet
the interest payments, and Rickey and Mackenzie advertized the entire property of the Keane
Wonder Company for sale in order to satisfy their demands. Earl Clemens, the publisher of

the Rhyolite Herald then entered the fray on behalf of minority stockholders of the Keane
Wonder Company, asking for a restraining order on the sale of the Keane Wonder property,
and also for a thorough accounting of the finances of the company. Clemens' motive was to
protect the minority stockholders, who would be left holding worthless stock if the mine were
sold to satisfy the trust deeds, and also to help clear up the tangled affairs of the Keane
Wonder, since the continued active production of the mine was important to the prosperity of
Rhyolite and the Bullfrog mining area.
Clemens' first moves were successful, for an injunction was granted by the Superior Court at
San Francisco, forbidding the sale of the mine under the terms of the new trust deed until a
full accounting could be produced before the court. Apparently, the judge tended to agree
with Clemens that the personal indebtedness of Homer Wilson and the Homer Wilson Trust
Company, which had originally promoted the Keane Wonder Mine, should be entirely
separated from the legal debts of the Keane Wonder Mining Company itself. Clemens
claimed that although the personal debts of Homer Wilson and his Trust Company could
amount to as much as $150,000, that the only legal debt of the Keane Wonder Company itself
was the $43,000 owed to T. B. Rickey. The picture was extremely complicated, for it was
very difficult to sort out the personal and the public debts of Homer Wilson vis a vis the
Homer Wilson Trust Company and the Keane: Wonder Mining Company. Likewise, it was
just as difficult to delineate between Thomas Rickey's personal and public debts, since he
was a major stockholder of the Keane Wonder and also the former president and major
stockholder of the State Bank and Trust Company. The key to the puzzle was whether the
trading between Wilson, Rickey and Mackenzie for the famous 975,000 shares of Keane
Wonder stock was done by private individuals or by company officials. Clemens, at least,
was certain that all the dealing had been done by the three men acting as private individuals
and if the court accepted his interpretation, then the Keane Wonder Mining Company itself
would emerge from the entire affair virtually debt free.
Later in April, another favorable aspect came into the picture when F. L. Wildes, receiver of
the State Bank and Trust Company, entered the suit with a motion to force both Rickey and
Mackenzie to return their stock to the assets of the bank, from which he said it was illegally
obtained. This suit, if successful, would mean that Homer Wilson would have to return the
975,000 shares of treasury stock to Mackenzie and Rickey, which would void the new trust
deed held by those men. Mackenzie and Rickey would then in turn be forced to return all that
Keane Wonder stock to the bank, which would parcel it out among all the former
shareholders and deposits of the failed bank. This would leave Rickey and Mackenzie with
no claims upon the Keane Wonder Mine.
Although the rest of the story is not quite clear, since much of the private maneuverings and
court proceedings did not reach the ears of newspaper reporters, final settlements were made
in late May. Apparently the accounting requested by Earl Clemens resulted in a favorable
decision for the Keane Wonder Company, and the court found that all the dealings involving
the 975,000 shares of treasury stock were private contracts between individuals, for which the
Keane Wonder Company could not be held responsible. As a result, bank receiver Wildes
dropped his suit to obtain those shares of stock, and Homer Wilson retained them in trust for
the company. Mackenzie, as a result of this suit, lost all his claims towards the Keane
Wonder stock, and Thomas Rickey's original trust deed, which was reinstated by this court
decision, was paid in full by an affluent Keane Wonder stockholder. Thus it appeared that the
Keane Wonder Company was free and clear of any outstanding debts. As the Rhyolite Herald
happily wrote, the "honesty of Homer Wilson" had been upheld, since he had made good on
his promise to protect the company's stockholders.
In the meantime, the mine and mill had kept on producing. On April 19th, Homer Wilson
brought in bullion worth $25,000, the result of one month's cleanup at the mill and new

cyanide plant. The production was the largest ever in the Bullfrog region for one month, with
the exception of the Montgomery-Shoshone Mill at Rhyolite. On May 19th, Wilson brought
in more bullion estimated at $18,000, the result of twenty-one days' work, as the mill pushed
towards the magic figure of producing $1,000 per day.
Other developments kept pace. A new body of ore was found in the mine on May 22d, and
the long awaited ice plant was completed ate that month. All the miners and millmen now
had resource to free ice supplies to help alleviate the heat of summer. A new hoisting plant
was ordered and when received was put to work on another shaft. The Keane Wonder
Company now had a total of twelve power plants ranging in size from the 150-horsepower
steam boiler and the 126-hp steam engine down to a 25-horsepower gas engine, two 13-
horsepower, two 10-horsepower, two 5-horsepower, and three 2-1/2-horsepower gas engines.
[21]
As the summer progressed, it seemed that the Keane Wonder had only been awaiting the
settlement of all its financial difficulties before making great surges forward. May's
production continued to push towards the $1,000 per day mark, as bullion worth $22,000 was
brought in, the result of a mill run of twenty-five days. The continuing water shortages had
caused the mill to lay idle the remainder of the month. The payroll of the mine reflected its
prosperity, as it was estimated by the Bullfrog Miner to be $7,800 per month.
The demands for supplying the men and the mill machinery began to exceed the capabilities
of the Porter brothers, who held the hauling contract, especially as the heat of summer began
to take its toll on the horses. To solve this problem, one enterprising individual named J. R.
Lane bought an old traction engine from the Tonopah & Tidewater Railroad and brought it up
to Rhyolite. The engine was a Best Traction Engine, with 110 horsepower, and it burned
crude oil. The engine was slow but powerful, and after improving the road to the mine, Lane
hoped to be able to make one trip per week, carrying out up to fifty tons of supplies and
equipment per trip. The Keane Wonder Company was interested and promised to buy the
engine from Lane if he could demonstrate its practicality through several demonstration runs.
Then, on June 3rd, more good news came from the mine. "IMMENSE WEALTH
DEVELOPED IN KEANE WONDER MINE," blared the headlines of the Rhyolite Herald.
"NEW ORE BODY OF SUCH IMMENSITY THAT BIG PRODUCTION IS ASSURED
FOR YEARS TO COME. MAKES THIS PROPERTY TAKE RANK AS ONE OF
NEVADA'S GREATEST MINES." The mill immediately shifted over to begin milling ore
from the big new discovery, which was located 150 feet below ground in a new shaft. On
July 7th, Homer Wilson brought in the bullion returns from the new ore body, which totaled
$10,000 as the product of eleven days' run. A second shipment brought July's production to
$22,000, but August's dropped slightly to $18,000, as more and more time was lost due to
water shortages intensified by the extreme heat of summer. July's payroll amounted to
$8,000, paid to forty-five men. Lane's traction engine completed its first test run on July 31st,
despite the poor shape of the road, and hauled in a cargo of twelve tons. Impressed, the
Keane Wonder Company began to negotiate a two-year hauling contract with Lane.
By mid-September, the traction engine had completed several more successful test runs, and
the Keane Wonder Company ordered an oil storage tank for emplacement at the mill site as a
refueling source for the big traction engine. The storage tank was a necessity, for when
loaded the engine required over fifty gallons of fuel to make one trip to the mine. Mill returns
for August were estimated at $17,000, and the company announced that its ore reserves were
still sufficient for two more years of production at the least. All of the company's property,
Wilson pointed out, was still not explored.
As the fall progressed, Lane's traction engine continued to demonstrate its worth. After more

test runs, the first true trip to the mill was made in late October, with four trailers hauling
twenty tons of freight. The engine made the twenty-six-mile trip to the mill in 7 hours, and
returned to Rhyolite the next day. Two trips per week were planned, which would be
sufficient to satisfy the demands of the mine and mill, and also would make the enterprise
profitable from Mr. Lane. Lane, in turn, was so satisfied with the prospects that he began to
organize the Keane Wonder Traction Company in order to sell shares of his business. But on
November 13th, the business ground to a halt, when the boiler of the engine burst while
climbing over Daylight Pass.
Illustration 95. "Old Dinah," the steam tractin engine purchased by J. R.

Lane in 1909 to haul supplies in to the Keane Wonder complex. The engine
is here pictured ca. 1898, hauling borax. Photo courtesy Western Regional
Office, NPS.
Illustration 96. "Old Dinah," as she appears today, resting outside Furnace
Creek Ranch, minus her boiler. 1978 photo by John Latschar.
Lane blamed the accident on the age of the machinery and the poor quality of water which he
was forced to use, and left for California to purchase a new gasoline engine to install in the

tractor. But apparently his resources were not adequate to the task, and the traction engine
was not again used. The engine stood idle on Daylight Pass for many years, until two
employees of the Pacific Coast Borax Company hauled it from Daylight Pass to Furnace
Creek Ranch in 1932.
In the meantime, the mine and mill continued to produce. October's gold production reached
$20,000, and ten more miners were added to the work force in early November. New strikes,
although not as big as the summer's discovery, were found in the mine, which maintained the
company's ore reserves. Minor accidents shut down the cyanide plant for a week, but such
interruptions were not unusual for a desert mining operation, and production continued.
November's output was estimated at between $24,000 and $25,000, the second largest amount
produced in a month since the mill had begun operations in 1907. December's yield was
somewhat smaller, being $20,000, due to water pipes which froze and broke. The Keane
Wonder's total production for 1909 was announced by Wilson to be $220,000, nearly double
the previous year, and the average monthly output was $18,333.
The success of the mine and mill was largely due to the very efficient methods used to
extract and process the ore. The costs of mining were only two dollars per ton, mostly due to
the ease of stoping directly from the side of the mountain. Milling costs, for both the stamp
mill and the cyanide plant, were calculated at $3.10 per ton. When the costs of fuel,
transportation and supplies were added up, total production costs at the Keane Wonder mine
and mill were about $10 per ton, indicating that the company could make a profit upon any
ore assaying above $10 to the ton. On November 27, 1909, Homer Wilson reported that since
the mill had opened in 1907, it had treated 25,000 tons of ore, with an average value of $12
per ton, and that the mill and cyanide plant had extracted 94 percent of the ore content. Based
upon Wilson's figures, the total net profit for over two years of production at the Keane
Wonder was about $47,000.
With the mine and mill looking very successful, and with the financial complications finally
resolved, investors once. again began to buy the limited amounts of Keane Wonder stock
which found their way to the trading boards. Stock which had fallen as low as 9¢ per share
when it appeared that the mine would be sold to satisfy the trust deeds had risen to 25 by the
middle of December and to 30 by the end of 1909. [22]
As the Keane Wonder Mill began its third year of operation in 1910, conditions remained
optimistic. In early February the company applied for United States' patents for twenty-seven
of its claims, totaling over 413 acres of land. February bullion returns were $20,000, and for
the first time the mill reached the magical figure of $1,000 production per day, as only
twenty days' run was possible that month, due to water freeze-ups. March's production was
even better, as the mill turned out $25,000, and April's was again over $20,000. After Homer
Wilson made several trips to Los Angeles, the Rhyolite Herald discovered more about the
financial settlements which had been made the previous year. As the dust settled, it appeared
that the Keane Wonder Company did indeed owe money to the receiver of the State Bank and
Trust Company. But the debt was being paid off steadily, and the Herald concluded that the
Keane Wonder would soon be out of debt.
May's production figures were somewhat less than $20,000, and no figures were given out for
June. The mine and mill, though, continued to operate through the hot summer months. The
Tadich brothers of Rhyolite, who had established a general store at the mine and another one
at the mill site, reported continued good business. The high number of miners employed by
the company resulted in one of their number being chosen as a delegate to the Inyo County
Democratic convention in August, and the Keane Wonder boarding house was listed as a
polling place for Inyo County during the general elections the following fall. On September
1st, 1910, seventy-five men were employed at the mine and mill.

In September, the company announced that the water supply had finally been improved
enough to support the mill full time. This was due to the clearing out of several stoping areas,
which enabled the company to pump more underground water than before. In addition,
Homer Wilson purchased and installed a 75-horsepower steam engine and compressor to
drive a new set of machine drills. This soon resulted in a short-lived labor dispute, as twenty-
four miners quit in a protest against the cut-back in jobs brought about by automation. The
Keane Wonder Company, however, had no trouble in replacing the striking miners, especially
since the majority of mines around the Rhyolite area were dead or dying by the fall of 1910,
and unemployed miners were easy to find.
In the meantime the bullion shipments continued. By now the arrival of bullion from the
Keane Wonder was no longer a striking news item, and the Rhyolite papers printed bullion
estimates only sporadically. August's returns were reported to be "about usual," and Octobers
was merely assessed as "large." November's shipment was estimated at $20,000, which was
said to be close to the average monthly yield throughout 1910. Although no accurate
production estimates are available for 1910--one paper reported $350,000 for the year, which
is obviously much too high--the Keane Wonder mine once again was listed as the largest
producing gold mine in Inyo County, California. [23]
The Keane Wonder entered 1911 as one of the only two surviving and producing mines of
the Bullfrog region, and ended the year as the only one, for the big Montgomery-Shoshone
Mill shut down in May. Thus the Keane Wonder, which had preceeded the great Bullfrog
rush, had succeeded in outliving the rise and fall of Rhyolite and the Bullfrog boom. As the
sole surviving paper in the Bullfrog District in 1911, the Rhyolite Herald continued to cover
the Keane Wonder Mine, but as the paper shrank from the twelve-page spread of balmier
days to four pages, half filled with canned material, coverage of the Keane Wonder grew
sparser.
Still, we do know that Homer Wilson reported average bullion yields of $18,000 to $20,000
during January, February and March of 1911, and that on April 15th he stated that "General
conditions at the Keane Wonder mine are the best in the history of the property." The mill
processed about 75 tons per day during that time, near its peak capacity of 80 tons, but profits
were not large, since the overhead was high. The air compressor and other equipment
installed late in 1910 had cost the company $20,000, and the expense of hauling fuel oil and
distillate was the company's heaviest fixed expense. Still, said Wilson, the "Keane Wonder
will be a notable little producer for many years to come."
For a few months during the summer of 1911, George Wingfield, the famous Goldfield
mining promoter and politician, held an option to purchase the Keane Wonder property, but
the option was allowed to expire. Although no one knew for sure, the Rhyolite Herald
speculated that Wingfield had been discouraged due to the manner in which the stock in the
company was dispersed. He probably was not discouraged, by the output of the mine, for
production figures soared during that summer. April's cleanup netted the company $25,000
and May's totalled an estimated $22,600. Then, during the first two weeks of June, the Keane
Wonder broke all its previous records, producing nearly $30,000 during a 15 day run, or
almost $2,000 per day. Total production for June was estimated at almost $50,000.
The mill was disabled for a week in July when a cylinder head was blown, but it was soon
fixed and running again, and on August 5th the Rhyolite Herald quite properly called the
property the "King of the Desert." Privately and quietly, the paper reported, "Keane Wonder
stock is increasing in demand and value." Production figures were not listed for the fall
months of 1911, although the papers inferred that the monthly averages were around $30,000.
The force of miners was maintained, and the Porter brothers found themselves unable to
satisfy the supply demands of the company, so another hauling contract was let. Once again,

the number of miners employed at the property was sufficient for the Keane Wonder office
building to be designated as a polling place for the Inyo County general election.
In October of 1911, the estate of the Keane Wonder was greatly increased by the purchase of
the Big Bell property, situated to the north, between the Keane Wonder and Chloride Cliff.
The Big Bell Mine, which had fallen into bankruptcy, was sold at auction by the receiver of
the First National Bank at Rhyolite, for the bank had also closed, and Homer Wilson
purchased its claims for a mere $1,600. A force of miners was soon dispatched to the
property for exploration work.
October's production run was estimated at $30,000, which was said to be slightly less than
September's, and November's was estimated again at $30,000. No final production estimates
for 1911 were listed by the Rhyolite newspaper, although the averages mentioned throughout
that year by the Herald would total to about $326,000 for the year, if valid. The Herald's
natural tendency to exaggerate is emphasized by a 1938 report in the California Journal of
Mines and Geology, wherein 1911s production was conservatively estimated at $161,000.
The true figures are probably somewhere in between those two estimates, and only Homer
Wilson knew what they were. The totals were enough, however, for the Keane Wonder to tie
with the Skidoo Mine, on the west side of Death Valley, as the leading gold producers of
Inyo County in 1911, the fourth year in a row wherein the Keane Wonder had appeared at the
top of the list. [24]
The mine and mill continued production in 1912, but the end was beginning to come into
sight. The Rhyolite Herald reported in January that the mine had only three months of ore
reserves in sight, and development work was being pushed on the unworked claims of the
company, some of which had never been explored since the early days of 1905. Ore was
discovered on one claim, the Whipsaw, and the company began to shift operations around the
ridge towards it. Surface tramway tracks were laid to take the Whipsaw ore to the upper
aerial tramway terminal. In addition, development work was continued on the Big Bell
claims, purchased by Wilson the previous year.
In late January the cyanide plant was temporarily shut down, as it had finally finished
processing all the accumulated tailings which had been collected before the construction of
the plant. The cyanide works would be idle, said Wilson, until another such accumulation had
been gathered, since it was not economical to run it on a part time basis. In the meantime, the
20-stamp mill kept on crushing ore, at such a rate that another freight team was started
between Rhyolite and the mill to supply the engines with oil. January's production once again
reached an estimated $30,000 worth of bullion, and February's almost reached that figure.
Fifteen thousand dollars of that sum was reported to be pure profit for the company.
Then, on February 24th, disaster struck. The mile-long cable of the aerial tramway snapped
and several ore buckets fell into the ravines below. All work on the mine and mill had to be
stopped while the old cable was taken down and a new one restrung and the ore buckets
placed back on line. The new cable weighed 26,000 pounds, and cost $7,280. Railroad freight
to get the cable to Rhyolite amounted to $780, with additional wagon freight charges of $350
just to haul it from Rhyolite to the mine. Total costs and delays set back the Keane Wonder
Company almost $10,000 before the tramway was again operating in late March.
In the meantime, the Keane Wonder Company received its patent for twenty-eight claims,
which constituted "the largest territory comprised in one title that has been issued by the land
department for many years." With the new patent on hand and the cable restrung, the mine
and mill began running again at full capacity, and the Rhyolite Herald was fulsome in its
praise for Homer Wilson, who had operated the Keane Wonder for so long. "Mr. Homer
Wilson is entitled to all the credit, and for having struggled against adverse conditions for

several years, never losing faith in the property, but steadily forging ahead and overcoming
difficulties, and now his efforts are being crowned with deserved success." The accolades
seemed warranted. As an example of Wilson's economical management, he had used the
down time caused by the cable misfortune to rework and retool all the machinery in both
mine and mill.
With the mine and mill running at full capacity again, but with the ore reserves dropping
rapidly, the Keane Wonder Company began to think of selling its property. T. B. Rickey,
who still held a large interest in the company, negotiated with a group of Philadelphia
capitalists in early April, and the sale was made towards the end of that month. The purchase
price was reported to be $600,000. Half the payment was made immediately, and all the
company's stock, together with the resignations of all its officers and directors, were placed in
escrow until the second half of the payment was made on or before May 5, 1912. According
to the agreement, Homer Wilson would stay on the property as supervisor while the new
owners investigated the feasibility of several capital improvements, such as the addition of
twenty more stamps to the mill and the conversion from oil to electric power. Once these
improvements were made, Wilson was to turn over the property and end his long association
with the Keane Wonder. As the news of the sale and the anticipated infusion of new capital
into the mine was spread, a corresponding rise in the price of Keane Wonder stock was
recorded on the trading boards, rising from 16¢ to 35 in a few days.
As May turned into June, no improvements were made, although the mine and mill continued
to operate. Homer Wilson was forced to leave the mine for a month, to attend his sick
daughter in San Francisco, thus delaying the expansion plans. But upon his return in late June
he assured the Rhyolite Herald that plans were being perfected, and that the improvements at
the Keane Wonder would soon take place. In the meantime, production continued. May's
bullion returns were said to be satisfactory, although no figures were given, and June's was
reported as slightly smaller than May's.
Then, on August 22d, the end came. As the Inyo Register blazed in its headlines, "NOTED
MINE'S DAYS OVER. KEANE WONDER HAS WORKED OUT ITS ORE BODIES." The
Keane Wonder mine and mill, after running successfully since November of 1907, had finally
shut down. The paper reported that the operations had been closed for an indefinite period,
"and doubt is expressed whether t will ever resume production. It is said that for some time
past the operations of the company have failed to yield a profit, and that development of the
Whipsaw claim have not been successful." The final cleanup had been made, which netted
$10,000, and the ore pillars had been broken down, to save their contents. This was a sad
sign, for with the removal of the ore pillars from areas which had been stoped so long, large
portions of: the underground workings of the mine complex would soon collapse: The Keane
Wonder, said the paper, had exhausted all the ore in sight, and had no prospects of finding
any more.
Four men were retained from the large work force to treat the remaining tailings in the
cyanide plant, and Wilson said that when cooler weather returned in the fall that development
and exploration work would be done under contract, in the hopes of finding new deposits.
"The news of the suspension of operations comes as a great surprise to mining men here,"
wrote the Inyo Register, "as reports from the property have been highly encouraging for a
long time past." Remembering the past dealings of Rickey, the paper went on to accuse him
of dumping a gutted mine upon a group of poor dimwitted Philadelphia capitalists. "Persons
who have taken an interest in the matter declare that some one has been "handed a lemon"
and that Thomas B. Rickey is not that individual but more probably the one who disposed of
the fruit." It is doubtful, however, if the paper's suspicions were true. The Rhyolite Herald
had stated several months earlier that the known ore reserves of the mine consisted only of
three months' supply. Such a published report would have been impossible to keep from the

eyes of any businessman who knew what he was doing. In addition, the subsequent actions
of the new Philadelphia owners, who retained the services of Homer Wilson, quite decidedly
indicate that they did not feel deceived when their new mine shut down. [25]
The first segment of the Keane Wonder's history had ended. The mine, which had first been
located in 1904, had been consistently worked for over eight years, and the mill had steadily
produced gold bullion from November of 1907 to August of 1912, longer than any other mill
in the surrounding Bullfrog territory, or any mill on the east side of Death Valley. Final
production figures for these years are necessarily unreliable, but can be estimated. The mill
probably produced about $75,000 in 1912, which when coupled with the California Journal of
Mines and Geology's conservative estimate of $682,000 for the years 1907-1911, would bring
total production to at least $750,000.
But although the major period of production at the Keane Wonder was over, the mine and
mill were not yet finished. Unfortunately, the subsequent history of the property is much less
recorded, for the death of Rhyolite and its newspapers leaves us without the weekly coverage
of the early years. In addition, as the Keane Wonder became less important to the economy of
Inyo County, its newspapers concerned themselves less and less with the several subsequent
attempts to revive the mine. Thus our information becomes rather sketchy.
We do know, however, that the first attempt to revive the mine came less than a year after it
had closed down, in June of 1913. At that time, the new owners of the Keane Wonder held a
meeting in Philadelphia, and a new board of directors was elected. Reports released to the
Inyo newspapers indicated that the new company was in relatively good financial condition,
and that the company had some new ore blocked out in the mine. In a rather confusing
statement, Homer Wilson, who had been elected president of the Philadelphia company,
stated that the mine had over 3,000 tons of ore blocked out, and that ten stamps and cyanide
equipment would be added to the mill.
In July of 1913, another mining journal stated that the new management had perfected a plan
to put in ten additional stamps and other equipment. Foundations were in place and
installation of the machinery was about to start. In addition, a new shaft was being sunk on
the property. We then hear nothing of the mine until January of 1914, when Homer Wilson
told the Inyo Register that a new water supply had been developed. The capacity of the stamp
mill was still given as 80 tons per day, however, which indicates that no new stamps had
been added. But the mill was evidently active, from the tenor of Wilson's statements, for he
claimed that the Keane Wonder had produced over $1,000,000 through the end of 1913.
Then, the case of the State Bank and Trust Company reared its head, as the newspapers
reported in February of 1914 that the Keane Wonder was still paying off its debt to the
receiver of the bank. Evidently the mill was running, in order to produce the bullion to make
those payments.
If it was operating, profits evidently were not very large, for the Keane Wonder Company
failed to pay $503.23 in taxes to the Inyo County Treasurer in June of 1914. Then, evidently
the mill again shut down, for the company was forced to quit making payments to the State
bank. As a result, the Keane Wonder mine and mill was sold at a sheriff's auction in about
November of 1914, in order to satisfy the debt due to the bank. The purchaser of the property
was the Francis Mohawk Mining Company, whose president, D. Mackenzie, had been one of
the original litigants in the 1908-1909 suits revolving around the ownership of Keane Wonder
stock. Homer Wilson, as usual, landed on his feet, and was named as superintendent of the
mine and mill by its new owners, and the Francis Mohawk Company began to operate the
complex once again. The new owners had a distinct advantage over their predecessors, for
they were operating without any debts hanging over the company. To a mining concern
operating on the fringe of profitability, as the Keane Wonder now was, this was important.

The new owners, this time, made improvements to the property, chiefly an addition to the
cyanide plant, which brought its capacity up to 300 tons per day.
Production runs at the Keane Wonder began again in earnest in the fall of 1915, as well as
development work on some of the unexplored claims of the company. A new superintendent
was appointed at that time, as Homer Wilson finally ended his long, identification with the
Keane Wonder mine. The new ore bodies lasted only about six months, however, for the mill
was again closed in May of 1916. The cyanide plant continued to run through July of that
year before exhausting the tailings piles, after which the entire Keane Wonder complex lay
quiet. The Francis Mohawk Company announced in July that a new reorganization was under
way, and that endeavors would soon be made to open a large tonnage of ore which they
believed to lie beneath the present workings. But the new plans were never carried through,
and in 1917 the mine was still reported to be idle, and the company was still reported to be
considering reorganization plans. The California State Mineralogist, in 1917, reported that all
the known ore bodies were worked out, and estimated that the mine and mill had produced a
total of $1,100,000 in gold bullion through the end of 1916. If his figures are accurate, total
production between 1912 and 1916, when the mill was operated sporadically, amounted to
about $87,500 per year. [26]
After the revival efforts at the Keane Wonder failed in 1916, the mine and mill lay idle for
many years. Edna Perkins, one of the very few writers of western lore who can be trusted,
visited the complex in 1922. She described the mill site as a mass of deteriorating buildings,
half blown down, with broken water pipes and other debris scattered around the area. The
superintendent's house, she wrote, was obviously a fine residence at one time, but she and-
her companions preferred to sleep outside.
The large boarding house was almost completely ruined. The mill building, however, was still
in relatively good shape, as it was locked and guarded. The watchman was John Cyty, who
had been identified with the Funeral Range area ever since the Bullfrog boom, and he kindly
unlocked the mill building for them and showed them an extensive array of machinery still
intact inside.
The Keane Wonder mine and mill lay idle through the rest of the 1920s and the first half of
the 1930s. W. R. McCrea of Beatty, who owned the Chloride Cliff Mine, tested the old
tailings of the Keane Wonder mill in 1930, but he decided that their contents were not
valuable enough to reprocess. Then, in 1935, the Keane Wonder complex underwent another
attempt at revival.
During 1935 and 1936 the Coen Company bought and leased mining rights to the Keane
Wonder and Big Bell mines, and carried out several testing programs. Most of the work was
done on the Big Bell claims, but the company did employ eight men for some time in
reworking the old mill tailings of the Keane Wonder by cyanide. Since the old Keane Wonder
tramway was described as being deteriorated beyond repair, the company established its
camp at the Big Bell site, which was its center of operations. The operations at the Big Bell
were successful for several years, but no attempt was made to reopen the Keane Wonder
Mine, beyond the reprocessing of the mill tailings. By November of 1937 the Coen Company
had ceased operations, and the Keane Wonder mill and its contents were sold to George
Ishmael, who dismantled the old stamps and hauled them to Los Angeles. Thus ended the
proud history of the Keane Wonder Mill, for with the exception of the heavy foundation
timbers of the tramway terminals, almost all the mill complex was salvaged.

Illustration 97. View of the Keane Wonder Mill area, circa 1938. The lower
tramway terminal building is standing in the upper left of the picture, just
behind the smokestack, but the mill building itself has been torn down and
salvaged. In the foreground are several buildings and tanks of the cyanide
plant, showing the deterioration of two decades of neglect. Photo courtesy
of Death Valley National Monument Library, #8633, with credit to
Stovepipe Wells Hotel, which misdated the photo as circa 1908.
In 1938, the Keane Wonder Mine was sold to E. L. Cord, the automobile manufacturer, who
in turn leased it to two Denver miners, W. D. Leonard and George Schriber. In April of 1940,
the Mining Journal reported that five men were employed at the mine in reconditioning the
machinery and repairing the camp buildings in preparation for active development work. The
aerial tramway was refurbished that fall, and preparations were made by ten employees to put
in a new mill on the site of the old one. Camps were erected at both the mine and the mill
site. By June of 1941 a new 150-ton mill was under construction and it was nearly completed
by July. But the new mining effort was short-lived, for the operation was closed down in
March of 1942, when all the machinery, with the exception of the new aerial tramway, was
hauled away to another site.
From 1942 to the present, the Keane Wonder Mine has been idle. E. L. Cord held title to the
estate until 1969, when it was sold to the Title Insurance and Trust Company of Los Angeles
for $25,000. The Title Insurance Company, in turn, sold the property to the National Park
Service in the early 1970s.
Total production at the Keane Wonder mine and mill has been estimated by several different
sources at $1,100,000. Of this figure, most agree that between $625,000 and $682,000 was
produced in the years between 1907 and 1911, during the greatest years of prosperity for the
Keane Wonder Mining Company. [27]
There can be no doubt that the Keane Wonder mine and mill complex should be put on the
National Register. The Keane Wonder Mine represents one of the two largest producing gold
mines within the vicinity of Death Valley National Monument (the other being the Skidoo),
and in addition represents the longest running gold mine of the entire Bullfrog boom region.
In a sense, the Keane Wonder can be given part of the credit for starting the great Bullfrog
boom, since it was Domingo Etcharren's and Jack Keane's discovery that drew "Shorty"
Harris and. Ed Cross to that particular area. With a production of over $1,000,000, the Keane
Wonder was vitally important to the local economy of both Nye County, Nevada, and Inyo

County, California, during the gold boom days of the early nineteen hundreds. In addition,
the Keane Wonder mine and mill had several unique features, rarely found elsewhere, such as
its mile-long aerial tramway. Although the mill itself is no longer standing, the Keane
Wonder complex includes numerous structures and ruins which should be preserved and
interpreted.
At the mine itself, located high up the slope of the Funeral Mountains above the mill site,
extensive structures remain. It is not hard to look at the mine complex and realize that the
entire area was continuously mined for a number of years. The side of the mountain is
completely pitted with adits and stoped areas, and in places an entire section of the mountain
has collapsed into the underground workings below. Several tent platforms dot the area, as
well as a couple of rock-walled living quarters, and a collapsed wooden building. A water
tank is perched high on the hillside, and two concrete hoisting foundations are below, one of
which still has an engine, a cable spool, and hoisting mechanisms attached.
Illustration 98. Map of Keane Wonder Complex.
The upper tramway terminal is quite impressive. The structure is approximately thirty by
sixty feet in size, and is composed of very heavy timbers, which were originally the
foundation and framing timbers for the terminal. Although most of the covering material is
gone, it is still quite easy to see how the terminal operated. Wire cables run in and out of the
terminal, upon which the ore buckets rode. When the buckets entered the terminal, they were
guided by an iron track, which carried them in and around to the ore bin, where they were

automatically loaded. The ore buckets then continued around on the cable, back out the
terminal and down the mountain. The gearing and other mechanisms are still visible, as well
as a small electric motor, added in later years. An ore chute leads down into the ore bin,
which stands just next to and above the upper terminal.
The tramway line is in fairly good shape, and as best can be determined, the 1940
reconstruction of it did not greatly alter its original configuration. Twelve of the towers are
still standing, although the one nearest the upper terminal has collapsed. (It has collapsed
since 1975 and should be restored immediately.) All the terminal towers have a base
measuring twelve feet to a side, and some rise to thirty feet in the air. The heavy framing
timbers of the towers are bolted directly into the rock, or into concrete foundations laid on the
rock. The two main support cables of the tramway are still strung from the upper to the lower
terminal, but the bucket cables have fallen to the ground between most of the towers. On the
few sections where the bucket cables are still in place, ore buckets can still be seen hanging
from the line.
Illustration 99. Upper tramway terminal and ore bin, from below. Note
strings of bucket cables and support cables lying below the terminal. The
pipeline leading above the terminal towards the dumps in the upper left
corner is also visible. 1978 photo by John Latschar.

Illustration 100. The upper terminal and ore bin from above. The main
support cables can be traced fom the terminal down to a tramway tower on
the edge of a ridge. Halfway between is the platform for the first cable
tower, which has collapsed. The main trail from the mine to the mill is in
the upper right corner of the picture. 1978 photo by John Latschar.
Illustration 101. Close up of the ore bin (right) and the upper tramway
terminal (center). Close examination will reveal the path of the ore buckets,
which entered at the left front and traveled around to the ore bin and back
out of the right front. Much of the gearing mechanism which operated the
automatic loading facility is still visible. 1978 photo by John Latschar.
Illustration 102. Remnants of one of the hoisting plants at the mine area,
showing a cable spool at the right, the cable reel in front, and the engine in
the rear. The pipeline leading up towards the top of a dump is clearly
visible. 1978 photo by John Latschar.
The trail from the mine to the mill, cut during the construction of the tramway in 1907, is in

very good condition. The main trail is clearly evident and easily walked, and branch trails can
be seen leading to each of the tramway towers. Sections of a two-inch pipe line can be seen
along much of the trail, including periodic expansion joints.
The lower tramway terminal, on the edge of the Death Valley wash, is equally impressive.
This structure is about twenty-five by seventy feet in dimension, and like the upper is built of
heavy and solid timbers. All the supporting mechanisms at the lower terminal have been
salvaged since it was much easier to do so here than at the upper. The area below the
terminal, where the original mill stood, has nothing left beyond a series of concrete
foundations, water and fuel tanks, the ruins of several wooden structures and a series of
leveled areas, upon which the original floors of the mill stood. Close to the mill site is the
ruins of a twenty-five by forty foot frame building, which has completely collapsed. After
viewing the mine and upper terminal area, the lower complex is a disappointment, for the
upper looks relatively intact, but the lower bears the marks of years of salvage and souvenir
hunters.
The cyanide plant is almost totally destroyed. The only remnants of this sprawling structure
are the ruins or outlines of half a dozen tanks scattered over a wide area of heavily eroded
mill tailings. Several level tent or building sites mark the area, and the ruins of another pipe
line can be followed northwest towards a spring.
In summary, the remnants at the Keane Wonder mine and mill site are extensive, and offer
the Monument an unusual opportunity to interpret the story of desert gold mining in the early
twentieth century. At present, this story is not being told.
Illustration 103. Close up of a terminal tower, showing details of

construction. The main support cables, upon which the buckets rode, are still
in place, but the bucket cables, which pulled the buckets along, can be seen
dangling from the tower. 1978 photo by John Latschar.

Illustration 104. View from the same tower, looking up the mountainside,
showing the relative distance between towers. The Keane Wonder Mine is
located below the farthest distant rounded mountaintop, above the towers
barely visible in the distance. 1978 photo by John Latschar.
Illustration 105. View of the #1 tower, looking down upon the lower
tramway terminal, with Death Valley in the background. Again, note the
bucket cables lying on the ground, next to the pipe line, with one of its
expansion joints. 1978 photo by John Latschar.

Illustration 106. View of the lower terminal and mill complex from above.
The step-like graded levels to the left of the lower terminal were the floors
of the original mill, which no longer exists. Some of the foundations, and a
fuel tank, may still be seen. At the top right of the picture, beyond the water
tank and telephone pole, is the area of the former cyanide plant, now
marked only by eroded tailings and tank remnants. 1978 photo by John
Latschar.
Illustration 107. A closer view of the lower tramway terminal, from below.
Some of the foundations, walls, and other remnants of the mill complex can
be more clearly seen. 1978 photo by John Latschar.

Illustration 108. A typical view of a portion of the former cyanide mill

complex, showing tailings and the ruins of several tanks. 1978 photo by
John Latschar.
The mill complex is easily reached from the Monument headquarters via a passenger car
road, and the mine can be reached by an energetic hike up the excellent trail. Unfortunately,
few park visitors realize that the mine and mill exist, and fewer still know anything about it.
With the expenditure of a relatively small sum, this complex can become a major tourist
attraction, and also a major point of historic education.
In the meantime, the mine and mill sites need protection. Stabilization of the tramway should
be undertaken immediately, and the area should be protected and patrolled to protect it
against vandalism and theft. Extreme care should be shown by the Monument when the mine
and mill sites are readied for visitor use, particularly when the site is cleaned up. Although
there is a degree of modern trash around the Keane Wonder site, most of the debris on the
ground is of a decidedly historic nature, and only a trained professional, on theground,
should be allowed to make the key decisions regarding the dispositions of the Keane Wonder
mine, mill, and tramway complexes.

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION IV:
EAST SIDE
4. Johnnie Cyty and the Big Bell Mine
a. History
1. Big Bell Mine
One of the more colorful participants in the South Bullfrog District mining boom of the early
nineteen hundreds was a man named Johnnie Cyty, also known as "Johnnie-Behind-the-Gat,"
for his fondness of resorting to his machine pistol to solve various difficulties. Cyty had been
prospecting and mining for several years before his arrival in the Funeral range, and had lived
for a time at the raw mining camp of Bodie, California. Following his stay there, Cyty found
and developed a small mine in Snow Canyon, west of Death Valley, and for a few months
produced bullion at a small mill which he built. But in the summer of 1904, the lure of the
new strike at the Keane Wonder caused Cyty to abandon his Snow Canyon mine and to join
the wave of prospectors combing the hills around the Keane Wonder.
With a partner named Mike Sullivan, Cyty left Ballarat, California on June 1st and headed
towards the Keane Wonder country. Within two weeks the two men had located ten claims on
the west slope of the Funeral Mountains, approximately half-way between the Keane Wonder
and the old Chloride Cliff mines. Before another, month was out, Sullivan and Cyty had
optioned their brand new strikes to a Mr. Gaylord for a down payment of $25,000 and an
option to purchase for $250,000. Although the details of the arrangement were not recorded,
it seems apparent that Gaylord had one year to develop the mine, before his option to
purchase it expired. [28]

Illustration 109. Map of Norhtwest Portion of Chloride Cliff Area.
Gaylord never did much work on the Big Bell Mine, as it came to be called. During the year
of his option, no mention of either the man or the mine can be found. For whatever reasons,
Gaylord was either unable or undesirous of exercising his purchase option, and the original
locators regained control of the Big Bell in September of 1905. But Sullivan and Cyty did
not work the prospect either, for in early November the mine was again bonded, this time to
Walter O'Brien of Goldfield. O'Brien, said the Rhyolite Herald "was one of the lucky fellows
at Goldfield, where many snug fortunes have been and are being made, and he is now
turning his attention to the more remote [regions] with the hopes of opening another
bonanza."
Under O'Brien, the Big Belt Mine finally began to undergo development. By mid-November,
O'Brien had organized and incorporated the Death Valley Big Bell Mining Company, and
had sold several thousand dollars worth of stock in San Francisco, at 25¢ each. The stock
sales were obviously made on the basis of the Big Bell's proximity to the Keane Wonder
Mine, for the southern most claim of the former came to with 330 feet of the northern end
line of the Keane Wonder property. O'Brien announced plans to put six men to work
immediately, and talked of building a mill in the near future, complete with a 1-1/2 mile
tramway to carry ore from the. mine to the proposed mill site. "The consumation of the . . .
deal is believed to mean a fortune for Mr. O'Brien," reported the Herald.

During the remainder of 1905, O'Brien started hauling supplies to the mine site, and work
began. Tunnels were started, and a camp was established. By the end of the year, O'Brien
estimated that the company had 30,000 tons of ore beneath the ground, and with water only
two miles away, prospects looked good. [29]
During the first half-of 1906, work on the Big Bell proceeded smoothly, as O'Brien
energetically exercised his option rights to develop the mine. Rich specimens of ore were
brought into Rhyolite, some assaying as high as $60 to the ton, most of which came from the
ground located nearest to the Keane Wonder property. Playing upon the proximity of the two
mines, the Rhyolite Herald ran headlines such as "BIG BELLE IS A WONDER," and
reported that O'Brien had left for the east coast, in order to arrange for additional financing
for the erection of a mill.
In the meantime, Johnnie Cyty, in partnership with L. D. Porter of Rhyolite, began work on
some claims north, of the Big Bell, which they inevitably called the Big Bell Extension. Two
men were employed on this property, and a shaft was sunk in hopes of catching the Big Bell
ore leads. During the spring and summer months, the efforts were successful, and Cyty in
turn brought in ore specimens for display in Rhyolite.
But as September approached, and O'Brien's option year on the Big Bell mine drew to a
close, he and Cyty were unable to reach an agreement regarding the eventual purchase of the
mine. Cyty, who was nobody's fool, obtained the legal assistance of Senator William Stewart
to look after his interests, and after several months of negotiations, a new company was
formed. O'Brien was essentially frozen out of the new Big Bell Company, as two prominent
Rhyolite merchants, L. D. Porter and J. R. McCormick, were the leading officers, with
Johnnie Cyty listed as a director. Under the new management, work was resumed. A force of
miners was put to work under the supervision of Cyty, who retained the controlling interest
in the company. As 1906 drew to a close, more men were added, encouraging progress was
made in the mine, and shares in the new Death Valley Big Bell Mining Company were
advertised for sale, at 25¢ each. [30]

Illustration 110. Advertisement from the Rhyolite Herald, December 14,

1906.
In January of 1907, the Big Bell Company expanded its operations to a five man crew, and
hired T. J. Kelly as the mine superintendent, in order to give the development of the property
a more professional guidance than was possible under the direction of Cyty, who was
basically a prospector. The miners began sacking ore for future shipment, and company
officials confidently told the press that sufficient treasury stock had been sold to furnish funds
for an extensive development campaign. "There are many who consider the Big Bell one of
the biggest propositions in the country," wrote the Rhyolite Herald "and under the new and
able management it should come into even greater prominence as the work progresses."
In February, with the mine beginning to look permanent, the Big Bell Company started to
build several stone boarding and bunk houses on the property, and applied for a patent on
three of its five claims. By March 1st, over 100 sacks of high grade ore had been filled at the
mine, and before work was interrupted by the heat of summer, good progress was made in the
company's tunnels.
Work was resumed on the mine in November, somewhat later than usual for that part of the
country. By the end of 1907, the Rhyolite Herald was able to report that the company had

considerable amounts of ore sacked and ready for a future shipment, and great quantities of
milling grade ore in sight. It was evident, however, that the Big Bell was not being worked
very energetically during the latter part of 1907, a possible result of the Panic which hit
Nevada's mining frontier that fall.
In the meantime, although Johnnie Cyty was still the principle stockholder in the Big Bell
Mine, he became less and less identified with the running of the operation. After his
replacement as superintendent of the mine, Cyty took his money into Rhyolite and invested
in the Unique Dance Hall, where lonely miners could pay to dance with Cyty's girls, one of
Rhyolite's more innocent forms of entertainment. The dance hall, however, was not
particularly successful, partly because Cyty employed non-union girls, at a time when the
aggressive western mining unions were attempting to unionize every facet of every mining
town. Cyty's use of non-union girls resulted in a boycott of his hail, called for by the union
girls of other dance halls and supported by the majority of the unionized labor forces of
Rhyolite's mines.
Consequently, Cyty was unable to pay his rent, and was expelled from the building which he
had leased. He refused to leave,, however, and broke back into the building, which resulted
in his arrest and a fine of $25, after he paid court costs and promised to be good. The affair
was an indication of Cyty's temper, which he always found rather hard to control. By the end
of 1907, as a result of these problems and a fondness for the gaming tables of Rhyoiite, Cyty
had evidently squandered most or all of the money received from past Big Bell transactions,
for he was unable to pay $6.68 in property taxes to the Nye County treasurer. [31]
Illustration 111. A broadside, calling for a boycott of Rhyolite's non-union

dance halls, sponsored by the unionized girls of the Concert Dance Hall, ca.
1907. Courtesy Nevada Historical Society Manuscript Collection.
As 1908 began, the Big Bell Mine was not having much better luck than was Cyty. Evidently
the new company had run out of development funds, for very little work was done on the
property. The mine, however, had very good prospects, which were realized by outside
sources, and several times the Rhyolite newspapers printed rumors about the imminent
purchase of the mine. But with the mining depression caused by the Panic of 1907 still
effecting the region, investment money was extremely difficult to find.
Then, in April, Cyty lost control of his mine, in a manner made traditional by western
movies. In a twelve hour roulette game lasting through a Saturday night and into Sunday
morning, Cyty lost all his stock in the Big Bell Mine to C. E. Jones, proprietor of Rhyolite's
Stock Exchange gaming rooms. It is indicative of Cyty's lack of common sense that he played

against the owner of the gambling house himself. Cyty lost a total of 250,000 shares to Jones,
valued at 4¢ each, or a total of $10,000. No one seemed particularly sorry for Cyty, another
evidence of his standing with the local community. In fact, most of Rhyolite seemed
downright glad to see Cyty out of the picture, as witnessed by this editorial in the Bullfrog
Miner
Local mining men generally are exulting over Cyty's loss, since they believe that
it means the sale of the property to people who have the means to go ahead with
its development . . . . In times past there have been numerous attempts made to
acquire control of the property, but invariably Cyty had checkmated every
transaction proposed. He had acted as a dog in the manger, neither making any
effort to develop the mine himself, or allowing others to take the control of the
stock at an equitable figure.
Just to rub salt into the wound, the Inyo Independent reported that the 250,000 shares which
Cyty had gambled away at the value of 4 each, he could have sold only a few months earlier
for 30 each, or $75,000.
Within a week, the papers reported negotiations pending for the sale of the Big Bell property,
and surveyors finally began surveying the property for a patent. But even with Cyty out of
the way, a quick sale was not possible. In August, rumors were still floating concerning the
sale of the mine, although the Big Bell Company was still considering developing it on their
own. An agent of the Leschen & Sons Rope Company of St. Louis, which had built the
Keane Wonder aerial tramway, inspected the property and submitted plans for an aerial
tramway for the Big Bell Mine, which was virtually inaccessible to anything larger than a
mule. At the time, the property was described as having a thirty-foot tunnel, which indicates
that little if any work had been done since early in 1907.
During the fall of 1908, rumors about the sale of the Big Bell property continued, as
representatives of an English concern arrived to inspect the mine. But nothing happened, and
in October the property was analyzed by a local stock broker. "This splendid property," he
reported, "with proper equipment will yield as big returns as the Keane Wonder. Some little
of this stock can be purchased at a low figure, and as a speculative buy it has few equals."
Speculative was the key word. [32]
As 1909 opened, it was evident that the Big Bell Mining Company was in trouble. The
annual statement of the company showed that total revenue for stock sales and other sources
during the previous year had been a mere $1,097.17. Expenditures during 1908 had been
$1,074, including $525 spent for a patent survey, leaving the company with a balance of $23
to start the new year. On January 16th, the stockholders of the Big Bell Company met to
approve the sale of the property. No mention was made as to whom they approved the sale to,
but perhaps they were ready to sell to anyone who offered to buy.
Another big flurry of interest came about in February, when the Rhyolite Herald reported that
the English syndicate was seriously considering buying the mine. Their representative had
examined it the previous year and rendered a favorable report, and was now back on the
ground for a more thorough examination. The Englishman reported that he felt that the Big
Bell could be developed into a large and profitable mine, since its ore averaged around $20
per ton. He had recommended purchase of the property, as well as the construction of a water
pipe line and a mill. "The successful investment of foreign capital in the Bullfrog country,"
wrote the Herald "is of such great importance that everyone will gladly welcome it."
But again, nothing happened. In March another mining engineer, from an unknown company,
inspected the property and said he was impressed, and the papers reported again that a deal

was likely. In the meantime, the Big Bell Company was doing little more than the necessary
assessment work required to retain title to its claims. In March of 1909 the Rhyolite Herald
reported a mere 500 feet of total work done on the property, an insignificant amount for a
mine which had been discovered almost four years previous.
In June of 1909, the Herald reported that the London syndicate was again negotiating to
purchase the Big Bell, and the paper hoped for a successful conclusion. In a bit of honesty,
the editor also admitted some of the problems involved in the Big Bell negotiations. "That the
Death Valley country is a rich mineral zone is well known, but lacking milling facilities,
transportation and water, have been the drawbacks which have kept this section in the
background."
Through the rest of 1909, the situation at, the Big Bell changed little. The mining engineer
from the English syndicate was back for yet another look t the property in August, but that
company was exceedingly loathe to make up its mind. The Big Bell Company, in the
meantime, did put some of its best ore on display at the American Mining Congress
convention in Goldfield, and in late October finally filed the application papers for a patent
on its property. The company applied for patents on three mining claims called the Big Bell,
the Frisco and the Rainbow, and also for the Big Bell mill site, a total of 52.32 acres. The
three mining claims were all located mid-way between the Keane Wonder and the Chloride
Cliff mines, but the mill site was located about one mile northwest of the Keane Wonder
Mill, on the edge of the Death Valley floor, nestled just at the foot of the Funeral Mountains.
[33]
The Big Bell's fortunes did not improve much in 1910. The papers reported that a deal was
pending on the mine in January, "which may put it into operation very soon," and in February
word was received that the Big Bell's patent was approved. The Rhyolite Herald listed the
property as one of the area's many "promising prospects" and in April even reported that it
was being operated. The work continued for two months, and in June another deal was
reported for the sale of the mine. Engineers for the purchasers said that the Big Bell had
25,000 tons of $12 ore in sight and 15,000 tons of "loose" ore. The ore was of such a grade
that a milling plant close by would be required to admit of a reasonable profit. Again, in June
an July, papers reported deals "on" for the sale of the mine, but again nothing came of the
negotiations. The mine shut down operations in June of 1910, and no further work was done
that year.
Finally, in 1911, the fortunes of the Big Bell Mining Company, which had been sputtering
for the last several years, completely died out. On April 29th, the receiver of the First
National Bank of Rhyolite, which had closed its doors, offered 300,000 shares of Big Bell
stock for sale at auction, in order to satisfy an outstanding debt of $2,638. The following
month, the optimistic Rhyolite Herald reported that there were "some indications of a decided
change in the conditions of the Big Bell property." The Herald was more correct than it
supposed, for in September the entire Big Bell estate was advertised for sale at auction by the
sheriff of Inyo County, California, to satisfy back taxes due on the property.
As noted above, the Big Bell property was purchased for $1,600 by Homer Wilson of the
Keane Wonder Mine, who was hoping to use the Big Bell claims to alleviate the shortage of
ore in the Keane Wonder Mine, and during 1912 the Keane Wonder Company did
exploration work on the Big Bell claims for a few months. But by June of that year, the
Keane Wonder had become discouraged over the prospects of the Big Bell claims, for the
company failed to pay taxes upon the property, and it reverted to the control of the Inyo
County treasurer. [34]
The Big Bell mine lay idle from 1912 to 1935, when the Coen Company acquired mining

rights to the property. After a preliminary testing period, the Coen Company opened
operations in earnest on the Big Bell site, and established a camp. Eight men were put to
work in March of 1936. A ball mill was erected at the property, as well as cyanide tanks, and
a pipe line was constructed from Keane Springs down to the mine, via Chloride Cliff. Due to
the virtual inaccessibility of the mine, access was primarily down from Chloride Cliff, via an
"improved" motorcycle trail, which was little more than a crude inclined cable road. A Mack
truck chassis was modified and used to slowly winch supplies and men up and down the
steep ridge. Keane Springs was improved and a pump house and pumping machinery
installed. Operations at the mine, however, proved that overhead was too high or the ore
content too low for profitable operation, and by the fall of 1937, the Coen Company had
abandoned its efforts. Due to the extreme efforts required to haul its machinery back out of
the mine site, everything was left in place. The Coen Company probably produced a small
amount of gold bullion during its period of operation, but no production statistics are
available.
The Big Bell Mine lay idle between 1937 and 1940, when it was acquired by K. M. Woods of
Beatty, who operated it for a very short period. In March of that year, the mine was reported
on the producing list, and plans were made to increase its milling capacity from 20 to 40 tons
daily. Woods' effort, however, was short-lived, and the mine shut down again in 1941. In
1952 the California Journal of Mines & Geology reported that the Big Bell was owned by H.
D. Porter, the old Rhyolite merchant, and Marie MacPherson, a descendent of another
Rhyolite pioneer. The mine was idle in 1952, but was reported to have produced some lead,
silver and gold during the period of 1939 to 1941. The last year of operation was 1941, and
from then until today the mine has been idle. The property is still held by the Porter family.
[35]
2. Cyty's Mill
In the meantime, Johnnie Cyty's luck had not been much better than that of the mine he had
discovered. In 1908, after Cyty lost control of the Big Bell, he returned to the prospecting
life, centering his attention around the Big Bell Extension claims. Unfortunately, there was
some question as to whether or not he had properly performed and filed the annual
assessment work on those claims, and some of the ground was also claimed by C. Kyle
Smith, the popular recorder of the South Bullfrog Mining District. Smith and Senator
William Stewart had formed the Lee Gold Crest Mining Company to develop a group of
claims in the Funeral Range, and also another group south of there, in the vicinity of the Lee-
Echo mining district.
For several months, as the dispute over the ownership of the ground flared, both men uttered
threats against the other, and the matter came to a head in late November, when Smith found
Cyty working on the disputed claim. Arguments lead to gunfire, and Cyty killed Smith. The
matter immediately became the number one topic of conversation throughout the region, and
Cyty did not have a chance in the local press. Smith had been a well liked and successful
miner, as compared to the more taciturn and moody Cyty, who seemed not to have a friend
for miles around. The coroner's jury returned a verdict of guilty against Cyty, and he was
bound over for trial in Inyo County. Feelings ran high, and talk was heard around Rhyolite of
lynching the prisoner. The Bullfrog Miner, for one, felt no responsibility for unprejudiced
reporting, and in a blazing editorial on November 28th, announced that local sentiment
"CONVICTS JOHN CYTY OF COLD-BLOODED MURDER." Past mis-deeds and quarrels
of Cyty were re-run through the press, and his long held sobriquet of "Johnnie-Behind-the-
Gat" was made much of.
Pretrial hearings, depositions, and other legal maneuvers lasted. from the fall of 1908 into the
spring of 1909, and the trial began in March of that year. In early April, the jury convicted

Cyty of manslaughter, a verdict which caused the Inyo Register to complain that "Jury Treats
Cyty with Distinguished Consideration." Most local folk felt that Cyty had unjustly escaped
the hangman, and the verdict caused much grumbling. Only the Inyo Independent maintained
its composure, and aptly summed up the conflicting testimony delivered at the trial: "One
peculiar fact in the case is that both men were shot from the rear and both men were shot
twice."
Sentencing was set for May and then delayed until June. Under current California law, Cyty
could receive one to ten years in jail. On June 25th, he was sentenced to ten years in San
Quentin, but notice of appeal was at once filed, and a stay of execution pending the appeal
was granted. The appeal was heard the following November, and was successful. The
California Appellate court reversed the judgement and order of conviction and said that Cyty
must be given a new trial, due to technical errors. In March of 1910, Cyty's retrial began, and
he was soon acquited. It appears, from the confusing and contradictory evidence, that the jury
had finally decided that Cyty was defending his ground, and there was some evidence that
Smith had fired the first shot. Cyty, who was finally set free after a year and a half in jail, left
for southern Inyo County where he said he had some valuable mining claims. [36]
After his acquittal, Cyty disappeared for about a year, and then returned to the Funeral
Range. In February of 1911, he resumed work on the property which had been in dispute
with Smith, and made good progress. Since he had little money for development, Cyty
entered into an agreement with some Keane Wonder miners, whereby they would work his
property for a percentage of the returns. Several men accepted the deal and began sacking
ore, which Cyty hoped to have treated at the Keane Wonder Mill.
But by March, indications on Cyty's property were so promising that he changed his mind,
and on March 11th, Cyty purchased his own small mill. His luck had changed, for Cyty
seized the opportunity to buy a 3-stamp mill at a sheriff's auction for a mere $500. The mill,
which had belonged to the Hayseed Mining Company of Lee, California, was situated at the
Leeland Station on the Tonopah & Tidewater Railroad, and Cyty was soon busy supervising
the move of the mill to his property.
By mid-April, horses and teams were busy moving the mill to the site which Cyty had
selected. Due to the lack of water and the inaccessibility of his mine, the mill was installed
about one mile northwest of the Keane Wonder Mill, on the Death Valley slope of the
Funeral Mountains, where a series of three springs provided an adequate water flow for the
mill. Cyty's mill site appears to be the same mill site formerly claimed by the Big Bell
Mining Company, an ironic twist. Evidently there were some delays in setting up the little
mill, for the Rhyolite Herald promised first in April and again in August that the mill would
start crushing ore soon. On September 16th, the same promise was made, and the Herald
added that much good ore was on the site waiting for the mill to start.
Finally, on October 14th, 1911, Cyty got his mill operating. The Rhyolite Herald reported
that the mill had been running for a few days, but no cleanup had yet been made. The mill
consisted of three Nissen stamps, with a twelve to fifteen tonnage capacity per day, and the
mine was said to have ore running from $20 to $30 per ton. By now feelings against Cyty
had subsided. considerably, and the Herald gave him due credit: "Cyty certainly deserves
credit for his persistency and triumph over many difficulties and lack of funds. He is entitled
to success, and his pluck and industry may win it for him." On November 25th, Cyty made
his first shipment of bullion from the small mill, but the amount of the shipment is unknown.
Sadly, for some reason, the mill did not prove profitable, for no more shipments were made,
and no further mention of either the mine or mill can be found. [37]
After Cyty left his mine in 1911, little further mention of him is found for ten years, and one

can only assume that he spent much of the interim in prospecting. Cyty reappears on the Nye
County tax rolls in 1921, as the owner of three burros, a cabin and a house in Rhyolite. In
1922, Edna Perkins encountered Cyty, as described above, working as the watchman for the
Keane Wonder Mill, which he kept under lock and key. Cyty told Perkins that he had a gold
mine in the vicinity, which although it was not being worked, "was. richer than the Keane
Wonder ever dreamed of being. Once some one had offered him $300,000, but his partner
would not look at it. His tone implied that it was a paltry sum anyway." When Perkins asked
him if he still hoped to sell his magnificent mine, "He seemed not to know what he intended
to do. Plainly he was another victim of the "terrible fascination." . . . whether he sold the mine
or not, he would hang around Death Valley the rest of his life."
From 1922 until 1926 Cyty continued to split his time between his caretaker duties at the
Keane Wonder Mill and his home in the ghost town of Rhyolite. In 1926, he again found
himself in trouble, when the "lone hermit of Death Valley" was bound over to the district
court of Inyo County for shooting George Dalton. Cyty, it seems, had moved to Beatty at the
beginning of the Leadfield boom in 1925, and had built a small hotel with lumber salvaged
from several Rhyolite buildings. Dalton, who was new to the region, got into some kind of
argument with Cyty, and Johnnie once again resorted to his pistol to settle the dispute.
Although Cyty gave his age as fifty-three at the pretrial hearings, the Inyo Independent was
sure that he was seventy-five or older at the time. Cyty was convicted of assault with a
deadly weapon in December of 1926, and was sentenced to one to five years in the
penitentiary. His lawyer immediately appealed the decision, and although the record is
unclear, the appeal was apparently successful, for Cyty continued to live in Rhyolite.
From 1926 to 1929, Cyty lived in Rhyolite, an in 1930 he moved to Beatty. From then until
1944, Cyty's name can only be found on the Nye County tax rolls, when he paid his yearly
taxes on a house and a lot in Beatty. In 1944, the property was transferred to another owner,
and once can only assume that Johnny-Behind-the-Gat had died [38]
1. Big Bell Mine
The numerous structures remaining at the Big Bell site are fairly well preserved, and are very
interesting. The high degree of preservation, as well as the amount of unsalvaged material at
the site, are due solely to the mine's geographic location. Access to the Big Bell may be had
from only two trails, neither of which is easy to negotiate. From below, one may hike up to
the Big Bell site, using the Keane Wonder trail from the mill to the mine, and then following
the Big Bell trail on up from the Keane Wonder mine to the Big Bell site. Total distance
along this route is about two and a half miles, and demands a constant climb, from an
elevation of 1,260 feet to 3,200 feet.
The other means of access is from Chloride Cliff above, wherein the hiker must walk down
the old cable road from an elevation of approximately 5,000 feet at Chloride Cliff. Obviously,
unless one hikes straight down from Chloride Cliff through the Big Bell site to the Keane
Wonder Mill, a visit to the Big Bell Mine will occasion considerable effort. For this reason,
few if any souvenir hunters have been able to carry off any momentos from the mine. For the
same reason, when the Coen Company ceased operations in 1937, it evidently felt that the
effort and expenses of salvaging its machinery was not worth while. As a result, the Big Bell
site presents a fine picture of life and work in a mining camp in the late 1930s.
The access road from the Chloride Cliff area, which was the one used by the Coen Company,
is unique in itself. A very steep trail follows the edge of a ridge from Chloride Cliff down
almost 2,000 feet to the Big Bell site. This trail was improved by the Coen Company and

converted into an inclined cable road. Large iron stakes were driven into the rock at several
points along the trail, and a converted Mack truck bed, with a winching engine attached, was
used to negotiate the climb. The truck hooked onto the lowest cable, and winched its way up
to that cable's anchor point, where the first cable was cast off, and the next one hooked on. In
this method, the truck slowly and laboriously' inched its way up to Chloride Cliff, where a
regular truck took the load and departed for civilization.
The mine itself is divided into three distinct areas. The extensive remnants of a ball mill
dominate the first. This section includes a small ball mill, manufactured by the Wheeling
Mold and Foundry Company of Wheeling, West Virginia, and includes an ore bin, water
tank, fuel tank, mixing tank, two work sheds, a conveyor belt, tailings ponds, and much other
miscellaneous equipment. A short aerial tramway, connects the mining area, on the far side of
a small but deep ravine, to the ore bin beside the ball mill. Two large settling tanks, each
approximately ten feet high and twenty-five feet in diameter, dominate the cyanidation
portion of the mill plant. These tanks are set upon a level platform held up by a rock retaining
wall, and ore from the mine and from the ball mill was transported to the tanks via a
conveyor belt, which fed into another short aerial tramway, which dumped into the tanks. All
the mill buildings were constructed of wood and tin, and most still stand. The ball mill,
however, was an open-air operation, so there are no buildings of any significant size upon the
property.
Illustration 112. View of the Big Bell Mine complex from Chloride Cliff,
showing its general geographic location. The mine complex can barely be
seen in the middle right of the photo where severl black spots are found.
The cable road is partly visible in the left middle of the picture, crossing the
top of a ridge. The Keane Wonder mine and mill are out of sight, beyond the
farthest ridge. 1978 photo by John Latschar.

Illustration 113. Detail of one of the anchor points on the cable road. 1978
photo by John Latschar.
On the opposite side of the ravine from the mill is the major mine area. The mine was
developed almost totally by means of short tunnels and adits. Half a dozen of these tunnel
entries can easily be seen, most connected by a tramway. The tram cars dumped their loads
into an ore bin, after which the ore was carried across the ravine on a short aerial tramway to
the ore bin feeding the ball mill. As an example of the kinds of artifacts left behind when
mining ceased, a twelve, foot high rock drill stands beside one of the adits with its drill point
driven into the rock.
Across the top of a ridge from the mine are the living quarters. Some of these may be the
same buildings constructed by the Big Bell Mining Company in 1907, for they roughly match
the descriptions printed in the Rhyolite newspapers. A rock wall, approximately fourteen feet
deep and thirty-five feet long, surrounds three wood and tin shacks. Two of the shacks are
still standing, but one has collapsed. The rock wall was evidently used as a wind break, a
precaution which seems justified, for another wooden shack built outside the walls has been
completely demolished. In addition, the living area includes a tent platform site, and the
inevitable wood and tin outhouse.

Illustration 114. A closer view of the Big Bell Mine. The mill complex is
located in the middle left of the photo, and the dumps of the mining area are
visible above the mill. In the top center is the living area, marked by the
stone wall surrounding the shacks. 1978 photos by John Latschar.
Illustration 115. A more detailed view of the mill complex. The two large
tanks dominating the photo are cyanidation tanks, and their tailings may be
seen below. The small square structure with a pointed roof in the right
center of the photo is the ore bin of the mill, which also acted as the
tramway terminal for ore coming from the mine over the short aerial
tramway. The small ball mill is located beneath and to the left of the ore
bin. 1978 photo by John Latschar.
Illustration 116. Another view of the mill structures. The ball mill is seen at
the extreme right of the photo, and just in front of it is the Mack truck
chassis, used to negotiate the cable road. The two shacks were used for
storage and as a repair shop. 1978 photo by John Latschar.

Illustration 117. One of the artifacts left at the mine complex, an eight-foot
machine drill. The long bit of the drill is still attached and has been quite
solidly driven into the rock. 1978 photo by John Latschar.
Illustration 118. View of the mine complex, from above the mill. Most
mining was done through short tunnels and stoping, and the ore was carried
to the bin at the right via a short tramway. From this bin, a short aerial
tramway carried the ore across the ravine to the mill complex. 1978 photo
by John Latschar.

Illustration 119. View of the mine and mill complex from near the living
area, showing the relationship between the two. The cables are still
stretched between the mine and mill, and may be seen in this photo. 1978
Illustration 120. View of the living area, showing the rock wind break,
which protected two of the three shacks built inside. The roof of another
shack may be seen to the left, which has been completely demolished by the
winds. Just to the left of it is the typical wood and tin outhouse. 1978 photo
by John Latschar.

Illustration 121. One of the shacks, from above. The mill may be seen in the
distance below the shack, and the cable road leads up from the mill towards
Chloride Cliff. 1978 photo by John Latschar.
In summary, the Big Bell Mill site is extremely interesting, for it presents a vivid picture of a
small-time mining operation of the late 1930s. There is little evidence remaining that can be
traced directly to the early 1900s, but that is not surprising, since very little mining actually
took place during that time. Because of the mine's inaccessibility, it can best be interpreted by
some simple signs onsite. However, since the display of mining machinery is extensive, and
perfectly exhibits the nature of a depression-era mining effort. The Big Bell mine and mill
site will be included as part of the Chloride Cliff Historic District, for nomination to the
National Register. Perhaps the best use for the structures and artifacts at the Big Bell would
be recording onsite, followed by removal and display elsewhere, on a limited scale. The site
itself should be protected, but this probably will not be a major problem, since few if any will
want to carry off souvenirs considering the distance and effort involved.
2. Cyty's Mill
Cyty's Mill site contains the remnants of the small three-stamp mill which he imported to the
spot in 1911, and a wooden shack. The mill itself consists of a wooden ore chute and ore bin,
which fed into the mill. Only the heavy framing timbers remain of the mill, as all the
machinery was dismantled and salvaged sometime in the past. Two steel tanks stand next to
the mill frame, evidently the water storage facilities, and a short distance away is another
tank close to a small spring, with a small tailings pile next to the tank. This latter was
probably the spot of a small cyanidation process. The limited amount of tailings indicate that
the mill ran for only a short time, and produced a very limited amount of bullion.
Cyty's shack still stands below his mill, and is in relatively good condition. The shack is built
upon an elevated and leveled rock platform, and is of wooden construction, measuring about
fourteen by twenty-four feet. Unlike most desert shacks, this one had the unusual comfort of
finished wooden floors and walls. Finally, across the way from the shack, on the side of a
little knoll, are the remains of two rock shelters, used either for living or storage purposes.
The walls of the larger shelter are about three feet high, and measure twelve by twenty feet.
In summary, Cyty's Mill is a very interesting site, especially when compared to the much
larger Keane Wonder complex less than a mile away. It offers a unique interpretive
opportunity, for it represents one of the most prevalent practices of desert mining--the

removal of equipment from one site to another as old mines died and new ones were born.
The mill at Cyty's site was originally built for the American Mine near Columbia, Nevada. In
March of 1910, the mill was purchased by a lessee of the Hayseed Mining Company of Lee,
California, and moved to a spot west of Lee, near the Tonopah & Tidewater Railroad. Then,
as described above, Cyty purchased the little mill after the Hayseed operation failed, and
moved it to its present location. Such transactions involving mining and milling equipment
were quite common in the early days of desert mining, and Cyty's mill presents us with an
unusual opportunity to document and interpret this practice.
For a combination of the above, along with Cyty's employment for several years as a
watchman at the Keane Wonder Mill site, and the opportunity to compare and contrast one of
Death Valley's largest and smallest mining efforts, the Cyty Mill site will be included in the
National Register nomination for the Keane Wonder Mine and Mill.
Finally, Cyty's Mill is especially interesting due to his personal history as one of the desert's
truly eccentric characters, and his story should be told either at the visitor's center or on the
site. Perhaps onsite interpretation would be best, for it would give the visitor a chance to see
and appreciate the pile of barren rock for which a man was killed.
Illustration 122. Johnnie Cyty's three-stamp mill, showing the small ore bin
above the mill, and his shack below. 1978 photo by John Latschar.

Illustration 123. A closer view of the stamp mill, from the front. The water
tank can be seen at the left, and the small concrete engine mounts are
visible below and to the right of the mill. 1978 photo by John Latschar.
Illustration 124. A view of Cyty's shack, seen from the north. The stamp
mill is up the hill to the left, out of the picture.

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION IV:
EAST SIDE
a. History
With the Keane Wonder strike to the west and the great Bullfrog boom to the east, it is no
wonder that the upper Funeral Range was soon overwhelmed with prospectors. Early rushers
to the Bullfrog region succeeded in locating ground close to either the Keane Wonder or the
Original Bullfrog mines, and as we have seen, some met with success and others with failure.
But in this section we are concerned with the later prospectors, who did not arrive in time to
obtain "close-in" locations near the two big strikes, and who were thus drawn to the empty
area between the Original Bullfrog and the Keane Wonder, known as the upper Funeral
Range.

Illustration 125. Map of Northcentral Portion of Chloride Cliff Area.
The rush was such that in August of 1905, less than a year after the Bullfrog strike, there
were so many prospectors in the area that they decided to organize a new mining district,
designed to bring an element of order into the numerous conflicting claims which had
inevitably built up when hundreds of prospectors were looking over a limited amount of
choice ground. Thus, on August 18th, the South Bullfrog Mining District was organized. At a
meeting at Keane Springs, a few miles north of Chloride Cliff, the miners of the region met
and agreed upon several rules and regulations for the establishment of the new district. C.
Kyle Smith, who was later to be shot by Johnnie Cyty, was elected recorder of the district,
and was thus given responsibility for keeping the claim and assessment books in order, to
prevent future legal or physical struggles over mining claims. In addition, the boundaries of
the district were laid out, and were roughly described as being from Surveyor Well in Death
Valley, east to the Nevada state line, down the state line to the northeast line of the Echo
Canyon Mining District, west to Furnace Creek, and then northwest to Surveyor Well. These
boundaries included several well known mines, such as the Keane Wonder, the Chloride Cliff
and the Big Bell, and unnumbered prospects and infant mines which had been opened in the
past year. Recording fees, including district and county charges, were $2 per claim, and the
money was used to reimburse Smith for his pains and expenses of keeping books. Due to the
extreme crowding of prospectors into the district, the meeting agreed to severely restrict the
time allowed for prospectors to improve their claims, giving them only ninety days from the
time of location to perform $100 worth of assessment work, compared to the usual year.

As the rush continued through the fall of 1905, the prospects for the district looked extremely
good. The Inyo Independent wrote that "this district has a brilliant future," and the Rhyolite
Herald in an understatement, said that "this portion of the country is attracting considerable
attention of late on account of the excellent showing made by the Keane Wonder, and
property in that section is much sought after." By the end of 1905, as the initial flurry of
prospecting settled down somewhat, the mining promoters and money men began buying and
consolidating claims and forming mining companies to exploit the mineral wealth which
everyone was sure lay just under the surface of the ground. The South Bullfrog Mining
District, in the popular term of the day, was a "comer." [39]
As 1906 progressed, the South Bullfrog District continued to boom, and mining companies
began to incorporate and begin work on their claims. With the advent of actual mining in the
area, the local residents and prospectors, most of whom lived at or near their mines, began to
take steps to advertise their district, for everyone realized that in order to keep the investment
money flowing in, public exposure was necessary. It was also nice, of course, to have a
genuine mine, but until anyone knew whether there were any in the district, public
advertisement was the next best step. Accordingly, on March 16th, the South Bullfrog
Booster's Club was organized, composed of miners from the area, and an advertisement
campaign was begun. In addition, the Booster's Club was directed to look into the annoying
fact that a new town, located southeast of Rhyolite, was also using the name of South
Bullfrog. In order to limit the confusion of potential investors, a committee was appointed to
meet with the new townsite agents and. try to persuade them to change their town's name.
The meeting was unsuccessful, but since the town of South Bullfrog quickly died, the matter
resolved itself.
Illustration 126. Two advertisements, as printed in the Bullfrog Minier, for

the young South Bullfrong Mining District. The top appeared on January
12th, and the bottom, on March 9th, 1906.
The Booster's Club also voted to begin work on a new, road from Rhyolite to Chloride Cliff,

in order to provide better access to the district for visitors and supply wagons. In the
meantime, Richard Willis of Rhyolite started a stage line and burro train between Bullfrog
and the town of Keane Springs, which was becoming the heart of the district. The stage line
would run twice a week, and the burro train on demand.
Between January and May of 1906, at least nine mining companies incorporated and began
work in the district. Numerous 'prospectors were also still hunting for good locations, or else
sitting on them, waiting for a higher bid for their potential gold mines. Although the district
looked good, the Bullfrog Miner put it back into perspective in late April, when it remarked
that with "the exception of the Keane Wonder and the Chloride Cliff mines, but little real
active work has been done" in the area.
For the better part of two years, the miners and promoters of the South Bullfrog District
plugged along, hoping that sooner or later the one great mine would appear in their midst,
which would make everyone's fortune. Unfortunately, exactly the opposite happened. One
mine after another looked good, and made plans for shipping ore or for building a mill, only
to find out after the shafts and tunnels had bit a little deeper into the mountain, that their ore
had pinched out. In addition, the economic troubles of the times plagued the district, for
mines were forced to close after the San Francisco disaster of 1906, and more were shut
down by the general financial panic of 1907. Without a big mine to pull in the money, the
rest of the South Bullfrog mines could hope for little investor support, and few if any of the
local promoters were able or willing to develop a mine out of their own pockets.
South Bullfrog District Mining Companies
Last Date
Company Name Date Work Started
Mentioned
California Bullfrog Mining Company 11 August 1905 28 August 1909
Trio Mining Company 26 January 1906 30 September 1908
Golden Horn Mining Company 26 January 1906 13 March 1909
DeForest Mining Company 9 February 1906 29 March 1907
Hartford-Montana Mining Company 2 March 1906 4 May 1912
Calvada Gold Mining Company 6 April 1906 6 April 1906
Highland Boy Gold Mining Company 7 April 1906 21 December 1907
Death Valley Golden Buck M.C. 13 April 1906 July 1907
Inyovada Gold Mining Company 26 May 1906 30 April 1910
Vermont Rose Mining Company 3 August 1906 28 October 1911
Lulu Mac Mining & Milling Company 7 September 1906 20 August 1910
Death Valley Gold Mining & Milling Fall 1906 4 January 1907
War Eagle Mining Company 25 January 1907 8 March 1907
South Bullfrog Mining Company 8 March 1907 30 April 1910
Rising Sun Mining Company 29 March 1907 29 March 1907
Death Valley Exploration & Development
12 April 1907 30 December 1908
Company
Kentucky Mining & Milling Company 15 June 1907 15 June 1907
Golden Chief Mining & Milling Company 20 July 1907 2 December 1911
26 September
Bullfrog Comstock Mining Company 26 September 1907
1907
Lee Gold Crest Mining Company 11 October 1907 26 February 1910

Bullfrog Midas Mining Company 21 March 1908 11 April 1908

Utopia Consolidated Mining Company 20 February 1909 14 April 1909
Henrietta Mining Company 24 March 1909 14 April 1909
Minerou Mining Company 10 July 1909 10 July 1909
One after another, the remaining mines closed during 1907 and 1908, although a few
continued the struggle through 1909 and 1910, and two lasted even until 1911. But the longer
life of the latter mines had more to do with the subbornness of their owners, rather than of
any mineral content in the ground, for none of the mines listed in the table above ever
produced any gold. With the exception of a very few hopeful miners, the entire South
Bullfrog Mining District was deserted by the end of 1910, and an assessment of the district's
boom can only be that it was a total failure. The miners left behind little more than numerous
pits and holes around the mountainsides, most of which show little signs of anything beyond
preliminary development work, and all of which serve to confuse present investigators who
try to pick out a few of the more significant mines from the numerous hales in the ground.
[40]
It would be interesting, however, to take a quick look at a few of these South Bullfrog mines,
in order to detail the life and death of several of the typical efforts which took place.
Illustration 127. From the Bullfrog Miner, 1 June 1906.

Illustration 128. A typical advertisement for a South Bullfrog District

mining company. From the Bullfrog Miner, 5 April 1907.
b. Death Valley Lone Star Mine
The first claims of the Lone Star group were located in the summer of 1904, shortly after the
Keane Wonder strike had stirred interest in the area. Little is heard of them, however, until
December of 1905, when the Death Valley Lone Star Mining Company was organized. The
organization was rather typical for the time, with a capital stock of 1,500,000 shares being
created, 750,000 of which were designated as treasury shares for sale to the general public.
The officers, who kept the rest of the shares to themselves, were headed by S. R. Phail,
president, and Victor O'Brien, vice president. The company had six claims, described as
being just below the Keane Wonder Mine, and two claims in another part of the district.
Stock was immediately offered for sale at 104 per share, and large full-page advertisements
appeared in the Rhyolite newspapers. Early in 1906, the company began work on its claims.

Illustrations 129-130. Top and bottom half of a full page advertisement

which appeared in the Bullfrog Miner, 9 March 1906.
Small strikes were found from time to time, but nothing good enough to warrant calling the
Lone Star a real mine. As the Bullfrog Miner, put it, the developments at the property were
"interesting, if not sensational." Four men were employed at the mine in April of 1906, and
despite the financial distress caused by the San Francisco earthquake and fire, the company
reported that it would- "continue work for an indefinite period.". S. R. Phail, the president,
tried all the usual tricks to publicize his mine, such as bringing in specimen ore for display at
the Southern Hotel in Rhyolite. But despite these efforts, and the fact that Lone Star stock
was listed for sale on the San Francisco, Goldfield and Rhyolite stock exchanges, interest in
the mine never developed. The Rhyolite papers never reported any trading activity in Death
Valley Lone Star stock, and towards the fall of 1906, work at the mine was stopped, probably
due to financial reasons. [41]
Early in 1907, the Rhyolite Herald reported that the Lone Star had excellent ore in its mine,
and that the company "expected that work will soon be resumed on the Lone Star." The
company held its annual meeting in February,. which resulted in new officers being elected.

J. P. Nelson, the new vice president, went out in March to examine the property "with the
view of resuming operations." Nothing had been done at the property lately, said the Bullfrog
Miner, "due to friction of management." But despite the reorganization, work was not
resumed until late in December of 1907, when a force of men and supplies were sent out to
the mine. Although the immediate purpose of the men was to perform the necessary annual
work to enable the company to retain title to its ground, the company announced that it was
"the purpose of the management to continue work with a view to placing the property on a
paying basis as soon as possible."
But the hopes were soon demolished. The annual work on the property uncovered no new ore
leads, and although the Rhyolite Daily Bulletin announced on January 22nd that the mine
"has been amply financed and development will be rushed," work stopped in late January and
no further work was done on the mine until November of 1908, when Sam R. Phail returned
to the property to perform the annual assessment work. Despite the lack of work on the
property for over two years, John A. Moffat & Co., one of Rhyolite's leading stockbrokers,
felt able to write in October of 1908 that "We recommend this stock as a good speculative
purchase." By the fall of 1908, the South Bullfrog Mining District had numerous stocks for
sale which could only be described as "speculative."
Although the mine was dead in all reality by the end of 1907, efforts were made from time to
time to revive its prospects. The Death Valley Lone Star Mining Company continued to hold
its annual meetings as late as January of 1910, and presumably someone attended. Not until
January of 1912 did the Rhyolite Herald feel safe to say that "no work has been started, nor
does it appear that any is in contemplation on the Lone Star property." Like many others, the
Death Valley Lone Star had not made that important transformation from a promising
prospect to an actual mine. The transformation was difficult to make when there was no ore
in the ground. The Death Valley Lone Star Mine has no historic significance. [42]
c. Capricorn Mine
As noted above, the Capricorn Mining Company was one of the few South Bullfrog District
companies ever to ship any ore from its mine. In this respect it was unusual, but a short
description of a marginally productive mine would perhaps be illuminating. The first notice
of the Capricorn was in November of 1907, when J. P. Burns, its locator, gave up trying to
develop it on his own, and began looking for buyers or lessees. It took him several months,
but, in February of 1908 Burns leased a block of his claim to John Anglin and I. Peterson.
The two men went to work at once, and soon reported that they had excellent showings.
In the meantime, Burns also continued to mine, and perhaps inspired by the example of his
tenants, announced in March that he had found some ore. The luck of the first lessees in turn
inspired more miners to try their luck, and by the end of March, Burns had let leases to L. J.
Lock and Alfred Jones, another to Captain E. P. Miner and a third to Tom G. Murphy. All
the leases were for blocks of land 200 feet square, and Burns continued to work on the
unleased portions of his claim, taking out high grade ore for sacking. By mid-April he had an
estimated $2,000 worth of ore on the Capricorn dump.
Through the rest of the spring and summer, Burns and his lessees continued to work on their
respective portions of the Capricorn mine, and yet another lease was let to the Barton brothers
in June. The Bullfrog Miner reported that twenty-five men were working on the combined
portions of the Capricorn property in mid-June. In July, Captain Miner, dissatisfied with the
ground covered by his lease, entered into a deal with Burns whereby the two men became
partners in the development of another section of ground. In late July, they made the first
shipment from the property, two tons of silver ore which they estimated to be worth $200 per
ton.

When the smelter returns were received several weeks later, their prediction turned out to be
remarkably accurate, as the ore was assayed at $195 per ton. The expenses involved,
however, pointed out the difficulties which always faced operators of remote desert mines.
Freight charges to get the ore to the Goldfield smelter had cost $32.26, smelter charges were
$60 arid sampler charges were $50. Considering that the smelter had succeeded in recovering
95 percent of the ore content, Miner and Burns were left with a mere $289.18 profit from
their first ore shipment. The men estimated that it would take them two months to assemble
another such shipment, which indicates that they were willing to work for a little over $72
each per month. Unionized miners, such as those at the Keane Wonder Mine, earned more
than that.
Undaunted, the men began another shaft on the property, in a more promising location, and
continued to work. By the middle of August they were again sacking high grade ore for
shipment, and on September 9th, a second shipment was made, consisting of 7,200 pounds of
ore. This shipment, however, was not as rich as the preceeding one, and settlement with the
smelter were made at an assayed value of $167 per ton. If freight, smelter and sample
charges had not changed since July, Miner and Burns received a net profit of $224 for their
second shipment, to split between themselves.
In October of 1908, since the various leases had proved that there was ore in the Capricorn
Mine, Burns finally got his wish, and a group of capitalists financed his mine and
incorporated the Capricorn Mining Company. A Mr. San Francisco of Cimarron, Kansas, was
named as president of the company, and Captain Miner and J. P. Burns were listed as joint
vice-presidents. After the new company was formed, all the previous lessees were denied any
extensions of their leases, with the exception of Captain Miner, who continued to act both as
a company officer and as a lessee from that company. Advertisements were placed in the
local papers, and Capricorn stock went on the market at the initial price of 10 per share.

Illustration 131. "The Chance of a Life Time," from the Rhyolite

Herald, 25 November 1908.
Development was initiated by the company, and in November the Rhyolite Herald reported
that the company had eleven tons of ore ready for shipment. In order to avoid the high freight
charges to Goldfield, Miner decided to ship the ore to a smelter at Needles, California, where

he could get a better deal. In late November of 1908, ore teams began hauling the ore into the
railhead at Rhyolite. With the mine operating and taking out ore, investors began to be
interested, and the local papers, never loath to sing the praises of a local mine, began to boost
the Capricorn. "Many people are now aware," said the Rhyolite Daily Bulletin that the South
Bullfrog District had one of the "richest silver bearing mines in the United States. Should the
quality of ore now being taken out continue with depth," the paper added, the Capricorn
would be a "worldbeater." The company, in the meantime, announced that its eastern office,
at Cimarron, Kansas, was selling stock as rapidly as it was received, and thanked the
Rhyolite Herald for the effectiveness of the only advertisement placed in the state of Nevada.
[43]
By late December, the Capricorn shipment had been assembled at Rhyolite, and amounted to
a twenty-five ton carload of ore, estimated at $200 per ton. In mid-January of 1909, Captain
Miner received returns on the shipment, and the result was not very impressive. His ore had
been assayed only at $132.50 per, ton, and after deducting freight and smelter charges, his
net profit was only $2,158.18, out of which wages and expenses of mining upon the company
account would have to be taken. As a final note for 1908, it is interesting to observe that the
Capricorn Mining Company was considering installing a horse-powered whim at its shaft, to
replace the crude hand windlass in use up to that time--the company was still in the very
early stages of development.
But the company kept on trying. The working staff was increased in early January of 1909,
and advertisements for the mine again appeared in the newspapers. J. P. Burns was elected as
the new president of the company, replacing Mr. San Francisco, and he immediately
announced that a gasoline hoist would be installed by February 1st, at which time the
company would start mining in earnest.
But Burns' promise was not carried out, and in March of 1909, Captain Miner was the only
man working on the property. The company returned its miners to work in April, but they
only remained until May, when once again they were laid off. Miner made another shipment,
consisting of eight tons of ore, in early May, but smelter returns were not released to the
papers. After several more months of idleness, the executive committee of the Capricorn
Company met in late July, and reluctantly approved a decision to borrow money to continue
the development work at the mine. But before, that could happen, they changed their minds,
ad decided to close down the mine until fall rather than to "sustain liabilities Which would
under present financial conditions necessarily would be very burdensome."
But the mine was closed longer than until fall. In October, J. P. Burns returned to Rhyolite
and announced that "efforts are being made to resume operations," but the lack of finances
made his hope futile. The next notice of the company comes in February of 1910, when an
elaborate and quite complicated scheme of financing was announced, whereby the Capricorn
would receive money for mining costs in return for a thirty-year bond upon its property.
After examining the mine, however, the potential bonding firm, the Granite Securities
Company of Los Angeles, decided note to go through with the deal, and the mine lay idle.
Finally, in October of 1910, one John J. Barket was given a two-year lease on the entire
Capricorn property, but he never made good on his lease, and the Capricorn Mine died a
silent death.
Total production of the Capricorn Mine, taking the announced figures at face value, was a
little over $5,000. Of this, net profits, once freight and smelter charges were deducted, were
around $3,500, from which salaries and supplies must be deducted. Considering the number
of years and the number of men working the mine, nobody, obviously, got rich from the
Capricorn Mine. Indeed, most men would have earned far more money by spending the
equivalent period of time employed as a shift miner in one of Rhyolite's bigger mines. But

shift miners never get rich, and some mine owners do, and therein lies the compelling pull of
the mining game. The Capricorn Mine has no historic significance. [44]
d. Howard Little Exploration Company
In direct contrast to companies such as the Death Valley Lone Star and the Capricorn, which
made legitimate efforts to mine the ores of the Funeral Range, the South Bullfrog Mining
District had its share of outright frauds. One such was the Howard Little Exploration
Company, which was more unique in that its scheme was detected and publically exposed,
then for the mere fact that it was perpetrated.
The company made its first appearance in September of 1908, when J. F. Howell, its
promoter, managed to get an article printed in. the Bullfrog Miner. The nature of the article,
which was little more than an advertisement, together with the quite obvious fact that the
Miner editor had never heard of the company before printing the article and had not seen the
property involved, says much for mining camp journalism. At any rate, the Howard Little
Exploration Company, according to Howell, had a group of claims eight miles southeast of
the Keane Wonder Mine. Work had been progressing at the mine for some time, and the
company had a shaft down 104 feet into the ground, and was employing five men. One
hundred sacks of high grade ore had been taken out of the mine for future shipment, and the
company had ordered a hoisting plant and had begun grading work for the placement of that
hoist. The company was headquartered in Boston, and, incidently, had stock for sale.
On the strength of that article, which was much more effective than a paid advertisement
would have been, Howell sat back and watched stock subscriptions come in. His game lasted
until December of 1908, when the scheme collapsed. All the Boston stockholders were not as
easily fooled as Howell had hoped, and a group of them pooled their money to send an
attorney and a mining engineer to inspect the mine which they were financing. Upon arrival
in: Rhyolite, the two men went out to Howell's mine and found that things were not quite as
Howell had said. Instead of a 104-foot deep shaft, they found merely an exploration hole. No
one was working at the property, and no one had been working there since last March, before
Howell obtained title to the property. No hoist had been ordered, and no grading work had
been done for a hoist. In short, the whole thing was a fraud, and Howell had bilked the
investors out of about $10,000. His scheme had been simple, for he had been drawing upon
the company treasury to pay wages to non-existent miners, and to pay for non-existent
lumber and supply bills. Happily for the Boston stockholders, Howell was immediately
arrested and put behind bars, and as much of the investors' money as could be, recovered was
returned to them.
Howell was unusual, in that his fraud had been detected in time to recover some of the
investors' money, and in that he had been put in jail. The Bullfrog Miner, realizing that this
was the case, hoped that his imprisonment "will serve as an object lesson" for other con men
"that may be lurking mid the sagebrush of these parts." The Miner, also recognizing that it
was largely responsible for the success of Howell, printed a long apology.
The Bullfrog Miner confesses to some duplicity in the matter. Howell's story was printed in
these columns in the issue of September 19 last, and if the currency given to Howell's report
assisted the faker in getting a single cent from the Boston stockholders we are very sorry for
it, even though all the statements were qualified as those of Howell and not of the paper.
The Miner has always aimed to keep faith with the public in its mining reports. It enjoys a
reputation for conservatism. This reputation is prized highly. It is the purpose to continue to
merit the public confidence and good will.
But the Miner is not immune from imposition. No paper is. Howell worked the reporter just

as he worked the Bostonians. There was no reason for doubting the correctness of the "dope"
given to the scribe, and it was impossible, owing to the great distance to the "mine," to verify
Howell's story.
But the damage had been done. Not only were certain Boston stockholders swindled out of
their money, but the entire Bullfrog District suffered as well. Frauds such as these gave
Nevada mining investments a bad image, particularly those in the area where the fraud was
carried out. In addition, the honesty and reliability of theBullfrog Miner was tarnished,
which made its coverage of the rest of the mines in the area that much more suspect. All
honest men, from the mine owner to the storekeepers of a district, lost when such a swindle
was carried out, and it is no small wonder that feeling ran so high. The Howard Little Mine
has no historic significance. [45]
e. Monarch Canyon Mine
1. History
This mine, which is one of the few of the South Bullfrog District mines to have left some
physical remnants, is rather frustrating to trace. It was never a large enough operation to be
incorporated into a mining company, or to have a common name, and is thus referred to
today by its geographic location, in the heart of Monarch Canyon, about two miles southwest
of Keane Springs.
First notice of this property was in December of 1905, when A. K. Ishmael, its locator,
closed a deal with Frank Durham and a Mr. Gaylord of Los Angeles (probably the same
Gaylord who was briefly associated with the Keane Wonder property). Durham and Gaylord
obtained a bond and lease on the mine, with an option to purchase it from Ishmael for
$20,000. Work began shortly after the deal was closed, and by January of 1906, a tunnel had
been extended sixty feet into the mountainside on the Indian claim, the major claim of the
group. Work was rather brief, however, and ceased sometime shortly after April of 1906,
probably due to the effects of the San Francisco disaster. No further notice of the mine can be
found until 1909.
Sometime in the interval between the spring of 1906 and 1909, the mine was sold by Ishmael
to the Keane Springs Mining Company, an outfit which never worked the property. Then, in
March of 1909, Ishmael procured a 21-year lease on the property from the Keane Springs
Company, with the financial backing of Frank P. Raridati. The Indian claim of the mine was
described at that time as having a seventy-foot tunnel, which indicates that hardly any work
had been done between 1906 and 1909. But preliminary assays showed that the mine had $18
to $20 ore in sight, and three men were sent to start work on the property.
Ishmael took a partner named Richard E. Clapp, and the two men proceeded to develop their
mine. Water near the sight was of adequate supply for a small mill, and after two months of
digging the men decided that milling tests were in order. They were not thinking of a large
mill, since their mine was not large, but rather of putting in a small one in order to save
themselves the backbreaking labor of packing out raw ore from the mine to a Rhyolite mill.
Among other improvements, Ishmael and Clapp built an assay office at their property, in
order to test their ores, but the office burned down only a month after it had been completed.
Nevertheless, the men stuck to their mine, and reported. good progress being made in August
of 1909. Four men were employed at the site, and two tunnels were being driven, one to a
length of sixty-five feet and the other to one hundred feet.
Such a small operation did not deserve much space in the Rhyolite newspapers, but periodic
reports were printed, especially in the spring of 1910, when Ishmael and Clapp decided to

build a small mill. In May of that year, the two men purchased a small Nissen reduction
plant, and the machinery soon began to arrive. The men also bought the Hoffman House
swimming pool at Rhyolite, which had closed, and tore it down and used the lumber to house
their new milling, plant. By late June, a pipe line from a local spring had been completed to
the mill site, and foundations were being laid. Late in August, the mill was completed and
began to operate. It was a small one-stamp mill, and combined a concentration and
amalgamation process of ore reduction. Cyanidation was not a part of the mill process, but
could be added later.
The mill was reported to be running well in mid-September, and in October several small
bars of crude bullion were sent to the Selby smelter. No returns were announced. Clapp and
Ishmael, in Rhyolite for a periodic supply trip, admitted that there were some minor
difficulties with the mill, but stated that on the whole it was running well. But for some
reason, the mill was not regularly run after October of 1910.
Between them and April of 1911, the mine and mill were idle, and in April the Rhyolite
Herald reported that work on the mine would resume soon, as the property was to be amply
financed and the small mill utilized. Such, however, was not the case. The Montana-Hartford
Mining Company, another South Bullfrog outfit, used the mill in June to test some of its ore,
but that was its only use in all of 1911.
Although I. K. Ishmael gave up and left the country, his former partner, Richard Clapp, was
not yet ready to give up. In February of 1912, Clapp reported that the Indian claim was very
encouraging, and that developments would continue on the property. In May, Clapp again
reported that he had a new ore shoot, and that he was in touch with eastern parties and hoped
to start up on a large scale soon. In the meantime, he said, he would continue with steady
development work on his own.
But with the demise of the Rhyolite Herald Rhyolite's last newspaper, in June of 1912, we
come to an end of our printed detail regarding the mine. Given the general history of other
such mines in the area, it is doubtful that Clapp was able to do much more with his property.
Physical evidence at the site indicates that if the mine was worked at all after June of 1912, it
was not worked extensively, or for a very long duration. [46]
2. Present Status, Evaluation and Recommendations
Ishmael's and Clapp's little mill still stands in Monarch Canyon. It consists of a one-stamp
Nissen crusher, built by Fairbanks & Morse, with a patent date of November 29, 1904. Most
of the machinery and controls of the mill are still extant, including a one cylinder engine, two
large wooden flywheels, and miscellaneous controls. The mill is built on a concrete pedestal,
with a small wood and tin building around the engine and mill machinery. The structure,
however, is largely demolished, due to wind and weather.
Above the mill, which is situated on the floor of the canyon, the rest of the complex rises up
the steep side of the canyon wall. An ore bin is directly above the mill, and a long ore chute
connects the bin to an ore tipple perched high above the mill site. From the tipple, portions of
the old tram track may be followed around a bend to the mine itself, which consists of a
tunnel adit and a small stoped area. Other remnants on the site include a collapsed shack near
the mine, the foundation for a tent or frame building near the ore tipple, and what appears to
be the stone ruins of a powder house near the mill.

Illustration 132. Mill ruins in Monarch Canyon. The ore tipple is out of
sight above the ore chute, and the mine is around the corner from the tipple,
towards the top center of the photo. 1978 photo by John Latschar.
Illustration 133. Closer view of the mill mechanism. The flywheel which
shows prominently was connected to the one stamp of the mill, and was
powred by the engine, housed in the small building below. Most of the
debris on the ground is portions of the engine house and mill coverings,
which have been blown off. 1978 photo by John Latschar.
The road to the mill has been washed down from the side of the canyon wall, but a one-mile
hike from the end of the road to mill is not overly strenuous. The site is interesting and
useful, as it depicts a small-time mining operation of the early 1900s, and should be
exploited for interpretation, either on the site or elsewhere. The site is not of National
Register significance. The mill machinery, however, has both historic and interpretive value,
due to its rare Nissen-type character. Thus the mill equipment should be protected and
preserved, either on the site or in the Monument's museum.
f. King Midas Claim

About half a mile to the east of the Keane Wonder. tramway, as seen on the Chloride Cliff
topographic map, is located another aerial tramway which has puzzled visitors for many
years. The second tramway, however, is not and has never been connected with the Keane
Wonder Mine, and although it was not connected with the South Bullfrog Mining District
either, this opportunity will be taken to clear up some of the past confusion.
The King Midas Claim, which covers the ground over which the tramway passes, was located
and worked between 1949 and 1955 by Joseph Harris, who at one time called his mine the
Keane Wonder Extension. Since Harris' mine was located high on the side of the Funeral
Mountains, he constructed an aerial tramway from the mine down to the canyon floor below,
in order to extract his ore. The tramway was 3,000 feet in length and descended from an
elevation of 2,800 feet at the mine shaft down to 1,700 feet in the canyon floor. The tramway
originally consisted of galvanized cables, towers, and a hoisting mechanism. It is still
partially in place, but the power cable, tramway buckets and loading facilities are missing. An
ore bin at the foot of the tramway is in disrepair. In 1975, Harris estimated that total
production from his mine between 1949 and 1955 had been 300 tons of ore, and from all
evidence the mine and tramway have been idle since 1955.
Although the King Midas claim appears to have no historic significance, neither the mine site
or the upper portions of the tramway were examined for this study. Such an examination
must take place before a final recommendation can be made for this site. [47]
g. Keane Springs and Townsite
1. History
As one of the main watering spots of the northern Funeral Range, Keane Springs was always
important in the life of the South Bullfrog Mining District. Indeed, the use of the springs
predates the district itself, since one Eugene Lander had a claim to the springs as early as
1878, presumably to sell its water to the Franklins who were working on their Chloride Cliff
Mine. But Keane Springs saw its peak of activity during the Bullfrog mining boom.
As soon as miners and prospectors began to enter the area, Keane Springs was recognized as
a major source of good water. During the summer of 1905, water was packed from the
springs to the Chloride Cliff mines; as well as several other small mines in the region. As the
boom continued, and more and more prospectors came into the area, the Springs also took
upon a commercial and social life as a business and gathering place for the district. As early
as February of 1906, S. A. C. Nelson opened the Death Valley Mercantile Company at Keane
Springs, undoubtedly in a large tent, and retained C. Kyle Smith, the district recorder, as
clerk of the store. In March of 1906 work was started on a wagon road from the springs to
Chloride Cliff, some three miles away, and during the same month, the Kimball brothers of
Rhyolite established a stage line from Rhyolite to Keane Springs, to serve the passenger and
mail needs of the South Bullfrog District.

Illustration 134. Advertisement from the Bullfrog Miner, 20 April 1906.
By mid-April of 1906, the convenient location of the springs, as well as its good flow of
water, caused a group of promoters to put their heads together and start the Keane Springs
townsite. The town was promoted by the Keane Springs Land Company, and lots were put up
for sale. Advertisements appeared in the Rhyolite newspapers, and the town was described as
containing a boarding house, a store and a saloon. Since the actual site for the town was
located a short distance from the springs, a pipe line was laid directly into the townsite, and
all lot purchasers were guaranteed an ample supply of water at their doorsteps. Lots were
advertised from $25 to $100 apiece, and a post office was applied for. Total acreage claimed
by the townsite company was estimated at between 100 and 120 acres.
By late May, when the townsite was less than a month old, further improvements were noted.
The springs were cemented in, in order to prevent pollution, and a pipe line was laid under
ground for 500 feet to the center of town, with another 150-foot line being put in to bring
water to a reservoir being built. A new road was being cut, which would eliminate much of
the roundabout travel through the Funeral Range between Rhyolite and Keane Springs, and in
addition to Kimball's stage tine, a regular burro train service was established to supply the
needs of the inhabitants. The town at this time was described as having a store, a boarding-

house, two offices, a saloon, a corral, a stable. and several tent houses. Surveying for the
purpose of obtaining a patent was in progress. Work continued through the summer of 1906,
and by September streets had been cleared and more tent houses erected for rent. A new
frame office building, the town's first, had been completed, and although the post office was
not yet approved, the postal authorities were said to be favorable towards the proposal.
But by the fall of 1906, Keane Springs had already seen its height. Many of the major mines
of the region, such as the Keane Wonder and the Chloride Cliff, established their own living
camps, and the minor mines never got off the ground. Chloride City became a competitor for
the supply center of the district, and Keane Springs slowly declined back into a favorite
watering hole, an occasional stopover for travelers and prospectors. The town, like so many
of its ilk through the desert mining regions of the west, had died before it was really born.
The subsequent history of Keane Springs is one of the long periods of idleness, followed by
short bursts of activity. As noted above, the Keane Wonder Mining Company purchased
Keane Springs sometime around 1907, as a hedge against the mill's recurring water problems,
and maintained a watchman at the property for several years, in order to protect its potential
water source. A couple of prospectors were still living at the springs in 1909 in crude tent
houses, but even they were washed out by a destructive cloudburst that fall. In 1910, the
springs were developed by the Pennsylvania Mining & Leasing Company, which was
attempting to, increase the water supply for its little one-stamp mill below Chloride Cliff, but
that effort was short-lived.
Illustration 135. Ca. 1935 photo of the Keane Springs pumping station and
water tank, built by the Coen Corporation between 1935 and 1937. The old
Keane Springs townsite is across the low hill behind the pump, towards the
top right of the picture. Photo courtesy of Death Valley National Monument
Library, classification 622.1.
Between 1911 and 1912, W. W. Wilson, who listed his residence as Keane Springs, planted
"all kinds of garden vegetables," in an attempt to start a truck garden, probably for sale to the
small core of miners left in the area. His effort was also short-lived. Following the departure
of Wilson, the springs were relatively undisturbed until the 1935-1937 years, when the Coen
Corporation began mining at the Big Bell. In connection with that mining effort,
improvements were made at the spring, including the installation of a large pump house and
engine, and a galvanized iron holding tank. Pipe was laid from the spring up to Chloride Cliff
and then back down to the Big Bell Mine, with the pipe line generally following the Keane
Springs-Chloride Cliff trail, and then the cable road from the Cliff down to the mine. After
the demise of the Coen Company's efforts in 1937, the equipment was abandoned. [48]

The most prominent remains in the vicinity of Keane Springs today are the water tank and the
ruins of the pumping machinery installed by the Coen Company. The pump was powered by
a diesel engine, was manufactured by the Fulton Engine Works of Los Angeles, and has three
pumping cylinders. The water tank is approximately ten feet high. Pipes from the pump run
in two directions, and may be traced along the road from Keane Springs most of the way up
to Chloride Cliff and from there down the side of the cable road to the Big Bell Mine. In the
other direction, the pipes can be found leading towards the Keane Springs townsite, which is
nestled in a small wash among the low hills of the Funeral range plateau. Much of the
potential of the townsite was lost through the flood of 1909, but several level tent platform
sites remain, some of which have low retaining walls still standing. No more than seven such
sites can be found, indicating the destruction of the flood and the fact that the townsite never
prospered. The setting, however, is quite picturesque, and since the townsite can be reached
by passenger cars, could prove quite an interpretive attraction. A brief story of the short life
of this ill-fated mining camp would make an interesting contrast to the more permanent
camps, such as Chloride City, and the real boom towns of the early 1900s, such as Rhyolite.
Although the site is interesting, its brief life and lack of any real contribution to the history or
development of the area do not qualify it for National Register consideration.

Illustrations 136-137. Ruins of the Keane Springs pumping machinery in

1978. Bottom: Close-up of the ruins of the pump. 1978 photos by John
Latshcar.
Illustrations 138-139. Top: The Keane Springs townsite area began about
where the road disappears in the middle of the photo. The main living areas
appear to have followed the bottom of the shallow wash, which was not
particularly good planning in a desert environment with its occasional flash
floods. Bottom: A closer view of the same wash, showing one of the larger
remaining leveled tent sites. 1978 photos by John Latschar.

Illustration 140. A typical view of the northern Funeral Range, in the

vicinity of Keane Springs. The townsite is located to the left of the road,
about a half a mile, and the springs are just beyond the low hill in the
foreground. The Keane Spirngs-Chloride Cliff trail may be picked out in
several places, winding towards the top of the picture. Chloride Cliff itself is
located just below the highest range of mountains in the extreme
background. 1978 photo by John Latschar.

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION IV:
EAST SIDE
a. History
In the southern part of the Funeral Range lies another miners! district which boomed during
the great Bullfrog years. From the former site of Schwab on the west side of the range, this
district paralleled a line drawn east and northeast through Echo Canyon out to Lee,
California, on the east side of the mountains, and on across the Nevada state line into the
Amargosa Valley. Although this mining district covered portions of both California and
Nevada, the greater part lay in California, Since the Death Valley National Monument
boundary runs along the state line in this area, this section will deal primarily with that
portion of the mining district which lay within California and the Monument boundaries.
The first locations in the area are credited to Old Man Finley, a veteran desert prospector,
who traced his connections back to the days of Breyfogle. Finlay had accompanied Breyfogle
on several of his futile searches for the Lost Breyfogle mine, and during one of those trips in
the late 1800s, noticed and located several gold prospects on the east side of the Funeral
Mountains, near the Nevada state line. His locations, however, lay neglected until the impetus
of the Bullfrog rush hit the region. Then, accompanied by Richard and Gus Lee, two brothers
from another old desert family, Finlay relocated several prospects in November of 1904 and
the early months of 1905.

Illustration 141. Southeast portion of Big Dune Area.
At about the same time, other prospectors were beginning to wander into the southern Funeral
Range, as the splash caused by the Bullfrog strikes sent ripples flowing out in all directions
through southern Nevada and southeastern California. Between January and March of 1905,
Chet Leavitt discovered a gold prospect on the western side of the Funerals, in Echo Canyon.
When the news of these two strikes hit the booming towns of Bullfrog and Rhyolite, a minor
rush to the southern Funeral Range began, as those prospectors who were too late to cash in
on the Bullfrog District began to search elsewhere for their gold. Within a short time, more
locations were made between Leavitts strike on the west and Finlay's and the Lee brothers' on
the east.
By March of 1905, enough prospectors had filtered into the area for a new mining district to
be created, and on the 31st of that month, the first movements to establish the Lee Mining
District had started. A few months later, in October, a similar condition existed on the west
side of the Funerals, and the Echo Mining District was organized. The two districts, which
soon merged and became known as the Echo-Wee Mining District, had boundaries which
can roughly be described as the Amargosa Valley on the east, the South Bullfrog Mining
District on the north, Death Valley on the West, and Furnace Creek wash on the south. By
October of 1905, interest in the new district was high, but although the Rhyolite Herald
reported that "considerable work" was being done, the boom was still in its beginning stages.
[49]

But in 1906 the action began to heat up By the end of January two companies had begun to
work on the Lee side of the district and six companies on the Echo side. Preliminary efforts
were begun to improve the communications of the district, especially those on the Echo side.
Since anyone wishing to reach the Echo District had to travel from Rhyolite west through
Daylight Pass, south down the Death Valley floor, and then back east up Echo Canyon, work
on a road to cross the Funeral Range from the Lee side of the district over into the Echo side
was begun. As time went on, and more and more locations were made along the mountains
between the two sides, such work became easier.
By the end of April, 1906, when two more companies had begun operations on the Lee side
and two more on the Echo side, the district was beginning to boom. The new railroads coming
into Rhyolite kept a dose eye on this new activity, and the Tonopah & Tidewater in particular
made it known that their line would hug the east side of the Funerals, in order to be in the
best position to capitalize upon the new mines of the Echo-Lee and South Bullfrog districts.
The Rhyolite newspapers were also well aware of the amount of business which new mining
districts would bring to their town, and several editorials specifically pointed out this tact.
As the summer and tall of 1906 progressed, it became apparent that enough mineral content
was present in the southern Funeral Range for the new mining district to be there to stay. By
the end of that year, another company had begun work on the Lee side of the range, and six
more had begun on the Echo side, making 19 companies in all working in the new, district.
As the population swelled, several major problems surfaced, two of the most important of
which were the troubles in communication between the mines of this remote region, and the
lack of water. The miners banded together to solve both these problems, with subscriptions
taken up to drill a well along the road from Rhyolite into the Lee area, and a similar
contribution being taken to fund the building of a road all the way from Rhyolite, through
Lee, to the Echo Canyon side of the range. By the end of 1906, both projects were underway.
[50]

Illustration 142. One of the earliest adverisements for the Echo Canyon
mines, which appeared in the Rhyolite Herald of October 12, 1906.

Illustration 143. A later advertisement, which appeared in the Rhyolite

Herald of December 21, 1906.
PARTIAL LIST OF LEE, CALIFORNIA, MINES
Name Date First Mentioned Date Last Mentioned

Hayseed Mining Company 5 January 1906 6 January 1912
Tenderfoot Mine 15 January 1906 9 December 1908
Honeysuckle Mining Company 23 February 1906 3 August 1907
Lee Hidden Treasure Gold Mining Company 20 April 1903 2 December 1911
Bullfrog Echo Mining Company 1 October 1906 15 February 1907
Honeysuckle Extension Mining Company 24 January 1907 3 August 1907
Lea Gold Grotto Mining Company 25 January 1907 6 November 1909
Flapjack Mine 1 February 1907 28 January 1911
Lee Whale Mining Company 1 March 1907 25 May 1909
Lee State Line Gold Mining Company 1 March 1907 8 May 1908
Lee Cold Crest Mining Company 15 March 1907 3 August 1907
Lee Buster Mining Company 5 April 1907 15 November 1907
Daddy Lee Mining Company 5 April 1907 24 May 1907
Georgia Lee Mining Company 5 April 1907 10 December 1908
Nero Mining Company 26 April 1907 8 August 1908
Jumbo Consolidated Mining Company 3 May 1907 8 November 1907
Ducks Mine 10 May 1907 27 April 1912
Hayseed Extension Mining Company 8 June 1907 3 August 1907
Lee Bank Mining Company 6 July 1907 2 December 1908
Utopia Mining Company 6 July 1907 28 December 1907
Gold Shield Mine 3 August 1907 11 January 1908
Peerless Lee Mining Company 3 August 1907 6 December 1907
Pumpkin Mining Company 3 August 1907 2 December 1911
Lee Florence Mining Company 24 August 1907 24 August 1907
Lee Comstock Mining Company 14 September 1907 January 1908
Chambers Mine 2 September 1908 10 September 1910
PARTIAL LIST OF LEE, NEVADA, MINES

(Outside Death Valley National Monument Boundary)
Anna Mine Lee Bonanza Mining Company

Apache Mine Lee Bonanza Extension Mining Company
Blue Grass Mine Lee Consolidated Mining Company
Bullfrog View Mining Company Lee Mines Company
Cala-vada Mining Company Lee Mohawk Mining Company
Calvin Mine Lee Nevada Mining Company
Combination Mining Company Lee Princess Mining Company
Cornucopia Mine Lee Virginia Mining Company
Frisco Mine North End Mining Company
Goldstone Mining Company Swan Hilda Mining Company
Grandee Mine Swan Hilda Annex Mining Company

Greater Nevada Mining Company Skookum Mining Company

Lee Bell Mining Company
PARTIAL LIST OF ECHO CANYON MINES
Name Date First Mentioned Date Last Mentioned

Inyo Gold Mining Company January 1905 27 January 1912
Bradshaw & Paymel Mine 15 March 1905 27 April 1912
Sutter Mine 17 November 1905 1 March 1907
Sunnyside Mining Company 5 January 1905 14 August 1909
Nellie. B. Mine 12 January 1906 26 February 1910
Lee Burro Gold Mining Company 12 January 1906 25 February 1911
Lee Jumbo Gold Mining Company 23 March 1906 17 June 1909
Echo Gilt Edge Mining & Milling Company 13 April 1906 7 June 1912
Echo Canyon Gold Mining Company 29 June 1906 5 October 1907
Mesquite Mine 9 November 1906 17 May 1907
Burro Extension Mining Company 30 November 1906 2 December 1908
Skybo Mining Company 19 October 1906 13 June 1912
Echo-Lee Gold Mining Company 21 December 1905 14 August 1909
Lee Imperial Mining Company 21 December 1906 3 August 1907
Ready Cash Mine 4 January 1907 22 February 1907
Lee Theresa-Clyde Mining Company 1 February 1907 17 May 1907
Gold Top Mine 1 February 1907 1 February 1908
Rosario Mining Company 15 February 1907 11 January 1913
Echo Consolidated Mining Company 22 February 1907 7 November 1908
Pearl Mine 1 March 1907 18 April 1908
Gold Pick Mine 1 March 1907 1 March 1907
Inyo Ventura Mining Company 1 March 1907 12 April 1907
Lee Golden Gate Mining Company 22 March 1907 18 January 1908
North Burro Lee Mining Company 19 April 1907 19 April 1907
Idaho Mine 3 August 1907 15 August 1908
Angelus Mining Company 31 August 1907 8 November 1907
Portland Gold Mining Company 12 October 1907 18 October 1907
Ready Money Mine 1 February 1908 7 March 1908
Early in 1907, the Echo-Lee District emerged into a completely full-fledged mining boom.
Between January and April of 1907, ten new mining companies opened operations in the Lee
side of the district, and ten additional mines were started on the Echo side. Several towns
were platted on both sides of the range, with Lee, California leading the list on the east side
and Schwab on the west. In mid-January of 1807, the Rhyolite Herald observing the
beginnings of a real boom to the south, noted that the district had been held back in the past
by a scarcity of water and difficulties in getting supplies, but that those conditions were now
almost a thing of the past. "It is typical of Nevada to astonish the mining world and to offer
sensations in mineral products," said the Herald "and it is predicted that the Lee District will
not only astonish but will become another sensation of Southern Nevada." Being based in
Rhyolite, Nevada, the Herald naturally called the most attention to the Nevada portion of the
Echo-Lee District.

The Bullfrog Miner also took note of the genuine rush to the district. Early in February, that
paper blazed in its headlines that the "STAMPEDE 5 ON TO LEE," and reported that
twenty-five outfits had been counted on the road to Lee in one day. "The rush appears to be
on in earnest. The stock brokers of Rhyolite also took a keen interest in the new mines, for
every new mining company meant more stock for them to trade and thus more commissions.
Although Taylor & Griffiths, one such firm, acknowledged that the less said about the stock
market now the better for all hands," they went on to add that the Lee and Echo District
mines were doing well. Promotion stocks in the good companies were much in demand, and
twenty to forty rigs were seen going into the new district every day.
As the rush continued in February, the Bullfrog Miner began to see visions of wealth and
glory for Rhyolite, which could add to the fame from its own mines by becoming a major
supply center for outlying districts such as Lee and Echo. While the mines of those districts
had not yet been developed to any great degree, the Miner noted that when they were the Lee
and Echo districts promise to surpass Goldfield and all others, and as a consequence
"RHYOLITE WILL PASS GOLDFIELD," and become the single most important mining
center in Nevada. A week later, the Miner was still singing the praises of the new district.
"Echo and Lee at present occupy the center of the stage of mining excitement. For months
local operators have had their eyes on these funeral range camps . . . and many sagacious
Bullfrogs stand in the way of making a mint of money by their timely investments in Lee and
Echo Ground."
Taylor & Griffiths, in turn, were only too glad to echo these sentiments. "The Echo-Lee
district is the center of the greatest activity seen in this section of the country since the early
days of the Bullfrog," they wrote. "We predict that the Echo Lee district will be the sensation
of the year in the gold mining camps." In honor of the new district, the Bullfrog Miner
published a special sixteen-page Lee-Echo supplement to its regular eight-page paper on
March 1, 1907, packed full of descriptions of mines in the district, as well as advertisements
for most of them.
Toward the latter part of February, as more and more companies began work, enough wage-
earning miners were hired to justify the formation of a union. On February 27th, the Death
Valley Miner's Union was organized, and the Rhyolite scale of wages, $4.50 per day for
normal underground miners, was adopted. In early April, the miners on the Echo side of the
district followed suit, and organized the Echo Miners Union, headquartered at Schwab, the
leading mining camp on that side of the range. As the boom continued, the stock brokers
reported good business in Lee and Echo stocks, and Taylor & Griffiths reported that the
"interest in the Lee district remains unabated.
Illustration 144. Courtesy of the Allan Metscher collection, Central Nevada

Historical Society.
Illustration 145. From the Rhyolite Herald, 1 March 1907. As evident from
these advertisements, Rhyolite stock brockers and mining promoters were
instrumental in promoting the Echo-Lee mines.
Illustrations 146-147. Although this is a relatively poor picture, it helps put

the Echo-Lee District mining boom into perspective. The shaft in the
middle is the main working shaft of the Echo-Lee Mining Company, which
was a fully incorporated mining company, owning fifteen claims. Stock in
the company at the time of the photo was selling for 15¢ per share. Note the
lack of structures around the mine, and the crude hand windlas used to hoist
the ore. Such opertaions were very typical of the Echo-Lee District, and
each of these isolated mines hoped to strike it rich. The Echo-Lee Mining
Company, however, was not one of the lucky ones, and its mine never saw
much more activity than what is depicted here. Compare this photo, taken
from the Rhyolite Herald of 15 March 1907, with the following
advertisement, from the Herald edition of March 1, 1907.

When spring turned into summer, even the heat of the Death Valley climate could not slacken
the pace of the boom. Two new companies started work in Echo and nine in Lee. The Inyo
Independent reported in late May that eighty men were employed as wage-earners in the
mining companies operating in the district, and estimated that another 500 could be found
prospecting around the hills, or working their own small mines. Some water had been found
in the vicinity of Lee, which alleviated one of the problems of the district, but water still sold
for $3.00 per barrel, and much of it was still hauled in from Rhyolite. In mid-July, the
Bullfrog Miner reported that eight to ten companies had hoists in place and operating, and
more had hoists on order--a prime indication that many companies were passing from the
earlier stages of development where hand windlasses and horse whims were used to raise the
ore.
But in the fall and winter of 1907, the bloom went off the Echo-Lee boom, a direct result of
the Panic of 1907. This financial panic, which hurt all the mining districts of the west, even
those proven areas such as Goldfield and Tonopah, arrived at the worst possible time for the
young district in the southern Funeral Range. By the end of September 1907, when the effects
of the Panic began to make themselves felt in the area, a total of fifty-two mining companies
had begun operations in the Echo and Lee Districts--plus another, twenty-five on the Nevada
side of the Lee District. Although nine of these companies had failed shortly after they were
formed, the Panic caused the demise of numerous more companies. Between August of 907
and the end of the year, a total of thirteen mines went out of business, and no new mines
began operations.
The panic had hit just when most of the Echo-Lee mines were beginning to make the
transition from the exploration stage into more serious development work. Many mines had
proved that they had ore in the ground, which was the purpose of the early stages of
exploration, and were just now beginning to start the expensive work of proving the extent of
their ore reserves and extracting that ore for shipment or milling. For this purpose, eighteen
hoists had been ordered and placed in the district during 1907, and miners had been hired to
work the ore deposits. All this was done through funds supplied by stock sales and in a few
cases by individual owners of mines. But now, with the panic affecting all segments of
western mining, investors and mine owners began to pull in their horns. Small investors were
forced to sell off their stock holdings in order to meet loan obligations called in by failing
banks, or even to pay for food when their jobs were lost. Larger investors and promoters,
most of whom came from Rhyolite and Goldfield, quickly dumped their smaller holdings in
the Echo-Lee District in order to protect their larger and much more important investments in

Rhyolite and Goldfield, which were their main sources of wealth and support. The Echo-Lee
District, at the time when it most needed investor confidence and large treasury funds in
order to mine the ore in the ground, suddenly felt itself cut off from all funds whatsoever, and
mine after mine was forced to close down for lack of money to pay for labor and supplies.
Some of these mines closed for good, but many were able to weather the panic and resume
operation in 1908! But the boom was now definitely over, and investors, once. burned by the
Echo-Lee District, were loath to reinvest in those mines--even though they had been burned
by circumstances far beyond the control of the mining companies. Consequently, after the fall
of 1907, a decided change took place in the Echo-Lee District, as the mines which were left
struggled to survive in a much more pessimistic atmosphere than that which had prevailed
during the rosy days of the boom during the spring and summer of 1907.
In late December of 1907, reflecting this trend, the Rhyolite Herald noted that only ten
companies were actively operating in Lee, although many others were expected to resume
once the financial distress had passed. "In ordinary times," wrote the Herald Lee would
experience a strong boom, and I predict as money becomes easier, you will see much of it
invested in Lee." [51]
During the early months of 1908, the Panic gradually eased its hold upon the district. Only
six more companies gave up during that period, and one new company started, although it
also failed after only a few months. Several of the old mines, which had closed during the
previous fall, were relocated by individual prospectors on midnight of December 31st when
the old claims became invalid. But most of these were small, one-man operations, and never
amounted to much.
As the district slowly revived, several individuals began to look into one of the major sources
of the district's troubles. The Echo-Lee District had no milling facilities of its own, and thus
had to transport its ore into Rhyolite for treatment there or elsewhere. This necessitated a
large freight expense, which kept mines with low grade ore from becoming paying
propositions. Ore of the content, for example, which kept the Keane Wonder Mill operating
for years, was present in the Echo-Lee District in smaller quantities, but the expenses of
transporting it to Rhyolite made it unprofitable to mine and mill. Thus J. D. Cushman and
several other leading mine owners proposed the erection of a custom milling plant for the
district, which would be able to treat ore from all the local mines. The idea was a good one,
but unfortunately, no one had a combination of money and faith in the district necessary to
finance such a project.
In the meantime, more and more of the Echo-Lee mines gave up on developing the mines
themselves, and began to turn to the leasing method, a sure indication of hard times. Lessees
were not hard to find, for most of the mines had enough promise to put stars in the eyes of
desert prospectors, but with the exception of an occasional small sack of high-grade ore,
none of the lessees made good. Finally, in May of 1908, one of the final unmistakable signs
of the decline of a mining district appeared when the Lee State Line Gold Mining Company's
property was put up for sale at a sheriff's auction. The State Line Mine had looked so
promising only the previous spring that its claims had been patented. Although such a move
made title to its claims absolutely secure, it also made the company's property subject to
property taxes from the county, and now the company could not pay those taxes.
Three more mining companies went broke during the summer of 1908, as the trend
continued. The Rhyolite Herald reported in mid-June that the camp of Lee was quiet, a far
cry from the year before. During the remainder of 1908, five more companies went broke,
and even nature took a hand against the district, when a major cloudburst washed out a large
part of the road from Lee to Schwab. Several thousand dollars was estimated as being

necessary to repair the road, and no one in the district had that kind of money. By the end of
1908, only eighteen companies were left in the entire district, and many of those were only
performing the annual assessment work necessary to retain title to their claims, while
awaiting better times. [52]
But the Echo-Lee District did not die easily. As 1909 opened, the Rhyolite Herald noted
renewed interest in the district, and gave an assessment of the previous years. The panic . . .
was probably felt in the Lee district a great deal worse than in most other of Nevada's gold
camps . . . during the hard times it was next to impossible to secure sufficient capital to
properly develop its mines. Today, mining conditions are decidedly better, and from this time
on Lee-Echo will begin to give an account for herself that will surprise the world. The
Bullfrog Miner agreed with that assessment, and reported in early February that "Slowly, but
surely, conditions are improving at Echo Lee. . . ."
But, unfortunately, such conditions did not improve enough. The trend of 1908 continued
through 1909, and during that year, five more companies gave up and abandoned their claims,
leaving only thirteen that still retained hope. The Ash Meadows Water Company, which had
intended to lay a pipe line into Lee, and had even surveyed such a line the previous year,
abandoned its plans to supply the district with water, for a lack of customers. Likewise, the
Tonopah & Tidewater Railroad, which had talked several times of extending a branch line to
the district during the balmier days, abandoned its plans, due to a decided lack of freight
demand. The Bullfrog Miner, perhaps not understanding the situation as well as it should,
wondered in September why there were only twenty-live men working in the entire district,
when everyone knew that there was good ground to be had for the picking.
The year 1910 proved no more fortunate. Although only two more companies abandoned
their mines that year, the majority of the eleven which were left were reduced to being able
to do little more than their annual assessment work. More companies which had patented
their claims in prosperous days, such as the Lee Jumbo Gold Mining Company, were forced
to miss their tax payments, and saw their property sold at sheriffs auctions. The district died
hard, however, and still had enough inhabitants in 1910 to qualify as a poling place for both
the primary and general elections of Inyo County. But in 1911, even though a few mining
companies struggled on, very little more than assessment work was done. Four more
companies gave up that year, leaving seven in token operation, and more fell under the
sheriff's hammer. But by 1912, even the most foolhardy had given up, and six more
companies folded, leaving only the Rosario Mining Company on the active list--and it gave
up in January of 1913.
The Echo-Lee Mining District, after a grand beginning and a boom which was in the best
traditions of western mining, had been fatally crippled by the Panic of 1907. Although many
of the mines had continued to struggle through the succeeding years, their hopes were futile.
Once Rhyolite itself began to show signs of dying around 1910, the final fate of its
surrounding districts was almost a foregone conclusion. Although a few sporadic attempts
were made in the depression years of the 1930s to revive a few of the mines, those efforts
also failed rather quickly, and the Echo-Lee District has been virtually deserted ever since.
[53]
b. Lee California
An integral part of every self-respecting mining boom, regardless of size, was the
establishment and promotion of a town. The Lee District was no different from any other
boom area in this respect, and was actually slower that most in starting a town. But
eventually, a group of enterprising individuals decided to cash in on the boom spirit. Starting
a town, however, was a little more difficult than it seems. On the surface, all one had to do

was to locate and claim a parcel of land, within comfortable distance from the mines which
he wanted to serve, and then just stake out lots for sale. But unless the townsite promoter
could persuade people to buy his land, he would go broke, and since everyone was living on
free land before he came, he needed a powerful incentive. That incentive was business. If the
promoter could get the business houses, especially the saloons, boarding houses and
restaurants, as well as the grocery and hardware stores, to locate in his town, then his
townsite could offer the advantages which would overcome the cost of buying a lot. Thus the
town promoters would normally enter into reciprocal agreements with merchants, and would
offer them prize locations at cheap prices or even for free. The merchants, who were just as
anxious to be the first into a new town, and who wanted locations near the center of the
future town, were usually more than happy to enter into this kind of deal.
Such was the case of the Lee District. With the start of the Lee boom, in late 1905 and early
1906, miners and prospectors who came into the area merely pitched their tents wherever
they wished, and set up housekeeping--provided, of course, that they were not or anyone's
claim. It was not until November of 1905, when the Lee District was first beginning to
experience a real boom, that rumors of a new townsite were heard, and sometime during the
next month a town was laid out. In early January of 1907, the Lee Townsite & Mining
Company was organized to promote this new town of Lee, named after the district and the
Lee brothers who were instrumental in opening the district. The townsite was platted, and
tents, building materials and supplies were sent in. The company announced that it would be
ready to accept inhabitants by January 10th. The town was situated twenty-five miles from
Rhyolite, and advertised that it would soon have a telephone connection, a corral and feed
yard, a restaurant, rooming house, and, of course, a saloon. The new town was located in
Nevada, just east of the California state line, and thus outside of the Death Valley National
Monument boundary.
But more than one group of promoters had the same idea, and another townsite was soon
started. Interstate rivalry played a part, for the second town, which was situated inside
California, was named Lee, California, and was promoted by the Lee Hidden Treasure
Mining Company, upon whose property the townsite was platted. As the Bullfrog Miner
observed, "it is claimed that a camp is never fairly certain of a good future until it has a
townsite fight," and such a fight was now on.
The timing and the location was right for Lee, California, and the town quickly began to
grow. Rhyolite merchants established branch stores and other individuals opened up places of
business, hoping to capitalize on the new mining boom. By February 8th, the town boasted of
a restaurant, a rooming house and a saloon, as well as a general store, and plans for a feed
lot, a lumber yard, a grocery, a liquor store, and a general merchandise store were in the
works. Twenty-six people had purchased lots towards the middle of town, all under
agreement that wooden buildings would have to be erected, and one eighteen by thirty foot
frame building and seventeen temporary tent stores and houses were already in the town. The
Kimball Brothers of Rhyolite established regular service to Lee, with thrice-weekly stages
leaving Rhyolite every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning.

Illustrations 148-149. Ad for Lee, Nevada (top), full-page ad (bottom) from

the Bullfrog Miner, 1 March 1907.
By mid-February, the papers reported that both Lee, Nevada and Lee, California were

booming. About 150 people were in the two towns already, lumber was coming in by the
wagon load, and tent buildings were given to frame structures. F. S. McArthur established a
daily auto service between Rhyolite and the two Lee towns, in competition with the Kimball
Brothers' stages, and the autos were scheduled to leave Rhyolite at B A.M. each day and Lee
at 10 AM. for the return trip. Lee, California, was platted and plans were laid for the
establishment of six business blocks, with the residential district surrounding them.
As February moved into March, and the Lee boom went into full swing, the two towns
heightened their competition. Newspaper ads were placed, extolling the virtues of each
townsite, and much behind the scenes bargaining took place between the two groups of
townsite promoters and the merchants coming into the district. By March 1st, Lee, California
seemed to be winning the tight, with an estimated population of 100 citizens, although the
only real difference between the two towns, as the Death Valley Chuck-Walla pointed out,
was that gambling was legal in Nevada and was not in California. Even that, however, made
little difference, as no one seemed particularly concerned with controlling gambling in
California. Indeed, neither town had any peace officers or county officials appointed as yet,
so a certain freedom from restraint was definitely present.
On March 1st, in its special Lee-Echo edition, the Bullfrog Miner described the towns in
some detail. Lee, California had forty tents and several frame houses at the time, and
included businesses such as two restaurants, two rooming houses, three saloons and a bakery.
Water cost $3 per barrel, already down from the $5 of the previous year, and would get
cheaper as soon as some new wells were dug. The telephone line into town was expected to
be completed within a week. On March 5th, the plat of Lee, California was approved by the
Inyo County Board of Supervisors. The townsite was roughly in the shape of a squat triangle,
with a width of five blocks at the base, and a height of five blocks. Provisions were made for
the sale of 400 lots.
By the end of March, the Rhyolite Herald predicted that Lee, California would win the
townsite battle, as it "seems to have the call." In reality, the mines around Lee, California
were showing greater promise than those around Lee, Nevada, which was of primary
importance. Between sixty and seventy tents and buildings were in the California town, and
additional structures were going up as fast as carpenters could work A new lumber yard was
established, and another saloon and a fresh meat market headed the list of new businesses.
An ice house was added the next week, making the preservation of meats, produce and drinks
much easier for all concerned, and an average of six buildings were started each week during
the latter part of March and the first of April.
Then, on April 19th, the fatal blow to the hopes of Lee, Nevada, was struck, S. J. Hernstadt,
who was a principal owner of the Hidden Treasure Mining Company as well as a chief
promoter of Lee, California, struck pure water at a depth of 120 feet, 3-1/2 miles east of Lee.
Since Hernstadt was so closely connected with Lee, California, there was no doubt in
anyone's mind that none of his water would find its way to Lee, Nevada. Hernstadt
immediately announced plans to lay a pipe line and build a pumping station to bring the
water into Lee, California.

Illustration 150. An early advertisement from an enterprising merchant who

set up stores in both Lee, Nevaga and Lee, California, until he determined
which town would win the townsite fight. From the Bullfrog Miner, 8
March 1907.
By mid-April, the town of Lee had grown magnificently. A post office had been established
in the Colorado House, which was already Lee's leading saloon and gentlemen's club. In
addition, the town had four restaurants, one meat market, four general stores, three feed
yards, four office buildings, four saloons--including one which was built of corrugated iron
and measured twenty by forty feet--one dry goods store, one assay office, two lodging
houses, one ice house, a miners supply store, one barber shop, one surveying office, one
brokerage office, two lumber yards, and a stage station. Not to be left out the Death Valley
Miners Union was just beginning to erect a Union Hall, a traditional ingredient of any
western mining town.
In addition to all these frame or iron buildings, the downtown business district was literally
surrounded by a sea of white tents, the homes of miners and business men recently moved
into the district. Lots were selling from $30 to $450 each, depending upon location, and the
population was put at 300 men and twenty ladies. According to the Bullfrog Miner, these
twenty ladies were "very much contented and happy with this new camp life. . . ."Dances

were held "every time a new building is dedicated, which is quite often indeed." [54
But such prosperity was not to go unchallenged. On April 19th, "one of the largest townsite
and mining property transactions yet consummated in the history of southern Nevada trading
was made, when the L, P. McGarry Brokerage Company of Rhyolite, which we have already
met as the operators of the Bullfrog West Extension Mining Company, secured control of the
Hayseed Extension Mining Company, the North Bullfrog Lee Mining Company and the Gold
Shield Mine. Since, as McGarry announced to the papers, the Lee, California townsite lay in
a wash which was unsuitable for a real town, McGarry planned to start a new one, called Lee
Addition, upon his new land. The new town was described as being "one of the prettiest" sites
in that portion of the country. "The people of the old town," McGarry boldly told the papers,
"are moving just as rapidly as they can to get locations, and the new town of Lee [Addition]
is a lively rival" to both Lee, California and Lee, Nevada.
Within a week, McGarry's Lee Addition was taking shape, with fifteen to twenty tent sites
upon the ground, and a boarding house. But the promotors of Lee, California were not
worried, and asked "the Herald to state that the town is just where it always has been, and
always will be; in other words, that Lee, Cal., is doing business at the same old stand."
Despite its new rival, Lee, California had the upper hand, and continued to grow. The new
well did a "land office business," with men lining up to draw water, and the flow was
sufficient to satisfy their demands. Preparations were made to put in the pipe line from the
well into town, and to build the pumping station. Late in April, realizing that his town was
now big enough to require some sort of governmental authority, S. J. Hernstadt submitted a
petition with eighty signatures to the Inyo County Board of Supervisors, asking that a Justice
of the Peace be appointed for Lee.
During May of 1907, with the Echo-Lee boom in its fullest bloom, Lee continued to grow.
The Death Valley Miners Union reported a membership of seventy miners, and stepped up
construction of its union hall. The telephone exchange was finally completed, which linked
Lee to the outside world, and J. P. Nelson announced plans to build a $5,000 hotel. By this
time, the Bullfrog Miner reported that Lee, Nevada had "all but given up and moved to
California," but the Lee Addition remained as a rival to Lee, California. The two townsites,
however, were so close together that the Miner predicted that instead of slugging it out, they
would eventually grow together and become one town. A new general store was built, J. E.
Saunderson announced plans to open a bank in the fall, the Pacific Express Company moved
into town, another saloon opened, and C. E. Kincaid was appointed as Justice of the Peace
and deputy tax collector for Lee and its environs.
As May progressed, the rivalry between Lee and Lee Addition continued to keep pace with
the district's boom. The plat of Lee Addition was approved by the Inyo County Board of
Supervisors on May 6th. McGarry was even more optimistic concerning his town than the
promoters of Lee, California had been, as his plat shows a townsite eight blocks long and five
blocks wide, with over 800 lots staked out for sale. One week later the two townsites came to
an agreement whereby the water from Hernstadt's well would be shared between the two
towns, since there was sufficient for both. On May 17th, the Miners Union at Lee gave an
informal dance as a house warming for their "magnificent Hall," a frame structure measuring
twenty-eight by sixty feet. The hall was big enough for six sets to dance at one time.
As summer began, and the boom at Lee showed no signs of abating, the Kimball Brothers
increased their stage service into town to a daily schedule, and reported that their stages were
"loaded down each trip." The stage left Rhyolite at 7:30 each morning and returned about 6
P.M. Recognizing the need for law and order, the Inyo County Board of Supervisors let out
bids in late June for the erection of a jail at Lee. Late in that month, the Lee, California
citizens also organized themselves for government by the establishment of a Board of Trade.

A charter membership was appointed to look after the general welfare of the camp. Like
those at Rhyolite and many other mining camps in the west, such a board of trade exceeded
its legal authority in assuming the right to govern a town, but no one seemed to complain,
given the need for some sort of civic direction.
In late July a two-story, ten room wooden hotel building was completed at Lee, and
Hernstadt's well was cased up and the pump put in. The Tonopah & Tidewater Railroad,
which was then building into Rhyolite, sent a representative to assess the freight potential of
the district, and announced that it would run a spur track into town in the near future, "if
conditions justify it." The Rhyolite Herald in conjunction with S. J. Hernstadt, announced that
arrangements were almost completed for a paper to be started at Lee, which would be
published at the Rhyolite office until a printing plant could be brought into town. Just to
complete the requirements of the town, Dr. D. C. Parnsworth moved in towards the end of
July, giving the miners and their families the promise of medical attention. As a final note
depicting the prosperity of a booming mining camp, on August 17th, the Lee Board of Trade
passed a resolution restricting the redlight district to two blocks and warned that the
restriction would be rigidly enforced. Lee had arrived. [55]
Illustration 151. A selection of advertisements for various Lee, California

businesses, from the Bullfrog Miner, 3 August 1907.
As the fall of 1907 began, the town of Lee, California had reached its height, although its
inhabitants did not yet know it. Indeed, signs seemed most promising, especially when the
Tonopah & Tidewater Railroad came into the vicinity and established a station, known as
Leeland, along its main line into Rhyolite. With the tracks now a reality, General Manager
John Ryan of the railroad visited Lee to assess the freight situation and left, saying that "little
doubt is entertained but that the branch will be built into Lee. A week later, the Ash
Meadows Water Company, a corporation formed to pipe water into the booming districts of
Lee and Greenwater, finished the survey of its pipeline into Lee. Water would be brought to
Lee, the company announced, before the line was built into Greenwater.

In early October, Lee even had its own newspaper, as the Lee Herald a branch publication of
the Rhyolite Herald issued its first paper. Although it was only a six-page folio newspaper
that was printed at Rhyolite and shipped to Lee, that was enough to establish the prestige of
any mining camp. On October 15th, Leeland Station on the Tonopah & Tidewater Railroad
opened for service. With the railroad now only six miles from camp, freight and
transportation costs between Lee and the outside world were cut considerably. But the rail
service had a drawback. With the new railroad, stage demand for the Lee-Rhyolite line
dropped drastically, and the Kimball Brothers cut back on their operations. Since the Kimball
stages had brought the mail into Lee as an optional service, Lee was suddenly left with no
regular mail delivery, and it began to pile up in Rhyolite.
By late October and early November, the effects of the Panic of 1907 began to be felt in Lee.
As mines began to shut down and miners left to find work elsewhere, the town slowly began
to lose its population. Even though Lee was estimated to have 500 citizens in early November
of 1907, the decline had started. Nevertheless, the town carried on. A daily stage service
between Leeland and Lee was established, with the six miles being covered in one hour In
late December a new mail contract was let, and the Leeland stage also began to bring in Lees
mail, which made the inhabitants seem much less isolated.


Illustrations 152-153-154-154a. Panoramic view of Lee, California. The

center of town is evident on the left, the dump and shafthouse of the
Hayseed Mine is in the right corner, and a few tents of Lee Addition are
visible in the center distance. Note the number of tents as compared to
wooden buildings in town, which indicates that the photo was taken before
the peak of Lee's Boom. The wagon road to Rhyolite fades out of the photo
towards the left top, as it enters the Amargosa Valley. Bottom photo:
Merged view of three preceeding photos. Photo courtesy Nevada Historical
Society.
And there were still a few people migrating into Lee, helping to ease the flow of migrants
moving out. One such was the town's second doctor, who was described by the Rhyolite
Herald "Mrs. Dr. Sellier," as she was called, was lately of Rhyolite, and opened an office in
Lee on December 27th. "Dr. Sellier uses electricity in the practice of her profession, and is
said to be very successful. She is also a phrenologist, palmist and telphthist [sic], and is

endowed with physic and magnetic power to a wonderful degree, and being a thoroughly
posted mining expert is able to give advice in matters connected with this industry." Medical
help was not always the best in a mining camp. [56]
Storekeepers and other merchants, who depended upon a stead flow of cash to stay solvent,
usually left a dying camp sooner than did the miners and prospectors who were willing to
live on bacon and beans while digging for gold. Lee was no exception to this rule, During the
first half of 1908 most of the town's business establishment sold out, packed up, and departed
for other booming camps, to try again. Although there were still eleven mining companies
active to some degree in the Echo-Lee District in June of 1908, the town had dwindled to
only three stores, a saloon and a restaurant. The camp was described in an understatement as
being quiet, although those who were left were expecting "better days when the universal
hard times are over."
Many of those stores which had survived closed for the summer season, as the heat caused
most of the mining companies to shut down work for several months. The Lee Hotel, for
example, was closed sometime in the spring of 1908 and did rot reopen until early December,
when its proprietor returned from San Francisco. One of the lumber yards also reopened in
early December, as a winter work in the mines called for a limited supply of timbering
material. Although the town had dwindled drastically, its post office was still functioning at
the end of 1908.
Very little is heard from the town of Lee for the next few years. Mining camp newspapers,
such as those at Rhyolite, were much more eager to cover the growth of a new mining town
than the death of an old one. It was bad business to give publicity to a mining district which
was dying, and the Rhyolite papers soon began to ignore Lee, hoping that its troubles would
go away. Thus mentions of the town are few and far between during 1909 and 1910, and it is
much more difficult to keep track of the rate of decline. We do know that Lee had at least
one store left in October of 1910, as it was used as a polling place in Inyo County's general
election that fall.
The next mention of the town is in January of 1911, when a short article describing Lee's
social life was printed in the Rhyolite Herald During that month, Mrs. D. C. Brown had given
a card party at her home, with eleven guests, and W. H. Lillard, proprietor of Lee's last store,
held a party complete with dancing, music and light refreshment. In June of 1911, Lee was
again in the newspapers, but this time for less fortunate reasons. The Lee Hidden Treasure
Mining Company, the owner of the Lee townsite, was listed in the Inyo County papers on the
delinquent tax list. The Hidden Treasure Company, like many others, had patented the land
upon which its mine and Lee townsite lay, and was now no longer able to pay its taxes.
Lillard's store was again listed as a polling place or the Inyo County election in the fall of
1911. Lillard, who was one of the last to give up on Lee, told the Rhyolite Herald in January
of 1912 that the camp had "never looked better than at present." But it was just wishful
thinking, for by this time even the post office had left town, and had been reestablished at
Leeland station. Lillard's wishful quote in January of 1912 was the last mention we have of
Lee, California. Sometime shortly after that, even an optimist like Lillard found it necessary
to pack up and leave a busted desert mining town. Within a few years, all the lumber, metal
and other useful materials that could be salvaged from an abandoned town had been hauled
away, and the former bustling camp reverted to its original quiet and forlorn state. [57]
c. Hayseed Mining Company
The Hayseed was the first mine located on the Lee side of the Echo-Lee District, and was
also the only company on that side of the district which ever produced more than an

occasional sack of gold. The first mention of this mine is in November of 1904, when
Richard and Gus Lee located what they called the Hayseed and State Line claims. The two
prospectors held on to their claims until February of 1906, when they sold them to Campbell,
Metson and Brown, of Tonopah, for between $7,500 and $10,000 in cash. Unfortunately,
however, the Lee brothers sold their mine more than once--a practice which was not that
unusual--for in early March Charles del Bondio brought suit against Richard and Gus to
enforce a performance of contract in writing to sell the Hayseed and State Line claims to
him. Although the Lee brothers might be forgiven for breach of contract, since neither of
them could read or write, the plot thickened in ate March, when they sold the mine again, this
time to Russ Sutherland and Hector McKenzie, for $10,000.
Apparently the Lee brothers took their money and ran, leaving the various claimants to their
mine to sort out their difficulties among themselves. Naturally, given the complex problems
involved, it took almost a year for a solution to be worked out, and mining did not start on
the Hayseed and State Line claims until shortly before February of 1907. Once mining did
start, however, excellent results were almost immediately obtained. At a depth of twenty-five
feet, the Hayseed shaft struck an 18-inch gold vein which assayed from $8,600 to $123,600
per ton. Although there was considerably less than one ton of gold in that streak, it was still a
magnificent strike.
With ore in the ground, and the tricky questions of ownership resolved, the Hayseed Mining
Company was organized in March of 1907. Sam F. Lindsay was president of the company,
and J. P. Nelson served as vice-president and superintendent of the mine. Although details of
the ownership compromises were not made public, the fact that none of the previous owners
of the mine appeared anywhere in the organization of the new company indicates that all the
former claimants had sold out to the new owners. With its problems solved, the Hayseed
Company began advertising and promoting stock sales, and since it was the original mine in
the district and had a high-grade streak of gold ore, Hayseed stock sold "like hot cakes."
Over $56,000 worth of stock was sold at 50¢ per share within two hours after the
announcement of the incorporation of the company was made, including $25,000 worth to
one Goldfield firm.
Work at the Hayseed property commenced, and within a few weeks, a tunnel had been run
into the ledge for a distance of 100 feet. As work and time progressed, the mine looked better
and better, and by the middle of March, the price of treasury stock for sale to the general
public had been raised to 70¢, an almost unheard of price for a mine which was just starting
its exploratory stage of development. That rich ore was present in the mine was made evident
by the fact that one of the Hayseed's miners was caught high-grading (stealing ore) from the
shaft. By the end of March, Superintendent Nelson had purchased ore sacks to prepare a
shipment of the mine's high-grade ore, and a 25-horsepower hoist had been ordered for the
50-foot-deep shaft. More miners were added to the work force, 260 sacks were filled with
high-grade ore, and Nelson started to build a 100-ton ore house to store the riches. [58]

Illustration 155. Advertisement for the Hayseed Mining Company and the
Lee Burro Mining Company, both of which were owned and operated by
the same interests. From the Bullfrog Miner, 15 March 1907.
As spring turned into summer, the sensational nature of the Hayseed Mine continued. Taylor
& Griffiths, the Rhyolite stock brokers, announced in early April that the mine would make a
carload shipment of $150 ore within a month, and reported that Hayseed stock was selling at
75¢ per share, with a heavy eastern demand. On April 5th, a strike was reported at the mine,
with the miners taking out between $1,000 and $1,500 worth of ore in one day. Two hundred
seventy-five sacks of ore were filled on the dump, the incline shaft was down to a depth of
seventy feet, and the ore house was finished. One week later, on April 12th, Superintendent
Nelson announced that the shaft was down to eighty-one feet, and that the company had
twelve tons of high grade ore sacked. By the end of that month, Hayseed stock was selling
for 53¢ on the local stock exchange, and the heavy demand for the company's stock had
enabled it to pile up a balance of $26,384.05 in the John S. Cook bank at Rhyolite.
During May, the framing and foundations for the new gas hoist were prepared at the mine,
while a few miners stayed underground and worked with the help of a hand winze. But as the
months passed by, and the promised high-grade ore shipment did not take place, investors

began to become suspicious, and the price of Hayseed stock on the open market began to
slump. Stock which sold for 50¢ on the third of May had slipped to 47¢ by May 10th and to
41¢ by May 31st.
Then, during June, legal problems again arose to plague the company, as Charles del Bondio
decided that he was not satisfied with the compromise reached the preceeding spring. The
Hayseed owners, after several months of negotiating, settled the matter out of court, in order
to get back to mining, and especially to divert the publics' attention away from any possible
claims against their property, since such had disasterous effects upon public confidence and
stock sales. In the meantime, mining continued, and in late June the Hayseed shaft had
reached a depth of 150 feet, and ore was still being sacked for shipment.
During July, encouraging progress was made, as the Hayseed Company decided to push
ahead with development work despite the intense heat of the summer. J. P. Nelson reported
another ore strike on July 6th, with high grade ore which assayed around $100 per ton, and
with the help of the new Fairbanks-Morse gasoline hoist, the shaft was quickly sunk to a
depth of 215 feet. By the end of July, the shaft had been pushed even deeper to 300 feet,
where it struck a rich body of ore. This new strike, coupled with the resolution of the latest
ownership struggle, helped Hayseed stock to rebound, and it rose to 55¢ by the end of the
month.
On August 3d, the Bullfrog Miner reported that the Hayseed had finally made its first
shipment, but that report turned out to be in error, for no shipment had been made. The shaft,
however, was down to 330 feet, which was correctly reported on August 3d, but after that
news from the Hayseed mine suddenly became scarce. Superintendent Nelson did report
briefly on August 17th that good ore bodies had been found on drifts pushed out from the 100
and 300-foot levels of the shaft, but little other work came from the mine. Investors, made
wary by the silence of the company and by the long delay of an ore shipment, started selling
off their stock again. By the end of August, Hayseed stock had slumped back down to 43¢
per share.
The picture remained much the same for the rest of the year. Nelson reported once a month
to the papers about the progress in the different drifts and crosscuts from the main shaft, but
other than affirming that the mine had ore, he refused to release assay figures or give the
usual estimates about richness of the mine. This, coupled with the disastrous effects of the
Panic of 1907, pushed Hayseed stock completely off the trading boards, and after August, no
more trading in Hayseed shares was reported. Although the company was still working on its
own in the main shaft, rumors began to spread in mid-October that the Hayseed mine was
planning to let leases on other portions of its property. The letting of leases, which always
indicated hard times for a mining company, was a bad sign, but once again the management
took no steps to confirm or deny the rumors.
Then, inexplicably, without any of the usual prior public knowledge, the Hayseed Company
sent out a carload of ore in late October. Although the number of tons sent out was not
announced, the ore was estimated to be worth between $150 to $200 to the ton, and the usual
carload shipments from other mines averaged between twenty and twenty-five tons. Once
again, however, no smelter returns from the ore shipment were announced, which effectively
killed any promotional potential of the shipment, and news releases from the mine remained
few and far between. On November 16th, in a very brief announcement, the Bullfrog Miner
said that the Hayseed was thinking of putting in a mill, but nothing further was mentioned--a
highly unusual fact, considering the importance of a mill to the district. Such an event was
usually chewed over to the point of tedium by the local newspapers.
During the remainder of 1907, the puzzling situation at the Hayseed Mine continued. The

Rhyolite Herald reported on November 22d that the Hayseed Mine was looking good.
Encouraging values, it said, were reported in the crosscuts from both the 100 and the 300-
foot level, and the company was employing seven miners. The Bullfrog Miner, in turn,
reported in late December that the Hayseed definitely had plenty of shipping and milling ore,
and was continuing work. Superintendent Nelson, according to the Miner, said that he could
keep a good sized mill running for a long time with the ore already blocked out in the mine.
[59]
During the first half of 1908, the situation at the Hayseed Mine stayed much the same. The
Bullfrog Miner reported in mid-January that the mine looked better than ever, and had $60 to
$100 ore in the drift from the 100-foot level of the shaft, which was now out to 380 feet. The
mine, according to another report in late January, was sacking ore from four places in the
underground workings. Although the company still retained its mysterious silence concerning
its ore holdings, it obviously felt that the mine had a future, for on April 29th, it filed a notice
of application for a patent upon the Hayseed and State Line claims, a total of 38 acres.
Only when the company had its annual meeting in June was the public finally given a chance
to see what shape it was in. Superintendent Nelson, who presented the annual report to the
meeting, announced that 1,700 feet of work had been accomplished during the last year,
including sinking the shaft down to the 325-foot level. Over 460 feet of drifting and 150 feet
of crosscutting had been done on the 100-toot level of the shaft, and 111 feet of drifting and
108 feet of crosscutting on the 300-foot level. The mine, he reported, had good milling ore on
the 100-foot level, but had yet to find any on the 300-foot level. The property was equipped
with a 25-horsepower gasoline hoist, an ore house, a blacksmith shop and a horse stable.
67,450 shares of the company's treasury stock had been sold to the general public, leaving the
company with a balance of 382,550 shares for possible sale, although the general financial
picture at the time made it doubtful that it would be able to sell any more. One shipment of
ore had been made, of eighteen tons, which returned $73 to the ton, far less than had been
estimated, for a total gross profit of $1,314.
Although Nelson said that the company had $30,000 worth of $15 ore in sight, that was not
enough to warrant the erection of a milling plant, without which $15 ore was worthless, due
to excessive costs of freighting. The rock on the 300-foot level, he said, was so hard that it
rendered hand work too expensive to continue, and the company had no funds to invest in
machine drills. All told, the picture painted by Nelson was not very optimistic, and it is no
small wonder that the Bullfrog Miner reported that "it was decided at the meeting to let leases
provided responsible people can be interested in the matter. An endeavor will also be made to
bond the property, and raise funds for a milling plant" But apparently the company either
changed its mined, or "responsible" leasees were hard to find, for the company continued to
work on its own, using its dwindling supply of money, and had eight men employed in late
July.
Shortly afterwards, however, the mine closed, and remained idle for the rest of 1908. J. P.
Nelson took a vacation to Colorado, and when be returned in early December he would not
say what, if anything, would be done with the Hayseed property. He did tell the Rhyolite
Herald though, that he expected "to see a genuine revival" in the Lee District when the panic
has passed away for keeps." The Rhyolite Daily Bulletin on December 28th, speculated that
something would be done to revive the mine following the company's next meeting,
scheduled for January 2, 1909. [60]
During 1909, the Hayseed Company began looking more seriously for a lessee, and for a
while it seemed that the company would not have far to look. On January 9th, it was
announced that negotiations were under way for J. P. Nelson, the vice-president and general

manager of the company and S. J. Hernstadt, the secretary, to lease the mine, with the
financial backing of Hernstadt's brother, W. L. Hernstadt of New York. Or February 3rd, S. J.
Hernstadt announced that the deal had been completed, and that operations would begin soon,
with an inspection of the mine and ore tests being made prior to a decision on whether or not
to build a mill. The lessees, said Hernstadt, had an abundance of capital. Ironically, while this
deal was being negotiated, the Hayseed patent application was approved by the U.S. Land
Office, and a patent was delivered to the company, too late to do it any good.
But evidently W. L. Hernstadt of New York had better things to do with his abundance of
capital than finance his brother, for the leasing arrangement tell through. Then in April, the
Bullfrog Miner reported that some big stockholders of the Hayseed Company, together with
the owners of the Crystal Bullfrog Mill at Gold Center were negotiating for a long term lease
on the full holdings of the mine. Their object was to operate the mine and dump and treat the
ore at the Crystal Bullfrog Will. Several weeks later, however, the Miner reported that the
deal was not yet closed, and it never was. The only other mention of the Hayseed during 1909
was a notice that it had sent an ore specimen to the American Mining Congress Convention
at Goldfield, but the specimen did not seem to interest any of the conventioners enough to
attract a lessee for the mine. [61]
Finally, in early 1910, the Hayseed Company found the lessee for which it had been looking.
On February 19th, Dr. F. H. Harding, of Fosteria, California, obtained a three-year lease on
the mine. According to the Rhyolite Herald, which exaggerated somewhat, Harding had
ordered a 10-stamp mill and would install it as soon as possible. Development and
preparatory work was to start at once. Terms of the lease called for a sliding scale of royalty
payments, from 10 percent on $15 ore to 35 percent on ore of $150 value or higher. Harding
had the option to purchase any improvements which he made at the mine during the term of
his lease, such as a mill or pipe line. He had nothing to lose, beside his time and labor, for his
only payment requirements were in the form of royalties. If he found no ore, neither he nor
the company got anything.
By the first of March, Harding had started to work on his lease, and by the middle of the
month he was preparing the ground for the installation of a mill. Towards the end of April,
the Rhyolite Herald reported that Harding was so pleased with the results of the first several
months of his work that he had brought his wife and family in to live at Lee. On May 14th,
Harding purchased a mill from the defunct American mine near Columbia, Nevada, and
started to dismantle it for shipment to Lee. The mill had a capacity of thirty tons per day, and
Harding hoped to have it in operation within seventy days, treating the tree milling ores of
the Hayseed Mine. The mill had three Nissen-type stamps, and due to the lack of adequate
water at the Hayseed Mine, would be installed one mile west of Leeland Station, four miles
east of the mine, where there was a well with sufficient water to support the mill.
By the first week of August, Harding had his mill in place and running. The Rhyolite Herald
reported on August 13th that the mill had run well during its first ten-day run. The three
stamps had been treating about ten tons a day, about half its capacity, and was making a 70-
80 percent savings, using amalgamation only The ore from the mine which was being treated
averaged around $30 per ton, which would permit a profit, even considering the four-mile
wagon haul from the mine to the mill and the shipping charges on the Tonopah & Tidewater
Railroad to get the bullion to the mint. On September 10th, Harding turned out the first bar of
gold bullion from the little mill, but when he brought the gold into Rhyolite, he refused to
estimate its value.
One month later, on October 15th, Harding again came into Rhyolite, but this time he had no
good news. The little mill, he said, using amalgamation only, would not save enough of the
ore content to make a profit on $30 ore. Cyanidation would have to be added to make the

mine and mill profitable, but Harding did not have the resources to add a cyanidation plant to
his mill. Accordingly, Harding sold his lease to Ed Mellarkey and Hugh Leonard sometime
prior to November of 1910, and the Hayseed Leasing Company was formed. The new
partners resumed operations at the mine and mill in late November, and in mid-December
reported that a twenty-day run at the mill had yielded a gross profit of $607.54 in gold
bullion.
But Mellarkey and Leonard soon realized that such returns were not enough to make a go of
the mine, and they ceased operations. With both the lessee and the sub-lessee out of business,
the Hayseed Mining Company had no funds to pay county taxes upon the mine or mill, and
on March 11, 1911, the mill was sold at a sheriff's auction. As related above, Johnnie Cyty
purchased the mill for $500 and moved it to his mill site on the Death Valley slope of the
northern Funeral Range. In the best traditions of desert mining, the little three-stamp Nissen
mill went to work for its third owner. The last notice we have of the Hayseed Mine is in
December of 1911, when T. H. and E. M. Francis of New York, together with Ed Bevis of
Rhyolite,, inspected the property. Although the Rhyolite Herald reported that they and the
Hernstadts were again considering operating the mine, nothing happened. The Hayseed Mine,
the largest producer of gold on the Lee side of the Echo-Lee District, was finally abandoned.
Sometime during the subsequent years, the hoist and headframe, the ore house and
blacksmith shop, and all other items of value were salvaged, and the Hayseed Mine was left
to gaze down upon the deserted streets of Lee, California.
During the negotiations which led to the acquisition of the Hayseed property for Death
Valley National Monument in the early 1970s, information concerning the mine's previous
owner, W. L. Hernstadt, was uncovered. Apparently S. J. Hernstadt had finally convinced his
brother, W. L., to take over the mine, although it was too late to do the mine any good. When
W. L. Hernstadt died in 1964, 204,792 shares of Hayseed Mining Company stock were found
in his estate. The stock, according to his lawyer, had been regarded as Hernstadt as being
"worthless many, many years before his death." [62]
d. Present Status, Evaluation and Recommendations
The Lee, California townsite, as L. P. McGarry pointed out seventy years ago, lies along the
side of a shallow wash at the very foot of the eastern slope of the Funeral Range. Although
not much appears to the first glance when a visitor enters the area, a climb up to the top of a
small knoll just west of the townsite brings things into focus. From above, one may observe
the outline of the town, with three main streets connected by half a dozen side streets. Almost
forty building sites of some degree may be discerned, ranging from leveled spaces which
were no more than tent sites, to rock retaining walls surrounding the sites of wooden and iron
buildings, and even the sites of two buildings which had basements. In addition, several
dugouts were scattered around the fringes of the townsite. The Lee townsite, as it now
appears, is one of the largest undisturbed townsite areas in the west. It is an outdoor
laboratory for historical archaeology, as well as an excellent site for the interpretation of a
traditional boomed and busted mining camp.

Illustration 156. Map of Lee, California and Hayseed Mine.
The townsite, as benefits a mining camp, is surrounded with shafts, adits and dumps, silent
signs of the efforts of its citizens to wrest wealth from the earth. The largest of these is the
Hayseed Mine, which sits just east and slightly above the townsite. The Hayseed claim of
this mine has a large dump, a timbered incline shaft which sinks over 300 feet into the
ground, and a three by eight foot concrete engine foundation, where the 25-horsepower hoist
used to sit. The State Line claim, also owned by the Hayseed Company, is just to the west of
the former claim, between it and the town, and has a smaller dump, with an untimbered shaft
and a wooden foundation for its smaller hoisting engine.
To the northeast of Lee, California, nestled right up against the Nevada state line, lies Lee
Addition. McGarrys timing in promoting this townsite could hardly have been worse, since
he started it just before the Lee boom began to fizzle. Nevertheless, half a dozen tent sites
can be found in the vicinity, as well as four stone walls, each measuring about twelve feet
square, which were retaining walls for wooden structures. In addition, the main feature which
dominates the Lee Addition site is a 75 by 85-foot rectangle, surrounded by two to three foot
high stone walls, which probably was used as a feed yard and corral.
The Hayseed Mine, the Lee townsite and Lee Addition will be nominated to the National
Register. Although these sites do not contain any imposing physical structures, myriads of
smaller remains and ruins possess potential historical archaeological significance and are too

valuable to leave unprotected. Although the site is now hard to get to from Death Valley, the
old Echo-Lee road, which is now a jeep trail, is passable by four-wheel drive. With little
improvement, the road could be used by the majority of the visitors. It that was possible, the
park visitor, after a beautiful and exciting ride through Echo Canyon and over the Funeral
Range, would have an unparalleled opportunity to see and learn about the life and death of a
very typical desert boom camp. Such a trip would rival and perhaps surpass the famous Titus
Canyon Road.
About one mile southeast of the Lee townsite is the ruin of a more active claim. Three adits
are perched high on the side of the mountain, and below them, in a narrow wash, is a wood
and tin cabin, beside the cabin stands a wooden loading platform, used to load the ore from
the mine above into trucks which drove up beside the platform. No knowledge of the history
of this mine has been found, although a sign on the door o the cabin notes that the claim was
relocated in December of 1975, with the permission of the original owners, Mr. Kaylor (sp?)
and Mr. Rambo (sp?). This site is relatively modern, and has no historic significance.
Illustration 157. Panorama of Lee, California townsite. The main street of

town may be seen traversing the photo from left to right. The road to the
left goes to Echo Canyon and the one to the right leads out to Lee Addition
and Rhyolite. The center of town was in the approximate center of the
photo. 1978 photos by John Latschar.

Illustrations 158-159. Top: View looking norhteast down the main street of
Lee, California, towards Nevada. Although not discernable in this photo, the
sides of this street are lined with level sites, retaining walls and basements
of the former structures. Bottom: View from the opposite direction, taken at
Lee Addition and looking back towards the eastern slope of the Furneral
Range. Lee, California is nestled at the foot of the range, in the very center
of the photo. 1978 photos by John Latschar.

Illustrations 160-161. Views of typical retaining walls at the Lee, California

townsite. Some of these walls, such as those at top, probably had little more
than a wood, tin, or canvas roof above, while others, such as those at
bottom, served as foundations and wind shelters for wooden or tent
buildings. 1978 photos by John Latschar.

Illustrations 162-163. Top: View of the Hayseed dump from above, with
the vehicle for size comparision. Lee townsite is located out of the picture
to the left. Bottom: The three by eight foot concrete foundation for the
hoisting engine on the Hayseed dump. The concrete shell was rather thin
and is crumbling, but the steel anchor rods were well driven into the rock
below. 1978 photos by John Latschar.

Illustrations 164-165. Top: One of the retaining walls at the Lee Addition,
formerly used as a foundation for a building. Bottom: View of the large
rectangular stone wall at Lee Addition, probably used as a corral and feed
yard. The low mountain in the background of both pictures is in Nevada,
and is the site of the Nevada mines of the Lee District, as well as the
townsite of Lee, Nevada. 1978 photos by John Latschar.

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION IV:
EAST SIDE
7. Echo Canyon
Although the history of the boom and bust of the Echo Canyon mines and townsites does not
differ much from that of the Lee side of the district, as already outlined in the stories of the
Lee townsite and the Hayseed Mine, time will be taken to present the histories of several
important aspects of Echo Canyon mining.
a. Inyo Gold Mine
1. History
Like the Hayseed Mine to the east, the Inyo Mine on the Echo side of the district represents
both the earliest discovery on the west side of the Funeral Range, and also the only mine on
that side which ever produced more than an occasional sack of gold. The first locations in
Echo Canyon were made by Maroni Hicks and Chet Leavitt in January of 1905. After a brief
trip to civilization for supplies, the two men returned to Echo Canyon in March, and made
several more locations. By May of 1905, the prospectors had accumulated two groups of
locations, consisting of twenty claims, and after staking out all the ground which they thought
might be any good, they started to dig a tunnel on one of the claims in June.

Illustration 166. Map of Southeastern portion of Big Dune Area.
During the summer of 1905, as the first movements into the Echo-Lee District began, the
Hicks and Leavitt property became one of the most talked about in the region. It appeared
that the prospector's dream was about to come true for the two men, as they found capitalists
interested in purchasing their locations. In August, nine of their claims were bonded to
Tasker L. Oddie for $150,000, and the remainder to Charles Schwab for $100,000. Schwab
was to pay the prospectors $5,000 on September 1st, if he decided he wanted the mine.
Oddie, in turn, was to pay $5,000 on December 1st and the balance of the money one year
later. Although Schwab never paid, and apparently never tried to develop his portion of the
mine, Oddie's men went to work at once. Soon they had a shaft 50 feet down in the ground,
and were talking of erecting a mill, a wire rope tramway and an electrical power plant for the
mine. Oddie also considered cutting a new wagon road to Rhyolite at a cost of $1,500,
cutting off thirty-five miles from the present winding road.
But by November, Oddie had let his option expire, due to "a misunderstanding having arisen
concerning terms, etc.," and the claims were bonded again, to two Colorado capitalists. The
new agreement called for a payment of $10,000 immediately, and another $140,000 during
later months. But again, the new purchasers were either not impressed when they began to
work, or were not able to raise the $10,000 demanded by Hicks and Leavitt, for their option
was soon cancelled.

Finally, in December, a sale was made. L. Holbrook and associates, a group of Utah mining
promoters, purchased the entire mine and incorporated the Inyo Gold Mining Company.
Maroni Hicks accepted cash for his half of the mine, but Chet Leavitt retained his interests
and became the vice president of the new company. The Inyo Gold was incorporated in Utah,
with a capitalization of $1,000,000, based upon 1,000,000 shares of stock with a par value of
$1 each. The new company owned twenty-one claims, which represented all of the Hicks &
Leavitt properties, including those which had formerly been bonded to Charles Schwab. Soon
after the incorporation of the new company, development work in the mine began, and in
early January of 1906, the property was surveyed. [63]
By the first of February the shaft on the Inyo Mine was down to sixty-five feet, and that
depth had been increased to 100 feet by March. At that time, nine men were employed at the
mine, under the direction of Chef Leavitt, who was general manager of the company. By the
end of April, crosscuts were going out from the W0-foot level of the shaft in the search for
ore, and a second shaft was started on another claim. In June, a big strike was made at the
mine, as noted by the Rhyolite Herald "The Inyo Gold Mining Company has made the most
phenomenal strike in the history of Funeral Range mining and one of the biggest uncoverings
since the discovery of Tonopah Assays from the new strike, which was at the bottom of the
new shaft at a depth of sixty-five feet, were close to $300 per ton."
Following the news of that strike, which seemed to prove that the Inyo Gold would make the
transition from a developing to a producing mine, rumors began to circulate concerning the
sale of the property. In August, the Bullfrog Miner reported that the mine had been sold to
the Schwab interests for $2,000,000, and the Rhyolite Herald reported that all of the
company's stock had been sold for $1 per share to a group of Salt Lake City capitalists. But
nothing came of either rumor, and since the mine ceased work during the hot summer
months, little was heard from it.
In October the Inyo Gold Mining Company was reorganized, although the changes were
mostly internal. L. Holbrook, the principal owner, was still listed as president of the
company, but Chet Leavitt lost his position as vice president. Work would be resumed
shortly, the company stated, and now that the railroads were reaching Rhyolite, the shipment
of medium grade ore from the mine would soon make it a producer. But work progressed
more slowly than the company had hoped, and no shipments were made in 1906, although the
company had its new shaft down to seventy-three feet by the end of that year, and several
crosscuts were started. [64]
But as 1907 opened, work began in earnest on the Inyo Gold. The company ordered a small
gas hoist in early January of that year, and by the end of that month reported that it had three
shafts exploring for ore at depths of 100, 73 and 30 feet, respectively. In addition, tunnels and
crosscuts were being driven, and ore bodies were being found, although the estimated extent
and content of the ore finds were not greatly publicized. Chat Leavitt, who was still the mine
superintendent, was employing twenty men in February, and a boarding house had been built
at the property for their convenience, Plans were also in the works to construct a commissary
store, and the company ordered ore cars and tramway tracks to facilitate the removal of ore
from the mine.
Towards the end of February, the Rhyolite Herald took time out to describe and assess the
Inyo Gold's property. Average values in the various shafts and tunnels, the paper stated, were
around $44 to the ton. The ore was free milling, which meant that it could be treated in the
simplest manner, and once the Ash Meadows Water company had completed its pipe line
into the Lee district, the company was considering the construction of a mill. Water was now
hauled from Furnace Creek, a distance of eight miles, at considerable expense to the
company. The boarding house at the mine was feeding thirty miners. Since that overcrowded

its accommodations, a new boarding house with an eighteen by thirty foot dining room and a
fourteen by sixteen foot kitchen was being built. When it was finished the present boarding
house would be converted into a rooming house. In addition, the company was building a
sixteen by twenty foot commissary for the sale of groceries and mining supplies to the
company's employees and other prospectors in the area. "The concensus of opinion,
concluded the Herald "is that the Inyo Gold Mining company's property, the original Hicks &
Leavitt group, is one of the most likely properties in the new gold fields along the Nevada-
California border."
During March and April, work continued steadily, and the local papers faithfully reported the
progress made in the company's shafts and tunnels. By mid-April, the company had begun
preparations for the construction of a mill, and several loads of lumber were on the ground.
The mill was to be built at the mouth of the main tunnel, near the new blacksmith shop.
Thirty men were employed at the mine, and most were eating at the recently-completed
boarding house, run by Mr. and Mrs. McKnight. By this time a portion of the mine's new
hoisting machinery had arrived, and the company announced that it would not ship its high-
grade ore, but would rather keep it on the dump until the mill could be built. In response to
several inquiries, the papers reported that the Inyo Gold was a closed corporation, so that the
company's stock was not being sold on the open market. Several blocks of shares, amounting
to no more than 50,000, had been sold by one or more of the original incoporators of the
company, but most of those had been bought back by other owners.
Once again, due to the heat of summer, work slacked during the hot months of 1907. Some
miners continued to labor in the shafts and tunnels, but not with the pace of previous months,
and the papers had little more to report other than the statistical advances of that work. But in
September, the company, which was running out of development funds advanced by the
owning partners, decided to go public. From its application for a license to sell stock in
California, many details of the company's position are available. Fifty-two thousand of the
300,000 shares of treasury stock in the company had already been sold, and the Inyo Gold
was now asking permission to sell the rest. The company had an indebtedness of $15,250 and
no money in the treasury. The property was equipped with a hoisting whim, a blacksmith
shop, a bunk house, and mining tools, and its employment roll had shrunk to seven men.
Three hundred and fifty feet worth of shaft work had been done, in addition to 700 feet of
tunneling and 75 feet of crosscutting. No ore shipments had been made, but the company
claimed to have $650,000 worth of ore in sight. At the time of its application, the Inyo Gold
had already been approved for stock sales in Utah.
The Inyo Mine could not have chosen a worse time to go public, for the Panic of 1907 hit the
district shortly after the company put its stock up for sale. Had the decision been made six
months earlier, the Inyo mine could have taken advantage of the height of the Echo-Lee
District boom, when stock in much less worthy mines was selling at fever-inflated prices.
Now, in the fall of 1907, mines were closing and very few investors could be found who
were willing to risk scarce investment funds in an outlying district. Now, instead of a fat
treasury which would have enabled the company to continue its development work on an
extensive scale, and to build its mill, the Inyo Gold instead was faced with bankruptcy.
Nevertheless, the company continued operations for a few months. Work was continued
during September and October, with a force of between fifteen and twenty miners. But after
the middle of October, momentum slowed considerably and very little further work was
accomplished for the rest of 1907, although the mine was reported to still be employing a
"small force of men" at the end of the year. The Rhyolite Herald denied rumors that the Inyo
had closed down completely in December, and went on to lament the general state of mining
in Echo canyon. "The properties are among the best in the district and it is much regretted
that the companies do not find it consistent to work on a large scale. But the ore is there and

when the financial sky is clearer, the properties will show the world what kind of golden
lining Echo canyon is made of." [65]
Like so many of the other Echo-Lee District mines, the Inyo Mine had been fatally crippled
by the Panic of 1907. Following the onset of the panic, development work virtually ceased
throughout the rest of 1907, and 1908 followed suit. No work was done on the mine during
that entire year, and the only notices in the papers concerning it were several rumors of sale.
The Bullfrog Miner reported that the mine had been sold to Thomas Lockart, president of the
Florence Mine in Goldfield, in March, and the Rhyolite Herald reported that L. Holbrook had
secured control of a majority interest in the mine during August. But neither of these rumors
were borne out, as the Inyo Mine virtually dropped from sight. In July and August, both
papers reported that the mine would be reopened soon, complete with a processing mill, and
several paragraphs were taken up in discussions of the possibilities of such an event, but they
never occurred. In November, Chet Leavitt promised that the mine would soon be heard
from, and stated that all the claims of the company would be patented before the year was
out. The company had even taken the opportunity for some nation-wide advertising, when the
Weekly Advertiser devoted an issue to Nevada mining, but even the effect of a full-page ad
was futile, for the depression upon mining was being felt across the entire nation.
During 1909, the situation did not improve at all. The Rhyolite Herald reported in April that
Chet Leavitt had sold his interest in the mine, but a later issue noted that the dear was not
definite, and it never was. The company did put some ore on display at the American Mining
Congress convention in Goldfield that fair, but little else happened on the property. The
company's application for a patent on seventeen of its claims--a total of 215 acres--was
approved on August 15th, but like so many other mines of the region which had applied for a
patent during the boom days, the papers arrived too late to do the company any good. In
September, the Bullfrog Miner optimistically noted that the "Inyo property has arrived at the
point where plans for a mill are next in order, and the next week printed a rumor that the
Inyo mine "will be subject to the biggest leasing deal yet known in Nevada." Salt Lake City
promoters, the paper reported, were negotiating for a long term lease and were planning to
develop the ground to the extent of constructing a large size treatment plant. On the basis of
this rumor, Inyo Gold stock suddenly appeared on the trading boards, for the first time ever,
and was sold at the price of 6¢ per share. But like so many others, this deal also feel through,
and the Inyo Mine continued to lay idle.
The rumors continued through the following years, as the Rhyolite Herald reported in
January of 1910 that the company was again negotiating for the sale of the property, with the
potential buyers proposing the installation of reduction facilities. Again, nothing came of the
negotiations, The mine, which had not been worked since the fall of 1907, was not mentioned
again until January of 1912, when its stockholders met in Utah with the intention of reducing
the par value of the company's stock from $1 to 10¢ per share, apparently as an attempt to
start another promotional and development campaign. But again nothing happened, and the
Inyo mine was finally abandoned. [66]
Thus ended the first phase of the Inyo mine. Its officers had held onto the mine too long, and
had made the decision to go public only after they had run out of private development funds,
just in time to see the Panic of 1907 ruin their hopes. After 1907, little if any mining was
done to what was once seen--probably correctly--as the best and most promising prospect in
Echo Canyon.
But unlike the other mines of the Echo-Lee District, the Inyo Gold had a revival.
Unfortunately, that revival took place long after Death Valley mining had lost its appeal, and
little notice of the subsequent activities at the Inyo Mine reached the local newspapers. Thus
although we know that the mine was operated for several years in the 1930s, we have very

little day-to-day knowledge of those operations.
After the death of the mine in 1912, the next known reference to it comes in the fall of 1928,
when it was sold to Earl B. Gilbert and Daniel Winzelor. Within a few weeks, Gilbert
transferred his half of the mine to his wife. Following those transactions, the mine disappears
again until 1937, when Mrs. Gilbert leased it to the Inyo Consolidated Mining Company. In
August of that year, the Inyo Independent reported that Guy C. Ridell, a mining engineer
from New York, had arrived at the Inyo camp to inspect the mines workings. The mine had
apparently been operating for several months at the time of this report, for Loren Granger,
the manager, was reported in Bishop, buying another load of supplies for the mine.
In March of 1938, the paper reported that the company was still operating, and had installed
a ball mill at the mine, The mill was capable of treating twenty-five tons of ore per day, and
water for operations was being hauled from Furnace Creek. Since this was costly and
unsatisfactory, the company was planning to build a pipe line and pumping station, if
operations at the mine continued on a satisfactory basis. TheCalifornia Journal of Mines &
Geology, in October of the same year, reported that the Inyo Consolidated Mine was working
on the seventeen patented and five unpatented claims of the property. The principle
development was an inclined shaft, 220 feet deep, and the report listed the lengths and depths
of various other shafts, tunnels and crosscuts within the mine. At best estimate, by comparing
the figures given to those released by the mine in 1907, the Inyo Consolidated had been
working the property for less than two years at the time of this report. Ore from the mine,
said the Journal was averaging about $25 per ton, and was being processed through the
twenty-five ton capacity ball mill. The mill equipment consisted of a fifty ton ore bin, a six
by ten jaw crusher, a thirty ton receiving bin, a reciprocating feeder, a three by six ball mill,
amalgamation plates, two Simpson tables, and a drag classifier for dewatering. Water was
still being hauled from Death Valley, and eight men were employed at the mine and mill.
Illustration 167. The Inyo Mine complex, ca. 1938, during the active period
of the Inyo Consolidated Mining Company. The structure in the middle
with the smokestack is the cook house, and the mill complex is shown to its
right. The mining area is far above the mill, to the rear of the photographer.
Photo courtesy Death Valley National Monument Library, Negative #1100.
But shortly after that report, the Inyo Consolidated ceased operations due to a lack of further
funds. Although present tailings at the mill site indicate that a limited amount of ore was

treated no production record from this era of the Inyo mine exists. In February of 1939, Mrs.
Gilbert again leased the mine, to an unnamed individual, who almost immediately found a
rich ore shoot at the bottom of one of the shafts. Before the press coverage of this
phenomenom ceased, the lessee had sipped thirty-six tons of ore worth $280 per ton to the
smelter, for a gross profit of $10,080, and had hired several miners. But once again, the ore
shoot ran out, and the lessee was soon out of business.
But the Inyo died hard. The mine was leased again to two men named Thomsen and Wright
in 1940, and they installed a small smelter high on a ridge one-halt mile above the former
mill site. There, for a short time, they attempted to smelt some of the high grade ore which
they took out of a different portion of the Inyo Mine. Again, no production record is
available for this effort, which had ended by 1941. A later mining engineer, who inspected
this portion of the property, concluded that the furnace at the little smelter had been fired
only once, which indicates that the last two lessees of the Inyo Mine were even less
successful than had been their predecessors. This was the last attempt to work the Inyo Mine,
although its claims are still privately owned. [67]
Due to the relatively recent date of the last attempts to exploit the Inyo Mine, historic
structures at the property are quite extensive. At the mill site are the remains of the ball mill
and its supporting machinery, and a complex of living and support buildings. The mill ruins
consist of the ore bin and chute, a jaw crusher and the settling plates--the ball mill apparatus
itself has been removed. In addition a large metal tank and the old diesel engine which
powered the mill still remain. Around the mill is a complex of structures in various degrees
of deterioration, including five tent platform sites, some with wooden floors and remnants of
canvas, a collapsed wooden frame building, and six standing wood buildings, ranging in size
from a twelve by twelve shed to an eighteen by thirty foot cook and dining house. Most of
these buildings are quite crude, being constructed of wood plank floors, with unfinished walls
and ceilings, but the cookhouse, at least, has a cement floor and was equipped with
plumbing. Although it is not possible to be certain, some of these buildings, especially the
tent platforms and one old dugout in the midst of this complex undoubtedly date from the
1907 era of mining. But the adaptation and use of different structures and materials during
the later period of mining makes a differentiation between the two eras hard to determine.
Above the mill and living area is the main mine complex or the Inyo Mine. Here one may
find a stone powder house, another tent platform site, a fairly substantial ore bin, a collapsed
wooden building, and a whole array of shaft and tunnel entrances running up and down the
hillside. The ore bin has a tramway track leading into one of the adits, and a straight- six
gasoline powered engine, adapted from a vehicle of some sort, which was used to hoist the
ore Above this group is yet another complex of mine workings, which appears to be older
than the first. This area includes another timbered ad-it, a tramway track, a leveled tent site, a
small ore bin, and a crude ore chute leading down to a rickety loading bin. Close by is yet an
shaft, with a winch left over from the ore hoisting days.

Illustration 168. The Inyo Mine complex in 1973, as viewed from the lower
Echo Canyon road. The mill buildings have been salvaged, although the
skeletal remains of the mill are still standing. The cookhouse, which has
deteriorated considerably, is seen at the far right, and the ore bin of the main
mine complex is seen in the top center of the photo. The complex looked
much the same in 1978. Photo courtesy of Bill Fiero, Las Vegas, Nevada.

Illustrations 169-170. Top: A closer view of the Inyo Mill remains, in 1978.
The ball mill originally stood just below the wheels of the jaw crusher, seen
in the top of the photo. Bottom: The cookhouse in 1978, showing the
general deterioration of the building. Much of the damage is due to natural
elements, but portions of the siding lumber has been stripped for use as
firewood by the complex's occasional visitors. 1978 photos by John
Latschar.
Finally, far above the main working area of the mine, in the next ridge to the north, is the site
of the 1940 smelter works, sometimes called the Furnace Mine, after its main feature. This
complex can only be reached by a long and arduous climb up a twisting mule trail from the
upper Echo Canyon road. A stone loading dock is at the bottom of the trail, as well as a crude
corral used to tether animals when the owners climbed the hill. Far above is the smelter,
perched on the side of the ridge. Machinery here includes the small furnace, with supporting
tanks and equipment, connected to a collapsed tunnel entrance by tram tracks. Above the
furnace is a deep and timbered incline shaft and a stoped area, evidently the main working
area of this complex. Near it, on the very top of the ridge, is a four-cylinder diesel engine
used for air compression, and another altered vehicle engine used to drag supplies up the
ridge from the upper Echo Canyon road far below, via a cable dragway.
All told, the Inyo Mine complex holds a wealth of artifacts and structures, some of which can
be safely dated prior to the 1930s. For this reason, despite the rather unproductive history of
the mine during the original boom, it is recommended that the structures and equipment on
this site be recognized and protected for their historic values, and the Inyo Mine as a whole
will be nominated to the National Register. The site would make a good interpretive
complex, since it is not too far from the Furnace Creek road, and is accessible, with a little
improvement, to two-wheel drive vehicles. Visitor use of the Inyo Mine site is more frequent
than for most of the other areas of the Echo-Lee District. Three nude sunbathers were
surprised on the day that this site was examined.

Illustrations 171-172. Top: The winch drum and engine at the upper Inyo
Mine complex, aka Furnace Mine. This mechanism was used to drag
supplies up the steep side of the ridge from the upper Echo Canyon road
below. Bottom: View of the descent from the "Furnace Mine" to the upper
Echo Canyon road, with the winching cable still in place. 1978 photos by
John Latschar.

Illustrations 173-174. Top: General view of the "Furnace Mine," looking

down from the vicinty of the winching works. The mine and mill complex
are located on the opposite side of the ridge from the upper Echo Canyon
road, so that supplies were hauled up one side of the ridge from the road and
then lowerd down to the mill site on the opposite side. Bottom: Close-up of
the crude furnace smelter. 1978 photos by John Latschar.
b. Schwab Townsite
1. History
in December of 1906, as the Echo-Lee District was beginning to swing into its real boom
stage, a new townsite was started on the Echo side of the district to serve the many mines
which were beginning to operate in the vicinity. In a fit a grandeur, the townsite was named
Schwab, after the well-known steel and mining magnate, who had peripheral interests in the
Echo-Lee District, The townsite was promoted by the Schwab Townsite Company, which
was incorporated in Nevada on December 31st, and was financed by S. H. Black, J. C. Houtz
and J. E. Cram. The company's treasury for promotion and site improvement was $30,000,
and was fully paid in advance by the three principles, making Schwab a closed corporation.
Large, full-page ads were placed in the Rhyolite Herald and the Bullfrog Miner on December

28th, announcing the formation of the town, and proudly noting that it was the first town in
the Echo-Lee District, which was true by only a few days. "The Price of Lots will Multiply
by Five in Ninety Days," warned the ads, and to prove the point, the owners announced that
arrangements had already been completed for the establishment of a restaurant, a lodging
house, a mercantile store, an assay house and a saloon. In addition, the new wagon road from
the Lee side of the district into Echo Canyon was almost finished, and would soon be
upgraded into an auto road. Water would be provided to the townsite within thirty days,
either by well or by hauling from Furnace Creek, and a stage line and telephone connections
would soon arrive. An application had been made for a post office. Fifty lots, said the
promoters, had been sold already. Schwab, summed up the ads, was "A Town with an
Assured Future," and would "be the scene of the greatest mining excitement in all the history
of Nevada."
The next week, as the Bullfrog Miner quaintly noted, "The town of Schwab started for the
Nevada desert yesterday from Los Angeles in a box car." The materials for the new canvas
city, added Mr. Houtz, would be enough to house several hundred people. Several loads had
already gone out, including material for a restaurant, lodging house, store and feed yard, and
arrangements had been made for a hardware store and a general merchandise store. By mid-
January Black and Cram reported that the new town was flourishing. Demands for lots
exceeded expectations, and inquiries had been received from as far away as Boston. Two
carloads of townsite materials had arrived, and three more were on their way. The Kimball
stage company had plans to put in a stage line, the well diggers had found water at a depth of
only five feet, and arrangements for a bakery, a grocery store, a hardware store and another
saloon had been made. Eighteen head of horses had been engaged by the town promoters in
order to haul all this material from the railroad siding at Rosewell. Streets were being graded,
and ample food, horse feed and water was now available to all travelers and prospectors, so
they no longer needed to come fully self-sufficient when they entered the Echo Canyon
region.
On January 18th, the Rhyolite Herald reported that seventy-seven lots had been sold in
Schwab, "many of them being to eastern people who are already familiar with the Lee and
Echo Districts through the ads in the local papers." A fourth carload of supplies, containing
eight tons, had been delivered to the town, and a fifth, of three tons, was expected shortly.
The population of the district surrounding Schwab was estimated to be 400, and twenty-nine
men had been counted at the Schwab saloon at one time. Eight lots in the townsite had been
sold to the Bohemian Club of San Francisco, and the Rhyolite Herald ruefully wondered if
"Tuxedos will soon be fashionable there." The townsite company had ordered a 45-
horsepower Apperson auto, which was expected in late January, and which would be put on
the run from Rhyolite to the new town. The following week, the Bullfrog Miner reported that
an abundance of good water was now available at the townsite, and that many good
substantial tent buildings had been erected. The first stage for Schwab had left Rhyolite on
January 24th, and the paper surmised that the new town was already "established as the
distributing point of that district."
On February 1st, the papers reported that the feed yard was now ready to furnish food and
shelter for horses, that the new automobile had arrived and was ready to start service to the
town, and that the Kimball Brothers had established a regular stage service to Lee and
Schwab, leaving Rhyolite every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. By the beginning of
March, the Bullfrog Miner reported that 100 men were employed in the mines surrounding
the townsite, such as the Inyo Gold, the Skibo and the Echo Gilt Edge. The Lee-Schwab
wagon road, which was too steep in places for autos to negotiate, was being improved, and
arrangements had been made to bring in a well drilling machine, in order to improve the
water supply. "There are excellent accommodations for both man and beast at Schwab, and
one is assured a visit to the new town will not be regretted."

By the end of March, the three-month-old town's population was estimated at 200. The
Rocky Mountain Bell Telephone Company had its poles up and was to begin stringing wire
from Lee to Schwab at once. The stage service had been increased to a daily basis, and the
auto service also planned to go on a daily schedule soon. But by now Schwab had a greater
claim to fame. "One of the most unique wonders of the new West," said the Bullfrog Miner,
"is the town of Schwab, Cal., owned and promoted by women." This news was quite unique,
and caused many headlines in local papers. "A Mining Camp Built by Ladies," as the Death
Valley Chuck-Walla put it, was an unusual sight in the west. Yet when the matter is
examined it seems much more natural than extraordinary. The first woman to enter the
company was Gertrude Fesler, who had come to Rhyolite from Chicago and opened a
brokerage office--Miss Gertrude Fesler, Stocks and Mines Bought and Sold." Fesler had
purchased J. C. Houtz's interest in Schwab, and through her dealings with the other two
owners, had become acquainted with their wives. A Col. Dunn, who had bought out J. E.
Cram, decided that his wife could ably care for his interests in the townsite, leaving him free
for other pursuits, and Mrs. Black--Mrs. Dunn's daughter-in-law--had also purchased her
husband's share, thus forming the all-female company. Helen H. Black became president of
the new Schwab Townsite Company, with Mrs. Dunn as the vice president and Gertrude
Fesler acting as secretary, treasurer and chief promoter.

Illustration 175. Advertisement from the Bullfrog Miner, 1 March 1907.
Ownership by ladies such as these meant some unusual changes in a desert mining town, and
the Death Valley Chuck-Walla was quick to point them out. "The gamblers were told to get
out. Saloon men were frowned at and sporting women were positively refused entrance. Men
said that a mining camp could not exist under such restrictions, but Schwab did. The women
hastened to secure the postoffice, the first in the district, and everybody in the three towns
[Schwab, Lee, California and Lee, Nevada] had to come to Schwab for mail."
In addition to the new postoffice, which was approved and established on April 5th, Schwab
also was the home of the Echo Miners Union, organized early in April. By the end of that
month, the union counted seventy-five members, who adopted the Rhyolite scale of wages of
$4.50 per day. the townsite company donated a lot to the union, and a large tent was erected
to be used until funds could be raised for a Miners Union Hall. Several more town lots were
sold during April, but Mrs. Black reported that the one big need for the town was a general
mercantile store, to enable miners and companies to get supplies close at hand.
But even with all these improvements, Schwab was never a serious rival to Lee, California.
The two towns were separated by eight miles and the Funeral Range, and each was the center
for approximately the same number of mines. But Lee, California had all the geographic
advantages. All supplies and materials reaching Schwab had to come through Lee, so it was
only natural that supply houses at Lee dominated the trade of the two towns. In addition,
since Lee was much loser to Rhyolite, that town reaped all the advantages of frequent notices
in the Rhyolite newspapers, which amounted to free advertising. Reporters and visitors could
travel to Lee and back to Rhyolite in one day, but getting in and out of Schwab took longer,
so it was only natural for them to concentrate their attention on the closer town. And once the
town of Lee had the upper hand, it was quick to build upon the advantage. Miners and
prospectors from the Echo District, for example, found that it cost them no more to travel into
Lee to obtain their supplies than to purchase them at Schwab, and when this was coupled
with the prospect of a night's entertainment in the larger camp, most began to do so. Perhaps
the Death Valley Chuck-Walla was right, in that a mining camp suffering from the lack of
female entertainment and gambling, and with drinking frowned upon, had too many
disadvantages to survive in the mining frontiers of the early 1900s.
For a combination of these causes, the town of Schwab, after its first several months of
growth, began to stagnate. It lost the townsite battle to Lee, and when the Panic of 1907
closed many of the mines in the Echo-Lee District, it soon became very apparent that two
towns were one too many for the district to support. So many mines clued so quickly in the
fall of 1907 that the Echo Miners Union was disbanded in November.
Schwab died a quick and unmourned death, after only a year of life, and was not heard of
after 1907. The town had never even reached the stage where a wooden building was raised,
so it was relatively simple for the disappointed merchants to pack up their tent stores and
head for brighter horizons. [68]
Schwab is not located where most writers of western lore have assumed it to be. According
to most accounts, the townsite of Schwab was located directly below the Inyo Mine, in the
lower Echo Canyon wash. For this reason, they claimed, no one has ever been-able to
definitely find any remains of Schwab, since the 1930s mining activity at the Inyo site erased
all vestiges of the former town.
But past historians have been mislead by the contemporary accounts of Schwab, such as the

advertisements which placed it only one-half to three-fourths of a mile from the Inyo Mine.
Operations at that mine, between 1907 and the 1930s, covered many different areas of the
company's 214 acres of claims. In 1907, Schwab was only less than a mile from the Inyo
Mine, but from a different portion of the. mine than that operated in the 1930s, where the ball
mill and housing ruins now stand.
The best contemporary description or the location of Schwab is from the Rhyolite Herald of
22 February 1907.
The town of Schwab is situated just below the Inyo and Skibo camps at the junction of the
wagon roads leading up the east arm of Echo canyon and to Death Valley on the south. In
other words, Schwab is located in the north or upper branch of Echo Canyon, astride the main
Echo-Lee wagon road, across a small ridge from the present Inyo ruins, and about 1-1/2
miles from those ruins. At this location, evidence of the old townsite may be found.
The remains consist of seven leveled tent sites, some with ow and crude stone retaining walls
remaining. More tent sites were once present, but have been erased by high water in the
adjacent wash during Death Valley's infrequent but violent flash floods. Two of the tent sites
have eroded cellars behind them, about ten feet square and five feet deep. Since an immense
pile of broken 1900 to 1910-dated beer bottles is located directly behind one of these tent-
cellar sites, it is safe to say that this was the tent saloon, where once twenty-nine men were
counted drinking at one time. The townsite covers several hundred feet along the-shallow
wash which marks the northern branch of Echo Canyon, and remains are mostly restricted to
the west side of that wash On the east side, however, is another tent location, and a shallow,
unmarked grave, a lonely monument to one prospector who ended his days during the brief
life of Schwab. About 300 yards to the west of the townsite is a crude derrick, the remains of
Schwab's well. The well site is dry and completely filled in, but numerous five gallon cans
are scattered along the trail from the well to the townsite.
The remains of Schwab are fragile and scant. The site needs to be examined by historical
archaeologists and deserves interpretation as one of the west's many short-lived mining
camps. It is also in need of some sort of protection to prevent it from disappearing back into
the terrain of the canyon's wash. The Schwab townsite will be nominated to the National
Register in conjunction with the Inyo Mine complex.

Illustrations 176-177. Top: View of the Schwab townsite, looking

southwest. The Inyon Mine ruins are located on the far side of the ridg in
the background. Bottom: A closer view of a portion of the townsite area,
showing the very fragile remains of two tent building sites. The tent site on
the right has an eroded cellar behind it--or in front of it, according to this
view. 1978 photos by John Latschar.

Illustrations 178-179. Top: A close-up of the cellar seen in the previous

photo. Bottom: Unmarked grave site on the east side of the Schwab
townsite. 1978 photos by John Latschar.
c. Echo Townsite
Schwab was not the only town started on the Echo side of the district, for in March of 1907
the owners of the Lee Golden Gate Mining Company inaugurated another town on their
claims. Called Echo, this town was situated about half way between Schwab and Lee, along
the road connecting those two towns, upon a low saddle near the summit of the Funeral
Range. The formation of the new townsite was announced on March 22nd, but although the
townsite owners put in an application for a postoffice, they seemed content to rely upon the
business of the mines in the general vicinity for building their, town, and did not advertise or
promote it in the manner of Lee or Schwab.
By the end of April, the townsite had been platted, and lots were on sale to the public. The
plat was approved by the Inyo County Board of Supervisors on May 10th, but the town never
caught on. Nothing more is heard of this townsite, which never prospered solely because the
mines around it, in the eastern portion of the Echo District, never really got off the ground.
The mines in this section, such as the Lee Golden Gate, the Sunnyside, the Echo-Lee, the
Jumbo and the Burro, never really got out of the prospecting stage,, and thus never employed
a large enough group of miners to support even the smallest of mining camps. Echo townsite
disappeared shortly alter it was born, and was never heard of again. [69]
Remains at this site are even more scant than those at Schwab, and probably would not be
discovered by anyone who was not particularly looking for a townsite in the general area.
No more than four level tent sites may be found, with the smallest of possible retaining walls.
Near these is a pile of debris and tin cans, the size of which would seem to indicate that no
more than halt a dozen people lived here for no more than half a year. The townsite scars are
very fragile and probably will soon disappear, but the site is far from deserving National
Register nomination, unless determined by a historical archaeologist to have archaeological
significance.
d. Miscellaneous Echo-Lee District Sites
As might be expected from the history of the Echo-Lee District, the entire southern Funeral
Range is dotted with shafts, adits and prospect holes. These may be seen along the Echo-Lee

wagon road, from several miles below Schwab all the way to Lee. None of these sites have a
significant role to play in the interpretation of the Echo-Lee District, but several will be
discussed briefly.
Site 1: About a mile below the Inyo mill site stands the ruins of a cabin, commonly called the
Saddle Cabin, for its location near a low saddle cutting the ridge which divides the lower
from the upper Echo Canyon roads, This cabin, which measures twenty feet square, was
standing in 1973 but has since fallen victim to the elements and collapsed. The cabin had a
cement floor and stone foundation walls supporting that floor, and nearby is a crude dugout
shelter, probably used as a vehicle cover. Although we cannot be sure, the cabin was
probably built and used during the 1930s era of mining at the Inyo Gold, and has been
unused since that time. Its general condition and lack of historical significance makes any
preservation efforts unwarranted.
Site 2: In upper Echo Canyon, along the old Echo-Lee road, are some ruins which may be
traced to an earlier date. Located along the sides of the wash about 3-1/2 miles up the canyon
from Schwab townsite, are several old tent platform and building sites. One of the platform
sites has little more than a collection of mining debris collected by a previous tourist, and
another has the ruins of a wooden platform, measuring sixteen by twenty-four feet, which
was used to floor a tent structure. Nearby are the ruins of a collapsed wooden building,
measuring about fourteen by twenty-eight feet, and a well-preserved dugout. All these sites
were undoubtedly used as living quarters during the Echo-Lee boom period, and the mines at
which the inhabitants worked may easily be seen along the sides of the canyon walls. This
general area also has a twelve by sixteen foot cabin, which still stands, and is in generally
good condition. The cabin is still occupied intermittently by one of the west's desert hermits,
who hangs out a welcome sign for all travelers who happen to come his way. None of the
structures or ruins on this site are significant or deserve preservation efforts. However, they
should not be demolished, reclaimed or naturalized, but rather should be allowed to suffer
benign neglect" and the effects of natures forces.

Illustration 180. Map of Southeastern Portion of Big Dune Area.

Illustrations 181-182. Top: Echo townsite was located along the main Echo-
Lee road, and stretched between the photographer and the vehicle as shown
in this picture. The townsite scars are so minute that they will not show up
in this general view. Bottom: The ruins of the collapsed Saddle Cabin. 1978
Site 3: High above the previous site is a series of 1907-era mines, at the very top of the
Funeral Range. Located at the end of a perilous wagon road which follows the lip of the
ridge, this complex has four shafts, most of which are well timbered, and the usual traces of
past mining efforts, including a concrete engine mount near one of the shafts, and a crude
wooden hoisting frame near another. The road leading up to this complex was improved from
a burro trail at some time, and the wagon road is complete with a circle at the upper end,
where wagons could turn around, provided they were careful not to fall to the floor of Echo
canyon, hundreds of feet below. This site is interesting, but due to the multitude of mines in
the area, and the rather inexact descriptions given for most of them in the contemporary
newspapers, it is impossible to connect a specific mining company to the site. Visiting it is
well worth while for the exciting ride and spectacular view, but it does not deserve
preservation efforts. Again, the ruins on this site should not be obliterated, but rather left to
the ages.

Illustrations 183-184. The cabin and the remins of the wooden tent platform
at Site #2, in Echo Canyon. The air vents of the dugout may be seen behind
the platform in the lower photo. 1978 photos by John Latschar.

Illustrations 185-186. Top: A general view of Site #3, high on a ridge in the
Funeral Mountains. The wagon road, which provided access to this site,
may be seen in the immediate foreground. Bottom: View of the access road
and burro trail leading up to Site #3. The photographer is standing on the
wagon road, which may be followed down towards the right side of the
picture, while the older burro trail can be seen winding around the ridge to
the left. 1978 photos by John Latschar.
Sites 4: About a quarter of a mile away, in the next canyon to the north, stands the
unappealing remains of a post-World War II mining effort. This site has a decripit wood and
paper shack, the remains of a stone-walled building, a leveled tent site, and an untimbered
shaft. The shaft has a crude whim, powered by a World War II surplus Dodge Power Wagon,
and judging by the condition of the vehicle and winch, has not been used for quite a number
of years. The shack, however, was lived in, at least on a temporary basis, as late as 1975,
judging by the garbage and magazines strewn about inside. The site lacks significance and
deserves no preservation efforts.
Site 5: Towards the Lee side of the district, once one has crossed the summit of the Funeral
Range and begun to descent towards the Amargosa Valley, stands another relic of a 1930s-
era attempt to revive one of the Lee mines. This site contains a rusty tin shack standing next
to an older tent platform site, and was evidently used by some lonely desert hermit who tried
to revive one of the several old mines visible in the immediate vicinity. It also lacks historical
significance and deserves no preservation efforts.
e. General Echo-Lee District Recommendations
The Echo-Lee District offers Death Valley National Monument one of its greatest potential
historic areas. Using the present roads and jeep trails, a four-wheel drive vehicle can easily
negotiate the entire distance across the Funeral Range from Schwab to Lee. With periodic
grading, normal passenger cars could be offered an exciting and adventurous excursion,
similar to the Titus Canyon road experience--and probably at less cost, since maintenance
costs for the Echo Canyon road would be less.

Illustrations 187-188. Top: General view of the mine, Power Wagon, and
cabin at Site #4. Bottom: The wood and tin shack on Site #5. 1978 photos
by John Latschar.
Starting at the junction of Furnace Creek road and the Echo Canyon jeep trail, the visitor
would first travel up through lower Echo Canyon, where the walls of the canyon rise straight
up cut of the desert floor in much the same way as does lower Titus Canyon. After passing
through the impressive lower canyon, the visitor could then stop at the Inyo Mine and mill
complex, then double back to the upper Echo Canyon road and stop at Schwab. Further up
the canyon, on the old Schwab-Lee road, a short but arduous hike could be offered to the
more energetic visitors, whereby they could view the "Furnace" mine complex. Further up
the canyon road is Site #2, with its assorted ruins.
After climbing out of Echo Canyon along the old road, adventurous visitors could then follow
the old wagon road along the crest of the ridge to Site #3, and the less adventurous could
continue to follow the main road up over the crest of the Funeral Range and down to Lee.
Along the way, the townsite of Echo could be seen, before the travelers descended into the
Amargosa Valley at the sites of Lee townsite and the Hayseed Mine.
At this point, several options would be available. The route could be retraced back to Furnace
Creek, or the visitors could continue on. Turning to the north, they could follow the old
Rhyolite-Lee road out towards Rhyolite, crossing the grade of the Tonopah & Tidewater
Railroad on the way, and return to Death Valley via Daylight Pass. Sidetrips could be made,
as desired, to Rhyolite, the Original Bullfrog Mire, the Homestake and Gold King mill ruins,
the Chloride Cliff District, or through Titus Canyon. To the south from Lee, the road to
Leeland Station on the Tonopah & Tidewater could be followed, and then the visitor could
return to Death Valley through Furnace Creek.
Whichever option is followed, a trip such as this would offer the visitor a combination of
scenic beauty, spectacular views, an exciting ride, and numerous interpretive possibilities.
The interpretation could be carried out either through signing at the sites, a trip booklet
available at the visitors center, or a combination of both. Such a visitor experience as this is
not available anywhere else in Death Valley National Monument.


Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION IV:
EAST SIDE
C. The Black Mountains
1. Introduction
As the reader is by now undoubtedly aware, the history of the entire east side of Death Valley
was dominated by the great Bullfrog boom. This influence, which we have already seen in
the Bullfrog Hills and the Funeral Range, was no less evident in the Black Mountains, to the
south of the Funeral Range. Like the above territories, the history of mining in the Black
Mountains is dominated by the story of various and sundry booms and busts, all subsidiary to
the Bullfrog boom to the north. At a glance, therefore, the history of the mines and mining
camps in this section is not too different than those related above. But there were two distinct
phenomena which showed up in this section. Although neither of these are particularly
surprising on their own rights, they both emphasize telling points concerning the success or
failure of desert mining camps.
The first was the amazing stampede into Greenwater. That spectacular rush will be described
in more detail later, so it suffices to point out here that in Greenwater we see the final
culmination of the unbelievable boom spirit which had been prevailing in the desert mining
camps since the discovery of Tonopah in 1900. Since that discovery, scores of boom towns
had been added to the map in southern Nevada and southeastern California, and each seemed
to proclaim to the world that the new era of mining booms was here to stay. Untold riches
were buried beneath the desert floor, and all one had to do was dig almost anywhere to
secure a fortune. That spirit reached its height in conjunction with the Greenwater stampede--
and the subsequent Greenwater bust marked the beginning of the decline of the early
twentieth-century mining booms.

Illustration 189. Map of the Black Mountains.
On a less psychological note, the mining camps of the Black Mountains also pointed out quite
clearly the ever-present handicaps against which desert mining camps were forced to
struggle--the search for water, fuel and transportation. At the time of the mining booms in the
Black Mountains, Rhyolite was far and away the largest supply center in the entire Death
Valley region, and the farther south one moved from Rhyolite, the more expensive food, fuel
and supplies became. Thus the farther one moved from Rhyolite, the more expensive it was
to open a mine, and the richer one's ore had to be in order to reap a profit. In addition, the
fact that water sources grew fewer and farther between as one moved south multiplied the
problems of expenses and even survival. Mines, in short, which would have become
producers in the Bullfrog Hills were totally unprofitable in the Black Mountains. These dual
problems of water and transportation are the constant factors in the determination of the
success or failure of mines in this section.
On an entirely different note, it seems fitting to give the reader a word of warning at this
point. This study has been based heavily upon the accounts of mines as printed in
contemporary mining camp newspapers and national mining journals, neither of which
sources are completely reliable, Mining camp newspapers were always wont to emphasize the
positive and ignore the negative in their reporting, for the success of the paper depended upon
the success of the camp. Thus, as we have seen time after time, mines which are reported to
be healthy, productive and rich in one issue of a paper are suddenly closed by the time the

next issue hit the street, without a word of explanation from the friendly editor. National
mining journals, while more prestigious, are hardly more reliable in their weekly coverage,
since the great majority of their news came from the editors of local papers, who served as
stringers for the national syndicates.
But the editors and papers should not totally shoulder the blame, for they in turn relied upon
the mine owners and superintendents for their information. With this in mind, the following
article, which appeared in the Inyo Independent in 1882, should be enough to emphasize the
dangers of relying upon such biased sources for information concerning a mine:
Recently, says an exchange, a Nevada man invented a lying machine, and went
around trying to sell 'em. The machine was warranted to trot out a first-class lie
on any subject, at a moment's notice. But it didn't sell well. He took it to an
editor. Said the editor: "Come, you get out of this. I tell the truth in my
business." The inventor presented it to a lawyer, but he also looked horror-
stricken and offended. A fishing party looked hankeringly at it, but their
language was to the effect that they abhorred untruth. At last the disheartened
inventor tried a mining superintendent, who flew mad in a minute. "You
scoundrel," he cried, "do you mean to insult me?" "No," tremblingly answered
the man. "Then what in blazes do you mean by offering me that thing?" "Why I--
I thought you might occasionally want to use it in your business." "You wretch,
what do you take me for?" "Oh, sir, I didn't mean to insinuate that you could tell
a lie." "That's it " cried the superintendent; "that's what I'm mad about. You
conceited ass, you think you're able to invent a machine that I can't lie all around,
and that without an effort. I never was so insulted in all my life! Get!" And he
immediately set to work writing his weekly reports.
Since this type of reporting was more evident in Greenwater than in any other boom camp in
Death Valley, a word to the wise should be sufficient.

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION IV:
EAST SIDE
C. The Black Mountains (continued)
2. The Greenwater District
a. History
Greenwater Valley was the site of the most spectacular boom in the history of Death Valley
mining. While other districts, such as Bullfrog, Lee-Echo, Panamint, Skidoo and Leadfield
had their booms, which saw rushes into new mining areas and the establishment of new
mining camps and towns, Greenwater surpassed all the others in the brilliance of its birth.
Within a year and a half from the beginning of the rush to Greenwater, the deserted desert
was home to over two thousand inhabitants in four towns, seventy-three incorporated mining
companies, and was the focal point of over 140 million dollars worth of capitalization.
But it was not only the amazing rush to Greenwater which sets it apart from other booms, for
Greenwater also experienced the shortest life ever recorded for a boom camp of its size.
Within one year from the height of the boom, all but five of the companies had left the
district, and Greenwater was practically deserted. By the end of two more years, everyone
had given up, and the Greenwater Valley, the scene of so much bustle and excitement a short
time before, was once again completely deserted. This combination of a tremendous boom, a
brief life and then complete desertion, all within the space of less than four years, has made
Greenwater a name which is still anathema to the investing public, and dear to the hearts of
desert folklorists. Few, if any, mining camps in the American west have ever combined such
initial excitement with such total disappointment.
Inevitably, considering the popular place of Greenwater in the annals of western folklore, it is
sometimes difficult to separate the fact from the fiction surrounding the history of the
district--and there is no lack of either. Although the argument about who really discovered
Greenwater started as early as 1906 and has continued ever since, it seems apparent that the
honor must be divided. Some prospectors later claimed that they had made copper locations
in Greenwater Valley as early as the late 1890s, but the obvious difficulties inherent in
mining copper in an isolated spot caused such locations, if made, to be abandoned.
The real discovery of Greenwater, as with most throughout the Death Valley area, came
about as a result of the Bullfrog boom, sixty-five miles to the north. As noted before, the
great rush to the Bullfrog Hills soon filled up the ground in that vicinity with location notices,
and late-arriving prospectors were forced to move farther afield. Two such men, Fred Birney
and Phil Creasor, ambled south down the east side of the Black Mountain Range, and in
February of 1905, while looking for gold, uncovered rich surface croppings of an immense
copper belt in Greenwater Valley. Birney and Creasor sent samples of their find to Patsy

Clark of Spokane, a well-known copper mining operator, and Clark was sufficiently
impressed to buy the claims from the two men in May.
Hearing of Clark's new holdings, which held amazingly high copper values at the surface, F.
August Heinze, the "famous copper king" of Butte, Montana, also visited the new locations,
and was equally impressed. The rich surface showing was so promising that Heinze and his
partners immediately bought sixteen copper claims from another pair of early prospectors for
the neat sum of $275,000. Commenting upon the transaction, which brought newspaper
attention to the area, the Inyo Independent reported that the "vast copper deposits in the
Funeral [sic] range have long been known to prospectors, but their inaccessability to the
markets prevented working." Now, with the booming camp of Bullfrog to the north, and the
promise of railroads into the desert regions, the transportation and supply problems would be
much less severe, although the Greenwater Valley was still a long way from civilization.
As the news quickly spread that two of copper's biggest operators had located in Greenwater,
a mile rush ensued. Prospectors and mining men started to flock into the Greenwater area in
order to stake out close-in ground. As usual with a new boom, transportation problems
exceeded all others, and many prospectors, including one who reported for the Inyo
Independent were reduced to walking from Bullfrog into the new district, a task which took
three days. The work was rough, since even in September the thermometer reached 113
degrees in the afternoon, and the reporter-prospector found that he was forced to sit down
and rest after building each monument to mark his claims. The heat was not alleviated by the
total lack of water in the district, and prospectors who ran out of water were forced to leave
their location work and return to Bullfrog, the nearest point of civilization. [1]
By late June of 1905, Patsy Clark already had eight men working at his property, and a shaft
had been sunk thirty-five feet into the ground. As the year progressed, other operators entered
the scene, including Arthur Kunze, who secured some of the best looking ground in the area
and had five men working it by the end of the year. As 1906 opened, Kunze, Clark and
Heinze began to have plenty of company, for innumerable other mining promoters,
prospectors and miners were entering the district. Clark established a mining camp near his
mine to support his operation, and other small camps sprung up along the valley floor as
mires began to open almost daily.

Illustration 190. A somewhat inaccurate map, published in late 1906, which

nevertheless shows the relative distances involved between Greenwater and
Rhyolite and Amargosa, its two main supply points.
As the rush to the area continued, however, it soon became apparent that the lack of an
adequate water supply anywhere in the vicinity would be a major problem. "The water
proposition is the serious drawback in that section at present, and will be a matter of
considerable expense," remarked a Rhyolite stock broker, "yet the earmarks of the country
seem to show that any expense would be justified, judging from the surface indications."
Those surface indications were were indeed so rich that men and money continued to rush
into the district, regardless of the serious problems of water and transportation. As the spring
progressed, some of the biggest names in Nevada mining joined the boom, and fortunes
reaped in Tonopah and Goldfield were reinvested in the promising new district.
"All of the great copper magnates are looking to this section," reported the Inyo Register in
May, "which is destined to become the next great copper district of the world." That
prediction seemed to be borne out by June of 1906, as the copper belt was "proven" to be at
least seven miles long. Four of the larger mines had by now been incorporated into full-
fledged mining companies, and Greenwater seemed assured of a long and lively life.
The rush slowed down somewhat during the hot summer months of 1906, although the future
of the district looked even better when both the Las Vegas & Tonopah and the Tonopah &
Tidewater Railroads, which were building into the Bullfrog District, expressed interest in

tapping the new copper belt into the south. The local papers declared that the district "will
make one of the greatest copper camps in America," and the continuing rush caused the
major national mining journals to take notice of the area. "The weather in Death Valley is the
only thing that prevents Greenwater from having one of the biggest booms on record in this
country," wrote the Bullfrog Miner. "But even the midsummer heat of the "terrible region"
does not keep prospectors out. Hardly a day passes that Bullfrog prospectors are not seen
starting out for Greenwater." in early July, a stage line was started from Ash Meadows into
the new district, and water, which was being hauled in from fifteen miles away, was selling
for $5 per barrel. [2]
During one week of July, seven different properties were bought and sold in Greenwater, and
by the end of that month, the demand for surveying and assaying support for the prospectors
and promoters was so great that two offices had been established in the district. Over fifty
miners were working for the five companies which had started sinking by the end of July,
innumerable others were combing the hills for promising locations, and the Greenwater
Miners Union was organized. A crude road from the Rhyolite area had been carved out,
which cut travel time to five hours by auto, but still the water problem plagued the
development of the district. In addition, so many claims were being located, sold, exchanged
and relocated that inevitably conflicts began to arise between claim holders.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars had changed hands by the end of July, as feverish trading
of mines and claims took place. Five mining companies were organized, and the capital stock
of four of them reached the figure of $5,750,000. "This week auto after auto loaded with
prospective investors has gone to Greenwater, and the demand locally for horses and rigs has
almost exceeded the supply," reported the Bullfrog Miner. The rush was causing scarcities in
Greenwater, and water rose to $7.50 per barrel, while horse teed was almost as hard to find.
But the rush continued, and "As is usual in new Nevada mining camps the townsite epidemic
has broken out in a decidely virulent form. No less than three towns are already planned, and
it is a difficult matter at this time to tell which is going to be the commercial center of the
district. That there will be a flourishing town in the district goes without saying, but which
and where it will be is a matter of conjecture at this writing. It has the most observing man
guessing."
As more and more prospectors flooded into the area, concerns began to arise over their
welfare. Printed warnings were published in the Rhyolite papers, warning prospectors to
bring all the food and water they would need into the district with them, since none could be
provided there. Water was being hauled from Furnace Creek in Death Valley, but "Teams
making the trip to the creek and back, fifty miles, drink about as much as they can deliver,
making it almost impossible to get any reserve supply. Unless travelers heed the timely
warning there is liable to be real suffering, and perhaps a number of deaths," Several mine
owners, who were importing water to meet the demands of mining and to supply their
employees, publically warred prospective visitors that they could no longer afford to sell
water to private individuals.
But despite all these serious problems, there was no denying the allure of the Greenwater
District, and the rush continued in August. By this time, the district was beginning to take
shape, competing towns had been surveyed and platted, and one of them had established a
boarding house. On July 29th, a meeting was held to organize the new district, in order to
alleviate some of the problems caused by conflicting claims, and to remove the necessity for
prospectors to travel all the way to Independence, California, to record their claims. The
population of the district was now estimated at 300, and several stores and a restaurant had
opened for business. Kimball Brothers, the staging kings of Rhyolite, announced a new stage
line which would make thrice-weekly trips into Greenwater, and one traveler counted over
100 freighting wagons heading towards the district in one day, straining their resources to

supply the growing demands of the new boom camp. Canned tomatoes were an especially
popular item for sale at the crude tent stores, since they were cheaper than water, which was
now selling for $10 a barrel, and quenched the thirst almost as well.
The rush to the new region had several unique aspects, which the local newspapers were
quick to spot. Due to the extremely rich surface showings, money was pouring into the
district at a tremendous rate, before ground was even broken. As the Rhyolite Herald noted,
money seems to have beat labor to the scene of activity, as the big capitalists were on the
ground and buying claims when no work has been done. It is not a poor man's region,"
agreed the Bullfrog Miner, "but one which will require a great deal of money to develop it."
All this business, of course, was good for the Rhyolite area merchants, and the new boom
was looked upon favorably. "All Nevada is taking a hand in this rush," noted the Inyo
Independent "as practically the whole of the United States has been told of its marvelous
deposits of copper, which are revelations to geologists and mining men in general. Although
the district hardly needed another spur to its boom, it got one anyway on August 10th, when
the organization of the Greenwater Death Valley Copper Company was announced. Promoted
by Charles Schwab, the steel and mining millionaire whose name was magic to Nevada
miners, the new company was incorporated for $3,000,000, and together with Patsy Clark's
Furnace Creek Copper Company, assured "a thorough and complete development of the
district."
By the middle of August, the townsite rivalry was beginning to take shape, as two major
competitors emerged from the dust. Arthur Kunze was the chief promoter of the first, and his
town seemed to have the edge. Alternating between the name of Kunze and Greenwater,
Kunze's townsite was located midway between the mines of the Furnace Creek Copper
Company and the Greenwater Death Valley Copper Company--the districts two largest
mines. By mid-August, Kunze's townsite boasted of two stores, and a hotel, a restaurant and
several corrals were under construction. The Salsberry Water Company was under contract to
Kunze to keep the camp supplied with water, and a petition was sent in for the establishment
of a Post Office.
The Kimball Brothers obligingly routed their stage line to Kunze's townsite, and the Tonopah
Lumber Company, in addition to establishing a lumber yard to supply the hectic construction
pace, sent down several 12-horse teams, to be used in hauling supplies from Johnnie Siding
of the Tonopah & Tidewater Railroad to the new townsite. The lumber company, in addition,
supplied a 2,500 gallon water tank for the townsite company, and Kunze's plat of the town,
which showed thirty-two blocks with over 550 lots for sale, was approved by the Inyo
County Commissioners on August 13th. Assessing the situation, the Bullfrog Miner predicted
that Kunze's camp seemed to have the inside track over it main rival, the townsite promoted
by Harry Ramsey.
Just to add to the confusion, Ramsey also insisted on calling his townsite Greenwater,
although it was commonly called Ramsey, and less commonly called Copperfield. Whatever
it was called, its location was hard to pin down, since it was variously described as being one
to four miles east or southeast of Kunze's camp. Nor did Ramsey help alleviate the confusion
when he moved his site around at least once. Nevertheless, Ramsey vigorously promoted his
own town, and even tore down his iron office building at Rhyolite and moved it to
Greenwater-Ramsey-Copperfield.
As the rush continued, one observer counted $25,000 worth of supplies heading into the
Greenwater District in one day, and another counted 200 miners and prospectors in the area,
not including those who were out in the hills surrounding the camps. The Engineering
Mining Journal assessing the Greenwater boom, noted that the "copper finds there recently

have brought about an excitement equal to that at Bullfrog two years ago. Hundreds of
people from Tonopah, Goldfield, Lida, Palmetto and the Bullfrog towns are traveling towards
Greenwater in all sorts of conveyances. As high as $200 is being paid to automobile
companies for transportation by wealthy operators who are anxious to get in early."
But getting into Greenwater was not that easy for those who could not afford the $200 to rent
an auto. Those who arrived by train via Johnnie Siding could sometimes hitch a ride on one
of the big freight teams constantly traveling between the railhead and Greenwater, but that
trip took from twelve to fifteen hours. The Kimball stage took just as long, for the relatively
reasonable rate of $18 per passenger, but spaces were limited, and numerous travelers found
themselves forced to wait at Johnnie Siding for a day or two before their turn on the stage
came. One migrant described his trip to the Bullfrog Miner, "It's a fright of a trip; 55 miles
from Johnnie siding,; sand most of the way. Stage leaves Johnnie siding 3:00 p.m.; had
supper at Ash Meadows; camped for the night 10 miles this side of it." Once arrived at
Greenwater, the situation was not much better. "About 70 to 100 men here and about 100
gallons of water, 15¢ per gallon. Meals $1 transiently, regular 1.50 a day. Store and a
restaurant here and about a dozen tents. The camp is on Kunze's ground. Clark [Patsy Clark's
mining camp, also known as Furnace] is about 2 miles west and Ramsey 2 or 3 miles east"

Illustration 191. Advertisement for Ramsey's townsite, variously known as

Greenwater, Ramsey and Copperfield. From the Bullfrog Miner, 31 August
1906.
As August came to an end, the Greenwater District braced itself for the increasing rush which
would undoubtedly come with the cooler weather of the fall and winter. Arthur Kunze and
Harry Ramsey continued to promote their towns, and endeavored to attract the merchants
which would make their camps the winner. Ramsey formed the Greenwater Townsite
Company to promote his camp, and by the end of August he had a restaurant, two saloons, a
hotel and a store. Kunze, meanwhile, had completed arrangements with several merchants,
and the Greenwater Banking Corporation was organized, with a capitalization of $100,000,
as well as the Greenwater Mercantile Company, which planned to erect a large general
merchandise store. In addition, Kunze's site had a lodging house, a store, a saloon, a
restaurant, and a number of tents as well as a "first class assay office.
Kunze seemed to have an advantage over Ramsey, since his townsite was higher in the hills,
and was cooler than Ramseys site, which was on the floor of Greenwater Valley--an
important consideration. The local folk, however, were divided in their assessment of the
future winner of the townsite struggle, although the Rhyolite Herald picked Ramsey's camp
to win. But whoever won, "the townsites are lining up for the struggle of supremacy and
everything points to a prosperous fail and winter." [3]
As the fall season opened, the anticipated rush to the Greenwater District exceeded all
expectations. The ingoing stages were crowded beyond capacity, and the congestion of
freight and passengers at Johnnie Siding grew alarming. Huge piles of freight built up at the
railhead, and many prospectors were reduced to walking the fifty-five miles to the camps.
The competing townsites took advantage of the rush to proclaim their respective appeals.
Ramsey's camp, despite being moved, still gave stiff competition to Arthur Kunze's town and
Patsy Clark's camp of Furnace--although the latter was never intended to be more than a
convenient camp for the miners working at Clark's Furnace Creek Copper Company mines.
Dr. S. Trask of San Francisco was persuaded by Kunze to move into his town and start a drug
store, a new saloon was started, and Bob Brogleman, proprietor of the Greenwater Mercantile
Company, began construction of his large store. Several more boarding and lodging houses
sprang up at Kunze's camp, until he could boast that ample boarding and lodging
accommodations could be had. The Greenwater Banking Corporation started in business, and
although the price of water declined slightly to 15¢ per gallon, water was still such a problem
that the Ash Meadows Water Company was organized, at a capitalization of $3,000,000, in
order to pump and pipe water in from that site to the growing towns of Greenwater.
By the middle of September, Jack Salsberry of the Tonopah Lumber Company reported that
he had sold 150,000 board feet of lumber in Greenwater, and had orders backed up for
300,000 feet more. In addition, the lumber company had contracted to haul 625 tons of
freight into the district, including 120 tons for the Kunze townsite and 16 tons alone for
Brogleman's store. The lumber company by now had large water holding tanks erected at
both Kunze's and Ramsey's townsites, and had several six-horse teams constantly hauling in
water to supply the tanks.
Even though over 100 men were employed in the fourteen mines working in the district,
labor was becoming scarce, as most men preferred to prospect on their own in the hopes of
striking it rich, rather than settling down to a regular job. But as the boom continued, the
camps seemed to show signs of being able to handle the influx of migrants. Although water
still cost from $8 to $0 per barrel, "and the expense of feeding a mule is still as great as the
money paid by a sojourner at a first-class hotel in New York City," there was at least enough

tents so that most men who wished could sleep under cover, and it was possible to obtain
food in the camps. In order to supply the increasing crowds, the Kimball Brothers increased
their stage service from Johnnie Siding to a daily basis, and promised to try to make the trip
to Greenwater in one day.
Al Neilson, the recorder of the Greenwater District, reported on September 21st that he had
recorded 700 claims since the district was officially organized on September 6th. The Inyo
Independent reported in mid-September that the district now had at least 1,000 people, with
more crowding in every day. As could be expected in the midst of such a boom, trading in
Greenwater stocks went wild. One company, the Independent reported, could fix its total
value at $5 million based upon the selling price of its stock, even though it had sunk only to a
depth of 280 feet, and had shipped no ore. The Associated Press, in turn, reported that during
a two week period in September, sales aggregating a grand total of $4,125,000 had been
made in Greenwater, and the "price of everything in the district has shot sky high." The
Engineering & Mining Journal noted that Greenwater was "no place for a poor man, as
provisions and water are both high in price, though on the other hand any prospect which
may be found may be sold."
The Rhyolite brokerage firm of Taylor & Griffiths, who were gleefully trading Greenwater
stocks as fast as they could get their hands on them, also reported the same trend. "The
interest in the Greenwater district is intense. The demand for good properties is far in excess
of the supply." As examples, Furnace Creek Copper stock, which had a par value of $1, and
which was initially sold for 50¢ per share, was now trading around $4.50 per share, and
Greenwater Death Valley was selling around $2. Furnace Creek Extension stock was put on
the market at its par value of $1 per share, and was immediately oversubscribed, even though
the company had not yet stuck a single pick into the ground. Greenwater, in short, was a
promoters dream.
As September came to an end, it seemed sometimes that all of Rhyolite was decamping for
the new district. Ramsey's town reported a population of 200, and at Kunze's, Bob Brogleman
reported doing a land office business at his merchandise store, even though he hadn't finished
building it yet. The Rhyolite papers began to blossom with large and elaborate advertisements
placed by Greenwater companies, most of whom were not yet working. In September alone,
six more mining companies were incorporated, bringing the total in the district to sixteen.
The capitalization of thirteen of those companies totaled over $20 million. [4]
The month of October saw the height of Greenwater's boom, as everyone took advantage of
the cooler fall weather to get into the district and locate good ground. During this month
alone, fourteen more mining companies were incorporated in the district. As usual, some of
these companies had mines, and some did not. With the great proliferation of mines and
mining companies, moreover, the less honest of the mining promoters found it easy to cash in
on the unbelievable boom spirit which surrounded the Greenwater name. Taking their cues
from the two leading mines of the district, the Furnace Creek Copper Company and the
Greenwater Death Valley Copper Company, a confusing list of mining companies appeared
on the local trading boards, as well as those in San Francisco and New York. Who, for
example, could hope to remember the difference between the Furnace Creek Copper
Company, the Greenwater Furnace Creek Copper Company, and the Furnace Creek
Consolidated Copper Company, let alone the Greenwater Consolidated Copper Company, the
Greenwater Copper Mining Company, the Greenwater United Copper Company, the United
Greenwater Copper Company and the Greenwater Copper Company, each of which was a
distinct organization?

Illustration 192. Ramsey, Greenwater District. Unfortunately, our only

photo of Ramsey's townsite, alternatively known as Greenwater, Ramsey
and Copperfield, is a rather poor one. This view was taken by
representatives of the Engineering & Mining Journal during their trip to the
area in October of 1906, and was printed in the Journal of December 15th.
Photo courtesy of William Metscher collection, Central Nevada Historical
Society.

Illustration 193. An early Greenwater mining advertisement, from the

Rhyolite Herald, 19 October 1906.
As with the mines, the towns of Greenwater also entered a true boom period. Construction
began in early October on a two-story building for the Greenwater Banking Corporation, and
a safe was ordered to store its money. By the middle of the month, the Inyo Independent
reported that investment capital in the new district had already reached the $15 million mark.
Every prominent copper operator in the United States had some interest in the district, and
claims had been staked for twenty miles on every side of Greenwater. Over forty mining
engineers had made reports on the mineral potential of the area for their respective
employers, and it was the "unanimous opinion that Greenwater will excel in copper
production, both the camps of Bisbee and Butte." [5]
The district by this time had 450 men and four women, and Kunze's town of Greenwater had
five saloons, three restaurants, two general merchandise stores, and three lodging houses,
where cots or springs on an old dry goods box cost $1 per night. Telegraph and telephone
lines were being run from Bullfrog to Greenwater, and were nearing the town. Some luxuries
were available, but when the first case of champagne entered the district, there were so many
potential buyers that it was put up for action and sold for $150. Due to the lack of ice, liquor
and water were both cooled by being stored in gunny sacks. The water itself served many
purposes, first being used to wash dishes, second to wash clothes, and then given to the mules
and burros to drink.
Happily, wages soared as high as prices, since miners who were willing to work steadily
instead of prospecting on their own were somewhat rare. Unskilled miners and common
laborers commanded $4.50 per day, carpenters were paid $8 daily and were in great demand
due to the building boom, and expert miners received $5 to $5.50 per day. No one worked
more than an eight-hour day. The boom is growing more tremendous with each day, summed
up the Inyo Independent "Tons of machinery are being crowded into the Greenwater district;
freight has become congested; every team for miles has been pressed into service and people
are hurrying into the district as fast as the stage line can carry them."
Between forty and fifty mule teams were hauling in supplies from Johnnie Siding, but no
progress was made in reducing the back-load which was still piled high at the railhead.
Kunze's camp of Greenwater was booming, and as much as $1500 was reported to have been
paid for an inside lot. Kunze even succeeded in landing the pearl of every self-respecting
mining camp, its own newspaper. On October 23d, the first issue of the Greenwater Times
appeared on the streets. It was an eight page paper, published every Tuesday by James Brown
and Frank Reber, and halt of its eight pages were canned material. Nevertheless, the rest of
the issue was chock full of new, gossip and tidbits, some confusing and most exaggerated.
By this time the camp of Greenwater was beginning to change from a tent to a board town,
and the Greenwater Times was sure to note all the newly constructed buildings. Bob
Brogleman, proprietor of the Greenwater Mercantile Company, had a thirty by sixty toot
frame building with a "handsome rustic front," which housed his store, hotel and restaurant.
Messrs. Smith and Owsley had the newest saloon, in a twenty by thirty-foot frame building
with a shingled roof, John Salsbury had an eighteen by thirty-foot office building almost
completed, and his thirty by sixty-foot store building would be finished in a few days. Arthur
Kunze's building was almost completed and it would house the Post Office, which had been
granted to his townsite, as well as the bank and his private office. E. L. Phelps had his saloon
in a boarded tent, Tom Murphy was building a men's furnishings store, and J. J. Griffith had
let a contract for a twenty-room hotel. Commenting upon the building boom, the Greenwater
Times smugly predicted that it was "safe to prognosticate that Greenwater will be growing
thirty years hence." After all, the "future of the city of Greenwater is surely as open and

easily read as any book--and the reading says it's the greatest copper city of a century."
The advertisements carried in this first issue of Greenwater's paper give an insight into other
business establishments in the town. In addition to the ones mentioned above, the Greenwater
Brokerage Company, the Greenwater Restaurant, Edward Behten's real estate, investments
and mining office, the Do Drop Inn, the Greenwater Lumber Yard, the McKinney Glover
law, mining, real estate and brokerage company, the Greenwater Club, Hunter & Hutner's
civil, mining and electrical engineering firm, J. C. Davidson, notary public, Reber &
Company's real estate and mining information offices, the Bank Saloon, and Kennedy &
Lass's assaying and surveying service, all placed advertisements in the paper.
The booming mining business was also good for the labor interests, and by late October, the
Greenwater Miners Union was over 00 strong. Meetings were held every Tuesday, and the
Greenwater Townsite Company donated two "very fine lots to the union, where they intended
to build their union hall. The miners started a fund drive to build and staff a union hospital,
and proudly proclaimed its motto across the pages of the Greenwater Times "It is Justice the
World Needs! Not Charity!"
In other news, the Times reported that the chief engineer for the Las Vegas & Tonopah
Railroad was in town to select the best rail route into the district, and that due to public
demand for living space, Patsy Clark had agreed to throw open his townsite of Furnace,
which had hitherto been reserved for employees of his mine. Then, as was fitting, the first
issue of the Greenwater Times closed with a large advertisement for the Greenwater Townsite
Company. Greenwater was, according to this ad, "The Greatest Copper City of the Century."
The payroll at its mines already exceeded that of Beatty, Bullfrog and Rhyolite combined,
and $52,500 in real estate had been sold in Greenwater in the month of September. Still,
however, business lots were available at "ground floor prices" to anyone interested.
Less than a week later, the Inyo Independent took its turn at marveling at the wonder of the
eastern California desert. Lock at the place, the paper said, where back in July only one tent
was to be seen. Now Greenwater was a well laid out city, with over 1,000 people in the
district. At the present rate, the population would be 2,000 before the year was over The
Bullfrog Miner, noting the same week that nearly $20,000,000 had been invested in 100
claims in the last six months at Greenwater, agreed that "by far the most sensational jump
into prominence of any mining camp added to the map in many years is that of Greenwater . .
. Greenwater is without doubt the greatest copper mining territory ever found in the world."
Only the Engineering & Mining Journal, the far away and much more staid publication,
managed to hold its breath. In a much more realistic appraisal, and one which immediately
became immensely unpopular in Greenwater, the Journal noted that the "district is too new,
however, to permit of trustworthy predictions as to its future, and it will take many months
before development work can be carried far enough to establish its real value, and make it a
factor in copper production. The present indications, however, are promising."
Although the Engineering & Mining Journal was absolutely correct in stating that it would be
many months before anyone began making money by mining copper, that was too cold an
assessment for a boom town. There were much easier and quicker methods of making money
in a boom town, and although all of them were risky, there was not a lack of men who were
wilting to try. Charles Crismor, for example, was a favorite Horatio Alger-type story much
played up by the local papers. Arriving in Rhyolite in January of 1906 with 30¢ in his pocket,
he had entered the restaurant business there. With the advent of the Greenwater boom,
Crismor had grubstaked two prospectors with left-over food from his dining room, and by the
1st of November had sold the claims which they staked for a $150,000 profit. Such was the
way money was made at Greenwater. The promoters who bought those prospects, in turn,
incorporated a mining company to find cut if there was any ore in the ground, and sold stock

shares to the investing public, which by now extended from the west to the east coast. The
promoters paid themselves salaries out of the proceeds of the stock sales, and used the rest of
the funds to look for ore. Only if ore was found would a profit flow back to the stockholders.
H the meantime, as long as the boom lasted and people could be persuaded to invest their
money in Greenwater's mines, everyone on the ground was making money.
As the boom continued and the mineral district spread farther and farther out across the
desert, new towns appeared to accommodate those miners who lived too far from
Greenwater, Copperfield or Furnace to walk to work. South Greenwater, for example, was
started on the grounds of the Pittsburgh-Greenwater Copper Company, fifteen miles south of
Greenwater itself, in early November, Later that month, the town of East Greenwater was
started, to serve the mines in that area, approximately eight miles east. At about the same
time, the first gas hoists began to arrive in the district, marking the transition of some of the
companies from the exploration to the development stage of mining. Eleven more mining
companies were incorporated in November, bringing the total in the district to forty-one.
Many times that number of small mines, locations and prospects were also being held and
worked by individual miners who were awaiting the proper price to sell their locations to
mining companies.
And the towns continued to grow. Our best information concerns Kunze's Greenwater, since
the Greenwater Times naturally boosted its own town over the rival camps. By November
6th, Greenwater had two barber shops, and twenty wooden buildings were in the course of
construction. A lawyer had moved to town, to take advantage of the lucrative fees involved in
the inevitable mining conflicts, Paul Wiesse had started a butcher shop, and two more
restaurants were ready to open, bringing the total to five. T, E. Blake opened a shoe repair
shop, two more offices full of mining engineers and surveyors opened, and J. C. Collins
announced the grand opening of his Undertaker and Scientific Embalmer' services. So many
carpenters were now in camp, serving the demands of the building boom, that they organized
themselves as a local branch of the Nevada carpenters union.
Despite the boom fever, there were several firms besides the Engineering & Mining Journal
which managed to resist the excitement of the rush. William Clark, president of the Las
Vegas & Tonopah Railroad, for example, resisted the heavy local pressure to begin
immediate construction of a branch line into Greenwater, and instead more reasonably
announced that the branch road would be built "just as soon as we are fully assured of the
camps' permanency." The pressure on Clark was tremendous, for if Greenwater did turn into a
productive camp, the first railroad into the district would reap enormous profits. !n addition,
the Greenwater fever had invaded the Clark family itself, for J. Ross Clark, William's brother,
had invested in the district and incorporated the Clark Copper Company.
By the middle of November, the Greenwater phenomenon could no longer be called a boom
or a rush in the usual meanings of those terms, and the Inyo Register described it best as a
"stampede." No less than 100 people, said that paper, were arriving in the district every day,
and still the demand for labor far exceeded the supply, since most of the newcomers preferred
to look for their private bonanzas rather than settle down to shift work in the mines. As a
partial remedy, mine superintendents had taken to placing pickets down the trails leading into
town, in order to grab the miners as they arrived, and offer them jobs.
But the district still had several rather insurmountable problems, and in mid-November one
of them was graphically highlighted when one of the water wagons serving the holdings tanks
of the town broke down. An immediate panic ensued, and water prices shot up to $20 per
barrel before the wagon could be repaired. It was a reminder, if any need be had, that
Greenwater would never become a producing district until the water and transportation
problems were solved, for under the present services only the very highest grades of copper

ore could be profitably shipped out of the district.
Illustration 194. View of Kunze's Greenwater in late 1906, shortly before

the townsite merger of Kunze and Ramsey's townsites. One large wooden
building has been completed, and another is in the course of construction,
while numerous tent and frame structures, the common mode of living, are
much in evidence. Note the piles of lumber on the ground, the two freight
teams in the middle of the street, and the feed yard in the center foreground.
Photo courtesy Nevada Historical Society.

Illustrations 195-196-197. Several street scences in the bustling life of

Kunze's Greenwater townsite. Unfortunately, shortly after these photos
were taken, the townsite merger was announced, and most of the buildings
were taken down and moved out into the flat to the site of New Greenwater.
Photos courtesy Nevada Historical Society. Unfortunately, no photos
survive of the combined town of New Greenwater, formed by the merger of
Kunze's and Ramsey's camps.
By the end of November, the Greenwater stampede was of such proportions that although the
district had yet to ship a single sack of ore, it was getting almost weekly coverage by the
national mining journals. California and Nevada prospectors, miners and capitalists are
thronging into the new copper camp of Greenwater . . . . as fast as they can get there by
automobile, stage, wagon, burro or afoot wrote the Engineering & Mining Journal "The trails
across Death Valley and the Amargosa desert are filled with men on the way. Rich men,
ready to buy anything with a likely look are plentiful, which is a sure proof that the camp is
on the boom . . . . From a population of 75 at the end of October, the camp has grown to
1,000 in a few weeks, and not less than 100 men a day are arriving. Labor is in demand, and
already about 500 miners have been set to work on the big properties, and as fast as
experienced miners come in they are at once given employment." As one single example of
the continuing boom, Thomas W. Lawson of Boston, a noted copper operator and

millionaire, purchased the Greenwater Red Boy and Greenwater Saratoga Mining Companies
in late November for a reported $2,000,000 in hard cash, and immediately announced plans
to erect a copper smelter. Indicative of this boom spirit purchase is the fact that Lawson
intimated that the smelter would be built at Greenwater, regardless of the fact that there was
no where nearly enough water anywhere around Greenwater to support a smelting plant. One
wonders how carefully Lawson considered his purchase before laying down his money.
By now the Greenwater boom was so great that the competition between the Kunze and
Ramsey townsites became impractical. Kunze's site, due to its location nearer the larger
mines, and its success in obtaining a Post Office, a newspaper and several leading business
houses, was clearly leading in the townsite race over Ramsey's camp, but there were
problems involved in Kunze's physical location. His camp was perched up in the Greenwater
Hills, practically on the end line of the Greenwater Death Valley Copper Company mines,
and only a wooden fence kept drunken miners from walking off the end of one of Kunze's
streets into one of the mines' shafts.
In addition, the leading mine owners of the district realized that a railroad was an absolute
necessity for the future prosperity of Greenwater, and building a railroad into Kunze's town
would be difficult, due to its location in the hills overlooking Greenwater Valley. Nor were
the railroad interests very anxious to build directly into the heart of the mining district, for
they had painfully learned at Tonopah how expensive it was to lay tracks over active and
conflicting mining claims. Thus the railroad companies, both for ease of construction and
avoidance of involvement in expensive land battles, preferred to build their rail heads at spots
away from the actual mines. Charles Schwab, in turn, was growing uneasy at the prospect of
a large town night on top of his mining claims, since that would lead to difficulties in opening
up new ground when the time came. For a combination of these reasons, the leading
promoters of the district decided in late November to move Kunze's camp of Greenwater
away from its present location and down into the Greenwater Valley below, where railroad
construction and and acquisition would be much easier and less expensive. After all, the
planners at this time were expecting Greenwater to blossom into a city of thousands, rivaling
the other great copper towns of the United States, such as Butte, Montana, and there simply
was not enough room at Kunze's site for such an expansion.
As a result, Harry Ramsey's camp of Copperfield, which had never enjoyed the prosperity of
Kunze's, suddenly found itself saved. A new Greenwater Townsite company was
incorporated, which bought out the interest of both Ramsey and Kunze in their old townsites,
and backed by the capital of the leading mining promoters, announced that the entire Kunze
townsite would be moved down into the valley, near Ramsey's old site. Owners of lots in
both Kunze's and Ramsey's old townsite would be given lots of equal value and location in
the new town, and the new combined townsite would carry the name of Greenwater.
After the announcement of the townsite consolidation, the Las Vegas & Tonopah Railroad
reported that it would build a spur into the new site, and John Brock announced that he would
soon start construction on a $60,000 hotel. All was not well, however, for with the coming of
winter, although mild snowfalls helped alleviate the water shortage, the cold weather
immediately pointed out another serious supply problem in the district. Wood was almost
unavailable as a fuel to warm the tents and buildings of the district, and Greenwater residents
began to experience a "lively skirmish to get enough greasewood to keep warm."
Then, just to keep the townsite situation from becoming too calm, Patsy Clark decided to
promote his townsite of Furnace, and ads began running in the Rhyolite newspapers. Lots
were on sale, according to the ads, for $250 to $750 apiece, and over $30,000 worth of lots
had already been sold. FURNACE," the ad proclaimed, "WILL BE THE METROPOLIS OF
THE GREENWATER DISTRICT."

But wherever they were located, and whatever they were called, all the towns of the district
continued to expand. The Southern Nevada Telegraph and Telephone Company completed
the extension of its telegraph lines into the district in mid-December, and promised that the
telephone lines would soon be finished as well. Wells were being sunk by several hopeful
individuals and water was struck in one, eighteen miles from town. The Greenwater Townsite
Company began laying pipe from Greenwater Springs to the townsite, although the flow of
that spring was nowhere near enough to accommodate the demand.
By the end of 1906, with the population of the district pushing 1,500, the boom was finally
slowing down, although everyone blamed the unprecendented cold weather rather than any
abatement of the Greenwater fever. Several snow storms in late December caused much
suffering, and the price of greasewood, which became increasingly scarce, rose to $15 a
wagon load. Twenty loads, it was reported, were necessary to equal the burning power of a
normal cord of wood. The cold weather stopped work on most of the mines, for only those
whose shafts were deep enough to escape the effects of the weather were able to continue
work. Still, nine more mining companies were incorporated in the district in December,
bringing the total to fifty, and everyone sat back, waiting for a break in the weather, so that
Greenwater's unprecendented stampede could continue. During the lull in the the action, the
townsite move began, and New Greenwater, "The Greatest Copper Camp on Earth," was
born. [5]

Illustration 198. The first advertisement for Clark's townsite of Furnace.

From the Beatty Bullfrog Miner, 8 December 1906.
Hard on the heels of the townsite consolidation came the news of another large merger, which
set even the feverish minds of Greenwater agog. Several of the leading mine owners,
realizing that the district needed a smelter in order to become a producer, announced the
formation of a giant merger towards that purpose. On December 15th, Charles Schwab, John
Brock, and some financiers from Philadelphia formed the Greenwater Death Valley Copper
Mines & Smelting Company. The merger company had a capital stock of 5,000,000 shares,
par value $5 each, for a total capitalization of $25,000,000--an amazing sum which
astounded even such boom-hardened towns as Goldfield and Tonopah. The new corporation
was essentially a holding company, and consisted of the majority interests in the Greenwater
Death Valley Copper company, the United Greenwater Copper company, and the
unincorporated mines belonging to Brock and the Philadelphians. By pooling their resources,
Schwab and his partners hoped to be able to cut costs and erect a large smelting plant for the
reduction of the ores from each of the mines. Although no specific site was announced, Ash
Meadows immediately became the leading contender for the smelter site, due to its proximity
to a plentiful water supply and the railroads.
The new company announced that it would build its own branch railroad from the mines to
the smelter area, thirty miles away, and that work would immediately begin on the railroad
spur, the water development at the smelter site, and construction of the smelter itself. A
smelting expert was hired by the merger company for $25,000 per year to supervise the
selection of the plant site and construction of the smelter. In the meantime, although the
mines involved in the merger came under the umbrella supervision of the new corporation,
each would retain its separate identity and would continue to pursue its own development
independently.
Spurred by this news, developments at Greenwater continued at a rather hectic pace. The
townsite merger was being carried out, and in addition, Patsy Clark, who stayed outside of
both the townsite and mining mergers, continued to plug his town of Furnace, By January
1st, that site was described as containing stores, business houses and a hotel. A separate stage
line connected it with Amargosa, and a Post Office had been requested.
The new townsite of Greenwater was likewise experiencing growth, in addition to the
confusion of consolidation. A second weekly newspaper, the Greenwater Miner, was started
by an editor who was attracted to the boom district all the way from Nome, Alaska, and
several more assaying, surveying and brokerage offices opened. But January saw yet another
young publication start up, which turned out to be one of Greenwater's unique claims to fame,
On January 1st, the first issue of the Death Valley Chuck-Walla hit the streets. The little
magazine, published by C. E. Kunze and C. B. Glasscock, was best described by Glasscock in
later years as "freakish." it was printed on butcher paper, for economy, and the two young
editors launched their enterprise with a total capital stock of $35. As its advertisements read,
it was "A Magazine for MEN." It was "written in a vein to please. It is entertaining as well as
valuable. It exposes the crooks, the wildcats and the frauds, and roasts the knockers." And, as
the cover declared, it was "Published on the desert at the brink of Death Valley. Mixing the
dope, cool from the mountains, and hot from the desert, and withal putting out a concoction
with which you can dc as you damn well please as soon as you have paid for it. PRICE, TEN
CENTS."
The first issue of the Death Valley Chuck-Walla was especially unique, for it vividly
described the total contusion inherent in the townsite move which was currently taking place.
In an article, aptly titled "A Town on Wheels," the movement was portrayed: ". . .

pandemonium reigns. Saloons and boarding houses, stores, and brokerage firms are doing
business on the run and trying to be on both sides of the mountain at one time. A barkeep
puts down his case of bottles on a knoll en route from the old camp to the new, and serves
the passing throng laden with bedding and store fixtures . . . . The butcher kills a cow en route
and deals out steaks and roasts to the hungry multitude hurrying back to the old camp to get
the necessities for the new. Those who remain in the old camp are walking two miles to the
new to get the eggs for breakfast. Those who have journeyed to the new are walking two
miles to the old to get their mail, and a pair of socks. Through it all Jack Salsbury, Harry
Ramsey and the Townsite Company smile . . . Questions as to the cause of the change are
referred to the anti-publicity committee, and picturesque and forceful language as to the
advisability of the change noted and filed for reference.
The Chuck-Walla had other aspects as well. Although the editors were totally committed to
boosting the Greenwater District, they also realized that the proliferation of fraudulent mining
schemes would hurt the district in the long run, and made it their pet project to uncover
mining companies who were bilking the public. The first issue carried a long article damning
the manipulations of the Boston-Greenwater Copper Company, promoted by J. Grant Lyman
and his Union Securities company, Lyman, it may be remembered, had been arrested in
Boston for pushing stock sales for non-existent mines around the Bullfrog area, and he was
doing the same at Greenwater.
By January 4th, the Rhyolite Herald was able to report that the townsite consolidation was
complete. Although the total population of the district and its towns was not easy to estimate,
since so many men were constantly thronging through the hills, the Herald estimated it at
between 1,500 and 2,000. More important, however, for the development of the mining
district, was the report from the Fairbanks-Morse Company that it had received orders for at
least twenty hoists of various sizes for the district, which indicated that more and more
companies were beginning the transition from exploration to the development stage of
mining. All the district needed in order to pass from a boom camp into a permanent mining
town was for one big mine to make the next step, from development into production.

Illustration 199. Front cover of the Death Valley Chuck-Walla, printed on

butcher paper (which makes it extremely difficult to reproduce), showing
the actual size of the magazine.

Illustration 200. A typical advertisement for the Death Valley Chuck-

Walla, this one appeared in the Rhyolite Herald on 8 February 1907.
New Greenwater, meanwhile, reported thriving business. The townsite company surveyed
2,200 lots in over 130 blocks at the new site, and reported brisk sales. Lots on main Street
sold from $500 to $5,000 apiece, and the county supervisors of Inyo county approved the
townsite plat. The continuing cold weather, however, put a damper on business, as one miner
reported that it was "fiercely damnable, and we put two-thirds of the time trying to rustle
greasewood enough to keep from freezing." Despite the snowfall, water was still in short
supply and was selling for $10 per barrel.
Nor were freight difficulties made any easier by the weather. The trip from Johnnie Siding by
a loaded freight wagon took three to four days, and freight costs were still extremely high,
due to the lack of enough teams to supply the demand. Freight charges from Johnnie Siding
to Greenwater were $60 per ton, which succeeded in driving subsistence costs at Greenwater
through the roof. The Greenwater Bank, however, reported no lack of business due to high
costs, and in one week early in January reported $20,000 worth of transactions. Visitors to
the district at this time could watch four separate surveying parties on the ground at the new
townsite, as both the Las Vegas & Tonopah and the Tonopah & Tidewater Railroads had
survey crews considering lines into the town, and the Southern Nevada Telegraph and
Telephone Company also had two crews out, surveying lines for the telegraph and telephone
extensions into New Greenwater, Farther up the road, a fifth survey crew could be seen
laying out a new access road into Furnace. All in all, as the Engineering & Mining Journal
noted, "There seems to be no diminution of the rush to the Greenwater . . ." The Journal
however, was still puzzled about the Greenwater madness, for as it noted, "as yet none of the
camps in that region has become productive."
The Engineering & Mining Journal was not the only publication to wonder at the immense

rush into Greenwater. The Mining World, in late January, noted that "It is too early to predict
the possibilities of this district. Its remoteness from transportation facilities and water have
retarded its development, but notwithstanding the many difficulties encountered, very active
work is being prosecuted on about 50 different properties. During the next six months,
exploratory work will have probably progressed sufficiently to determine the persistence of
the ore deposits. That was the crux: why was so much money being poured into the district,
when the very existence of the ore deposits below the surface level had not yet been proven?
Apparently the boom spirit, which had been ravaging throughout Nevada and eastern
California since the bonanza discoveries at Tonopah and Goldfield, reached its height at
Greenwater. In addition, since copper deposits at other camps such as Bisbee and Butte had
always improved with depth, everyone assumed that the same would hold true for
Greenwater. Since the surface richness at Greenwater far surpassed that of any copper camp
ever, who could fail to think that Greenwater could indeed become the Greatest Copper
Camp on Earth?
One paper, at least, did think exactly that. In late January the Goldfield Gossip printed its
own assessment of the Greenwater District, and it was one which flew directly in the face of
all the local predictions. "We have dissected reports from as many sources as possible
regarding the future of Greenwater," wrote the Gossip "and all these agree that the camp
would never make a production of copper to amount to anything." As might be expected, that
report caused an immediate and extreme reaction from the Greenwater papers, particularly
the Death Valley Chuck-Walla which more than adequately fulfilled its promise to "roast the
knockers." The Bullfrog Miner also scorned the Goldfield Gossip's assessment, and printed
its own: ". . . there can be but one future for Greenwater and that will be expressed by the six
words 'Greatest Copper Camp in the World."
In the end, however, no one would know for sure whether Greenwater would turn into a
producer or not until the actual time arrived, and meanwhile the Greenwater District enjoyed
its booming prosperity. In late January, the Greenwater Times and the Greenwater Miner
reported that the district had enjoyed its first marriage celebration. The growing affluence of
the desert camp was also indicated by the notice of a piano for sale, and the Death Valley
Auto Company was established, In addition, a town government committee was organized to
supervise sanitary and police measures, and Inyo County appointed a Justice of the Peace
and a constable for the district. District Recorder Nelson informed the papers that 3,000
location notices had been made in his book during the last five months, and estimated that
probably 1,500 more had been recorded directly into the Inyo County books at Independence.

Illustration 201. A typical Greenwater mining advertisement, as it appeared

in the Death Valley Chuck-Walla, 15 February 1907.
By mid-February, the Rhyolite Herald reported that it was confident that the Tonopah &
Tidewater would build a branch into the Greenwater District, and even speculated that the
road would be finished by June 1st. The Death Valley Chuck-Walla in its mid-February
issue, put the population of the district at 2,000, including 500 in the town of Furnace, which
was beginning to emerge as a real rival to the new Greenwater townsite. By this time,
seventeen more mining companies had been incorporated since the first of the year, bringing
the total of incorporated mining companies in the district to sixty-seven, but not all of them
were working. Indeed, some of them never worked at all, as they were designed more to mine
the pockets of gullible investors than to mine the ground. The Death Valley Chuck-Walla in
one of its more valuable contributions, listed the mines of the area, and indicated that twenty-
three of them were actually mining for copper.
Many of the mines listed by the Death Valley Chuck-Walla were not working, although most
were planning to, and the magazine went on to specifically denounce several which it had
proven were frauds. Neither the Greenwater Death Valley Copper Mining Company, for
example, nor the Greenwater Consolidated Mining Company appeared to own any ground in

the district, although both were actively advertising and selling stock. The Greenwater Death
Valley Copper Mining Company in particular seemed to be relying on the close similarity
between its name and that of the Greenwater Death Valley Copper Company to bilk unwary
investors of their money, for the latter was one of Greenwater's biggest active concerns.
Illustration 202. An advertisement for the combined town of new

Greenwater, as it appeared in the Death Valley Chuck-Walla, 15 February
1907.
The same issue of the Chuck-Walla carried a large ad for the Greenwater Townsite
Company, which optimistically forecast that Greenwater would soon be the center of three
railroads. The district's population, according to the ad, was over 2,000, and two telephone
and telegraph lines were doing business. "Since the first of December lots have doubled in
value. This is due to the fact that there is no question whatever about the permanency and
future of the place. Greenwater is destined to be the richest mineral producing city on the
whole globe." In addition, the magazine carried ads for several new Greenwater businesses,
including the Greenwater Drug Company, and Alkali Bill's Death Valley Chug Line, a
fanciful name for a desert character and his one automobile, who claimed he could take
anyone anywhere for the proper price. Greenwater was now becoming so full of its own
future, that the Engineering & Mining Journal reported that "From the desert comes the news

that the Greenwater people believe that they are growing so rapidly that they need a county
all to themselves, with Greenwater as the county seat."
But as February drew to a close, there was a decided slackening in the great Greenwater
boom. The district had now been opened for well over a year, and had been in a boom stage
for more than half that time, and as of yet, none of the companies which were sinking their
shafts had found any ore under the surface which could compare with the rich surface streaks
that had started the boom. This fact, while slow to dawn upon the district itself, was
beginning to become apparent in the nation-wide stock market. The Rhyolite brokerage firm
of Taylor & Griffiths also noted the trend, and commented in late February that the demand
for Greenwater securities of acknowledged merit . . . has not been what it should be," but
went on in the same breath to push stock sales. From a development standpoint, this district
is making a most excellent showing . . . . The surface showing in the Greenwater district has
never been surpassed in the history of copper mining . . . . It is now time for the man who is
inclined toward copper to get in and secure same of this stock while it is low.
The Bullfrog Miner also noted the same slight slackening of the Greenwater boom, and
reported that while "there is somewhat of a dullness pervading the camp, as far as the influx
of people and industries is concerned, the properties are looking mighty fine. In a way,
Greenwater was starting to succumb to its own over-blown boom publicity, for after the
stampede to the district began to subside, everything else looked less than normal by
comparison. [6]
But at the time, no one could possibly have hoped to persuade a Greenwater citizen that the
bloom was beginning to fade. On March 1st, the papers reported that the Greenwater Death
Valley Copper Mines & Smelting Company was beginning to work on the smelter site at Ash
Meadows. More immediate encouragement came from the news that Mr. Lemle was opening
a sub-agency for Budweiser at Greenwater, and was arranging for daily ice delivery via auto.
"If he can run his autos over the hot roads fast enough to keep the ice from melting en
route," said the Death Valley Chuck-Walla "he will surely catch the trade." During the same
week, the Greenwater Meat Company was organized, and advertised that it would drive cattle
across two mountain ranges from Owens Valley, California, to Greenwater, in order to
furnish a constant supply of fresh meat daily to Greenwater inhabitants. The Furnace
Townsite Company also stepped up its advertisements, and the Greenwater Townsite
Company countered by running its own ads, plugging the unique and desirable aspects of its
camp. In its bi-weekly rundown on Greenwater mining, the Death Valley Chuck-Walla was
able to list twenty-one mines and mining companies who were actively working in the
district.
Still, qualms of uneasiness were beginning to be felt around the district. The Bullfrog Miner
was the first local paper to admit such, noting that "As yet there are no real mines in
Greenwater, as mining men understand the term." The paper went on to qualify that
statement, adding that the working shafts are down several hundred feet and the ore bodies
are well enough defined so that the owners know that they have immense quantities of very
valuable rock, but the workings so far have been confined to these shafts and no effort has
yet been made to take out ore except such as was necessary in sinking the shafts." Privately,
many Bullfrog operators were glad to see that the Greenwater boom was abating, for at the
height of the rush, the drain of investment money towards Greenwater had decidedly
hampered the operation of the mines around the Bullfrog District.
The mid-March issue of the Death Valley Chuck-Walla noted little change in the district,
with nineteen companies actively working. On the brighter side, the Inyo Register reported
on March 15th that articles had been filed at Jersey City, New Jersey, to incorporate the
Tonopah & Greenwater Railroad Company, with the purpose of building a railroad from the

Amargosa Borax works to the Greenwater District. A capital stock of $500,000 had been
created, and the construction of such a road, which would easily tie into the Tonopah &
Tidewater, would mean a ready outlet for Greenwater's ores. Although no announcements
were made, the Inyo Independent speculated that the recent incorporation undoubtedly meant
that the Tonopah & Tidewater itself had decided not to build into Greenwater. The new
railroad company was expected to start work soon, and complete the line by July 1st. Two
routes had already been surveyed into the district, but no decision had been made as to which
one to use.
Illustration 203. A later advertisement for Patsy Clark's townsite of

Furnace. From the Death Valley Chuck-Walla, 1 March 1907.
By the end of March, the Bullfrog Miner put the population of the district at 2,000, which
indicated that for the first month since the district had been discovered, it had not grown.
Both Greenwater and Furnace, however, were described as being very alive and bustling, and
both townsites had hotels, lodging houses, saloons, feed corrals, freight companies, meat
markets, auto lines, brokerage houses, attorneys, newspapers, boarding houses, etc. In
addition, three railroad lines had been surveyed into the district, the Ash Meadows water
company was working on getting water piped into the district, and an electric light system

was projected for the towns.
But the boom had definitely slowed, as evidenced by the incorporation of only seven more
companies in the district in March. The following months of April and May would see one
additional company incorporated during each, bringing the total of incorporated mining
companies in the Greenwater district to seventy-three. Although that was more than enough,
the cessation of incorporations meant that the exploration stage of the Greenwater district had
finally drawn to a close, after a short but extremely violent boom, and the future of the
district now depended upon what ore bodies were found under the ground during the
subsequent development phase.
On April 1st, the Death Valley Chuck-Walla reported that twenty-four companies were
presently engaged in finding out exactly what did lie under the surface of the ground. The
pipe line for the Ash Meadows water system had been ordered, and a telephone connection
had been completed between Greenwater and Furnace, enabling conversation between the
two rival towns. Plans had also been announced for a new $50,000 hotel.
Illustration 204. One of the most delightful advertisements of the Mining

Advertising Agency, run by the editors of the Death Valley Chuck-Walla,

which epitomizes their distinctive style, 1 April 1907.
Illustration 205. Advertisement for Alkali Bill's famous auto line, from the
Death Valley Chuck-Walla, 1 April 1907.
Two weeks later, the Death Valley Chuck-Walla was able to report twenty-six companies
working, but as of yet no one had found sufficient ore bodies beneath the surface of the earth
to warrant full-scale production mining. Towards the end of April, theBullfrog Miner
reported that 300 men were working in the district, with about half being employed in the
mines around Greenwater and the other half around Furnace. The payroll for the district was
approaching $50,000 per month. The townsites had settled down from the boom period, and
Greenwater was described as being mainly a rag town, although it had some wooden and one
iron building. Lumber was still very expensive, costing $130 per thousand board feet, which
depressed the building industry, but the bank was thriving, and business in general was good.
Water still sold for the very high price of $7.50, as compared to $5 per barrel which had been
the highest price Bullfrog had known in its early boom days.
By the first of May, although twenty-six companies were still actively engaging in

development work, it was becoming very apparent that unless someone found a large
profitable copper lode soon, the district would be in trouble. The investing public, which by
now expected great things from the district which had boomed so brilliantly, was becoming
impatient, and as another month passed without any big ore strikes being made, stock prices
began to slip.
The Death Valley Chuck-Walla noted the stock slump, but blamed it on the eastern Wall
Street stock manipulators "who wish to bear the stocks until they can be purchased at a rate
far below their real value and therefore at great profit." In reality, the Greenwater boom had
led to too great of expectations from the investing public, and suspicions of a gigantic fraud
were now beginning to form among the ranks of far-off investors. Nor did it help the
Greenwater District that the first effects of the Panic of 1907 were beginning to be felt on the
eastern stock markets. Naturally, shares of mining companies which were still in the initial
stages of development were among the first to be unloaded by cash-hungry investors. Still,
no one was ready to give up, least of all the naive young men publishing the Death Valley
Chuck-Walla They could write with pride that their magazine was read by more than nine
thousand stock brokers across the nation, although they sadly noted that only 1,000 of them
had paid for their subscriptions. [7]
On May 1st, the Ash Meadows Water Company ordered 135 miles of pipe for its various
lines into Greenwater, Lee and other spots. The line to Greenwater, it announced, should be
completed by the middle of August, when water would be available for around $4 per barrel.
During the same week, Inyo County belatedly got around to implementing a full civil
government for the district, appointing a deputy sheriff, a deputy district attorney, a deputy
assessor, a deputy tax collector and a new Justice of the Peace. By the middle of the month,
the Death Valley Chuck-Walla could report 300 miners still at work. One company had no
less than six gas hoists going full blast, and several were down to the 300 and 400-foot
levels. Unfortunately, no ore bodies had yet been found.
Illustration 206. Map of mining district in immediate vicinity of

Greenwater, Inyo County, California. California State Mining Bureau,
Bulletin #50, September 1908. Map data compiled in May 1907.
Towards the end of May, the Tonopah & Tidewater Railroad announced the opening of
Zabriskie Station, which cut the distance between Greenwater and the railroad considerably.
The company also announced the establishment of an auto service between the station and

Greenwater, with connections to both daily trains. The auto ride would take two and a half
hours, and tickets were available from the commercial agent permanently stationed in
Greenwater. The Inyo County commissioners also announced plans to consider the erection
of a turnpike from independence to Greenwater, at an estimated cost of $1,000, whereby
travel time between the two towns would be shortened by several days.
On June 1st, the Death Valley Chuck-Walla could still point to twenty-five companies at
work, and although no sizeable ore bodies had yet been found, no one seemed quite willing to
give up. Articles from the district's two other papers, the Greenwater Times and the
Greenwater Miner, also contained the same hopeful spirit, and the Engineering & Mining
Journal noted that fifteen gas hoists were at work throughout the district, and that more
miners were at work than ever before. For once, the labor problem seemed to be solved, for
the buying and selling of claims had ceased with the coming of harder times, and more and
more miners were willing to give up their dreams of instant wealth and settle down to earning
a steady wage. In late June, the Inyo County Board of Supervisors let out bids to construct a
branch jail at Greenwater, and announced that the proposed sixteen by twenty-foot stone and
cement building would contain three cells.
Then, on June 22d, the inevitable fire swept through part of Greenwater. Although the
relative damage was rather light, considering the destructive potential for fires in mining
camps built of canvas and wood, one saloon and the offices and presses of both the
Greenwater Miner and the Death Valley Chuck-Walla were consumed. The editors of the
Chuck-Walla had only recently bought out the Greenwater Miner, and they immediately
announced plans to secure a new printing plant from the west coast and continue both
publications. But the capital stock of $35 which they had started out with had not increased
very much over their six months of publication and after several weeks of trying to get their
paper printed at the Bullfrog Miner office, the editors gave up and left the country. The Las
Vegas one of the more mature Nevada newspapers which had never much approved of the
style or approach of the Chuck-Walla, noted that it "was roasted alive by the Angel of Fire
because of the many unholy things it has printed. The destruction of the Miner, (whose sins
are less notorious) and the saloon only proved that chastisement, like rain, falls alike upon the
just and the unjust."
The fire seemed to be an omen, for with the passing of the Death Valley Chuck-Walla
Greenwater's loudest and brassiest booster, the fire seemed to go out of the district. The Ash
Meadows Water Company, for example, had promised on June 29th that water would be
connected into Greenwater by the 1st of August, but by July 13th, revised that date to
September 15th, and added that pipe would be laid into Lee before Greenwater--indicating
that the prospects of the Lee District now looked better to that company than did those at
Greenwater.
As the summer wore on and fall approached, it became apparent to all but the most die-hard
that the great Greenwater boom had started to bust, and many people could be seen quietly
leaving town. As a continuing barometer, the Ash Meadows Water Company postponed its
connections to Greenwater once again, and announced on September 13th that water would
not be available to the district until the middle of November. Those who still had faith tried
to explain away the decline of the district by advancing various causes. "The present situation
is one of those cyclic occurrences that simply hampers the growth of what is coming," said
one, "but will not stop it for you have the wares that the world needs so much." "The camp,
as far as the town is concerned, is very quiet," noted another observor, "but work in the mines
is going steadily on . . . . There is not much doubt as to the ultimate future of Greenwater.
The camp is now going through the development period, which all camps have to undergo, in
laying the foundation for their future prosperity.

But if the mines were still developing, not nearly as many were doing so as in previous
months. Of the seventy-three companies which had incorporated to do business in
Greenwater by the spring of 1907, only twelve were left by September. Although these
figures must be qualified by pointing out that fully thirty of those companies never did any
work at all, still it was apparent that the mining situation at Greenwater was definitely on the
decline, and unless some ore was found soon, the camp would die. The Panic of 1907, which
was beginning to hit the mining regions of the west by this time, obviously aggravated the
problem.
Businesses, such as the Greenwater Lumber Yard, began to close their doors in the summer
of 1907, and as the fall progressed, the trend increased. Fires again played a part, such as in
mid-October, when Charley Hennessy's saloon, the Death Valley Vault, burned to the
ground. Once the fire started, as in the case of the Chuck-Walla's office, the building was
allowed to burn completely, since water to put out the fire was more expensive than the wood
necessary to rebuild. The loss of the Death Valley Vault, however, was especially hard to
take, since it had become famous throughout the district by offering a free face wash with
every drink purchased.
Although fifteen hoists were still in operation in Greenwater in mid-October, and "more
extensive development is expected as soon as the weather becomes cooler," even the local
papers were beginning to wonder about the future of the district. The Inyo Register noted on
October 17th that the "impression prevails that Greenwater is not in the best condition as
regards mining showing, but protested a week later that "Greenwater has, for some occult
reason been pronounced dead, or at least in decline. The facts in the case do not bear out
such a statement.
Still, the paper noted that the population of the district was now estimated at 500, down
considerably from the 2,000 of the previous spring.
The departure of businessmen continued in November, and included one of the editors of the
Greenwater Times who sold out his half interest to his partner. "From a business standpoint
the camp is on the bum," he told the Bullfrog Miner "but from a mining standpoint it looks
better than ever." If from a mining standpoint he meant that the mines were reaching
increasing depths, he was right, for two of Greenwater's biggest mines had by now sunk to
500 feet below the surface of the earth. But they still had not found the elusive copper
deposits without which the district could not survive.
And as 1907 ended, those ore bodies were still not located. The district experienced a mild
revival in December, as mine owners and prospectors came back in to do the annual
assessment work on claims and locations in order to protect their titles for another year. But
as the year ended, the population had shrunk to "several hundred," and only ten companies
were still working, five of which had come under the control of the Greenwater Death Valley
Cooper Mines & Smelting Company, the large holding company. [8]
As 1908 opened, it was dearly evident that the only hope for the Greenwater district lay in the
two big mines which were still operating, and which were going for great depths to find the
ore bodies. The Furnace Creek Copper Company, the Patsy Clark outfit, was still sinking on
its property, as was the Greenwater Death Valley Copper Company, the main Schwab
holding. Both were sinking below the five hundred foot level, and one or the other would
have to find ore soon or Greenwater's mining history would be extremely short.
The work continued through January and February, but with no results. By mid-February, the
once-bustling Greenwater District had shrunk to a mere shadow of its former self.
The only business establishments left in the district were the Tonopah Lumber Company,

which was still supplying timbers for the mine shafts, two saloons, two stores and one
restaurant. The total population of the district had fallen to [about fifty souls,] and the
Rhyolite Daily Bulletin sadly wrote that the desert country about Greenwater is not as
abundantly prosperous as it was one short year ago." The remaining buildings at Greenwater
were already being torn down and moved to Gold Valley, a small boom town to the south.
But those remaining at Greenwater did not give up easily. In early March a Greenwater report
stated that a spur track from the Tonopah & Tidewater Railroad would 'probably' be built into
the district at an early date, and as "soon as the building of the road is assured a great mining
boom is almost a certainty." The report went on to blame the demise of Greenwater on the
slump in copper prices worldwide, without remembering that Greenwater had no copper to
ship, regardless of price.
The Furnace Creek Copper Company and the Greenwater Death Valley Copper Company
continued to sink through April and May. S. J. Fairbanks told the Bullfrog Miner that "Every
month or so these companies send their experts and I understand that the recommendations
are to continue sinking. It is a well known tact that excellent ore was discovered on the
surface, and these companies are going on the theory that depth will reveal profitable bodies."
Fairbanks, who had one of the last remaining stores in the district, added that "These people
are spending their money and taking a chance. If they can afford to do this, I can afford to
await results, since l am making a living and then some, in the meantime." He was forced to
admit, however, that "the camp is showing small encouragement at this time.
Later in April the Bullfrog Miner reported again on the district. "The future of the
Greenwater district depends very largely upon the shafts which these two companies are
sending down. It is held by geologists and mineral experts that if copper deposits exist in
commercial quantities in the Greenwater district they will be found below the water level and
at great depth, and these companies have undertaken to demonstrate the theory."
But still no ore was found, and the district continued to decline. The Greenwater Times the
last of the district's newspapers, finally gave up and quit publishing shortly after the end of
May. By early June, 5. J. Fairbanks reported that "Greenwater is only a shadow of its former
self. Fairbanks had the only store and saloon left in the district, "and the population had
dwindled to almost nothing." The only other business left in town was the Tonopah Lumber
Company, which would stay as long as the companies were sinking and buying timbers for
their shafts.
In mid-June the Greenwater Death Valley Copper Company struck a small streak of copper
ore 1,000 feet below the surface, and mild excitement was felt again in Greenwater. Since
many of the previous claims in the district had been allowed to lapse, the news of the strike
brought some prospectors back to relocate their claims, in case the strike turned into
something big. Within a week, however, it had proven to be only a small stringer, but even
that brought out the hopes of the faithful. Although the extent of the strike was disappointing,
the Rhyolite Herald reported that "the quality was good and will no doubt lead to a larger
body of ore. The existence of ore at this depth will certainly be accepted as conclusive
evidence that Greenwater is not a surface proposition as has so often been claimed. Despite
the smallness of the strike, prospectors continued to come back into the district to relocate
their claims, just in case.
Even the mining companies were heartened by the small strike, and as the Inyo Independent
pointed out, "although Greenwater is not very active at the present time . . . it is a significant
fact that the owners over there are patenting the mines and are spending sums of money
which business men are not likely to throw away or sink in worthless ground." Closer papers,
such as the Bullfrog Miner, were not so optimistic: "Greenwater, which once attracted such
wide attention on account of rich surface discoveries of copper, has practically faded from the

map . . ."
But such was the lingering magic of the Greenwater name that the rumors of a new rush
would not die. In mid-July, the Engineering & Mining Journal reported that Greenwater "is
again to the front, after being dead for many months." The Journal had its own unique idea as
to why the previous strike had not been given much publicity, and wrote that it "was kept as
quiet as possible until the Schwab interests could secure control of contiguous territory.
Meantime there is again a rush of prospectors and others into the camp, incited by this
reported discovery." But those who returned were sorely disappointed and soon left again, for
the strike had definitely not amounted to much. The Tonopah Lumber Company finally gave
up and closed down its Greenwater yard in late July, and by the middle of August the
Bullfrog Miner reported that the "town of Greenwater has but few people left. Mr. Fairbanks
himself is running the only store in town.
The decline continued through August. The Post Office at Greenwater was discontinued on
the 15th of that month and moved to Death Valley Junction, and Mrs. Spear, proprietor of
Greenwater's last restaurant, closed down late in the month and returned to Rhyolite. The
Mining & Scientific Press, late in August, summed up the results of the summer season in the
district: "Greenwater is still trying to keep itself from utter collapse . . . . Occasionally the
long-silent telephone wires to Rhyolite dropped whisperings of fancy 'strikes' at Greenwater.
These found their way into print, but Greenwater failed to sustain the promise of its earliest
boom days for anyone to take much interest in these later murmurs."
During the rest of 1908, the district was exceedingly quiet. The Greenwater Death Valley
Copper Company continued to sink in its shaft, going deeper and deeper in the search for
ore. The Furnace Creek Copper Company did likewise, although at a slower and more
desultory pace. The Greenwater Calumet Copper Company, which had been idle for some
time, returned to perform the required annual assessment work in the fall, and several small
groups of miners and prospectors did likewise. But as the year ended, no profitable bodies of
copper ore had been found anywhere in the district, and it was quite apparent the time was
rapidly running out for Greenwater. [9]
Just when it seemed that Greenwater was finally dead, another revival of hopes arose. Early
in January of 1909, ore was again found in the Greenwater Death Valley Copper Company's
mine, this time at a depth of nearly 1,100 feet. The mere mention of the discovery, before
anyone knew the amount, extent or richness of the deposit, caused another mild rush back
into the district. As the Rhyolite Daily Bulletin reported,
"Greenwater, the copper camp of the Funeral range, has steadily advanced in its
development, and is believed to be on the verge of a boom which will eclipse its first
meteoric flight. That such a boom is imminent, and will undoubtedly come early this coming
year, is now confidently believed by those most intimate with conditions there. As a result of
this change in the feeling toward this camp, most of the old-timers, who were first into this
camp, and were most concerned with its success, are back again, doing assessment work,
relocating good ground, and preparing fur the awakening which they say is sure to come
soon!"
That article, which seemed wildly extravagant when printed in early January, began to look
more realistic by the beginning of February, when the Greenwater Death Valley Copper
Company announced the discovery of a sixty-foot ore body bearing 5 percent copper at a
depth of 1,080 feet. The Bullfrog Miner reporting the discovery, remarked that the "new-old
camp of Greenwater, the camp of glorious hopes and shattered promises is again to the front
in the attention of the mining world On the proving of the new ore body depends the future
of the Greenwater Death Valley mines, and practically of the camp of Greenwater." The

news of the discovery started another small rush into the district, several other defunct mines
reopened their works, and the population of the district soared up to 150.
Somewhere, new investors were found to back another plunge into Greenwater stock, and
such companies as Greenwater Central Copper started work once again. Towards the end of
February, as the mini-rush continued, the Bullfrog Miner once again reported that the "camp
of Greenwater is on the rise from all indications. Parties with holdings there are putting forth
more zeal in the development than has been shown for over a year."
Developments on several properties continued through March, with the East Greenwater
Copper Company and the Greenwater Calumet Copper Company joining the list of
reactivated mines. But the efforts were futile, and soon proved worthless. The small mines
shut down again, and in March one of the two giants gave up, when the Furnace Creek
Copper Company finally abandoned hope and ceased work. Throughout the summer and fall
of 1909 only the Greenwater Death Valley Copper Company continued to work, and finally
even that company quit in September. The shaft was stopped at a depth of 1,439 feet, and the
papers were finally able to report for sure that Greenwater was totally dead. As the Inyo
Register wrote in the nature of an obituary, with "the cessation of all work at the Greenwater
Death Valley mine, the once thriving camps of Greenwater and Furnace Creek, California,
have been given over to the reign of the coyotes. There is scarcely a man to be found in the
entire district, and locally it is considered extremely doubtful that the Schwab company will
ever resume work at the mine, which was once pronounced a bonanza." [10]
Greenwater was now definitely dead, and the great boom which had propelled its name
across the headlines and stock boards of the nation was best forgotten by the thousands of
investors who had been badly burned. The Mining World in its annual review of mining for
1909, summed up the demise of the once heralded district in one short sentence: "The copper
districts of the county have lapsed into obscurity. With the final crushing of hopes, locations
were abandoned, as were titles to the once thriving business blocks of Greenwater and
Furnace, and the Inyo County papers started carrying long lists of delinquent tax payments
due from mining companies, businesses and citizens who had once owned land in the district.
The demise of Greenwater even had a ripple effect, as Amargosa, once a lively station on the
railroad used to supply the Greenwater boom, declined by the middle of 1910 to a population
of two.
Mining was never again revived in Greenwater, and by 1917 all that a visitor could find on
the spot of the town of 2,000 inhabitants was one deserted cabin. Most of the buildings at
Greenwater and Furnace were readily movable, due to the lack of permanent construction,
and most had been hauled away by their owners. What was left had been taken by R. J.
Fairbanks, the last merchant of Greenwater, and hauled to Shoshone, a settlement on the
Tonopah & Tidewater Railroad, where Fairbanks started a small store which later grew into a
thriving desert oasis.
Small attempts at sporadic production were made in 1916-1918, and again in 1929, during
periods of very high copper prices, but these efforts never amounted to more than one or two
man operations, and consisted mostly of gleaning the remains from the dumps of the old
mines and laboriously packing it out of the desert. Total production from these activities was
estimated at $10,000. During the early 1920s, Greenwater became a favorite winter
rendezvous spot for the old desert-rats, a breed of shiftless and broken-down prospectors left
over from the Nevada boom years, who gathered there for several winters to swap yarns
about the old days, and dream their futile dreams of strikes to come.
A rather foolish attempt was made in 1970 to revive the Greenwater District once again,
when a consortium calling itself the Furnace Creek Copper Company (no relation to Patsy

Clarks outfit) scraped together the mining rights to a great number of claims in the district,
and even paid for a wildly optimistic mineral report on the area. Happily, the backers of the
company decided against the attempt to resume mining. Greenwater is now totally deserted,
with the exception of occasional campers who remember the once-famous days of one of the
deserts most glorious boom districts. [11]
1. Greenwater Furnace and Kunze
The main portion of the Greenwater District lies within the boundaries of Death Valley
National Monument, but due to an odd shift of the boundary lines in this area, the very heart
of the district is outside the Monument. Thus, while the main workings of the Furnace Creek
Copper Company are within the Monument, along with its supporting town of Furnace, the
holdings of the Greenwater Death Valley Copper Company are outside the boundary, as are
the townsites of Kunze and Greenwater.
The entire area is scattered with numerous dumps and shafts, monuments to the futile efforts
to cash in on the Greenwater boom. The deepest of these, which belong to the Greenwater
Death Valley Copper Company, are outside the Monument, but visitors need regard
boundaries very little in this part of the country, since they are mostly unmarked, and there is
little to differ between the remains inside and outside the Monument.
The only remains of note within the Monument are around the site of Furnace, where several
outlines of old buildings and tentsites may be found. In addition, the dumps of various
companies, mostly noteably those of the Furnace Creek Copper company, may be seen, as
well as timbered shaft collars, loading dumps, cement hoisting platforms, etc. There is,
however, very little that can be used as interpretive features in this section, although the
forloreness of the desert landscape emphasizes the harshness of life for those miners and
prospectors who once searched here for riches.
B. Glasscock, Here's Death Valley, p. 232. Frank A, Crampton, Deep Enough: A Working
Stiff in the Western Mine Camps, (Denver: 1956), p. 269. John F. Jordan, Jr., "A Preliminary
Appraisal of the Greenwater District, Inyo County, California, For the Furnace Creek Copper
Company," Reno: 1971.

Illustration 207. Map of Northcentral portion of Funeral Peak Area.
To the southeast, outside the Monument boundaries, the site of old Kunze may be located
due to the remains of three stone cabins, the ruins of several dugouts, and a scattering of old
tentsites. The physical remains here are more extensive than anywhere else in the Greenwater
district, but can rot be protected or interpreted by the National Park Service, due to their
location. Between the site of old Kunze and Greenwater, the deepest shafts of the Greenwater
Death Valley Copper Company are found, plainly marked by the impressive size of the
dumps beside the road. Here again, however, there is little for interpretation to focus on.
Farther to the east, where once stood Greenwater, a maze of streets and trails may be seen
cutting through the desert. Other than that, there is almost nothing to mark the spot, for what
little remained of the site, after Fairbanks and the desert rats carted away. the remaining
buildings, has long been picked clean by more modern tourists and souvenir hunters. Indeed,
the most impressive thing about the site of Greenwater is how the town which once boasted
2,000 inhabitants could have disappeared so utterly.
2. Greenwater Springs
To the south of Greenwater is Greenwater Springs, the obscure little water hole which gave
its name to the entire district. The area around the spring has the ruins of a stone shelter, an
old mine shaft and dump complete with concrete hoisting foundations, and several prospect

holes. At the spring itself some evidence of past attempts to improve the flow may be seen,
including some timber and concrete work within the spring itself, and the remnants of some
two-inch pipe which formerly carried the meager flow of water to the thirsty inhabitants of
Greenwater.
Illustrations 208-209. Top: Abandoned site of one of the main shafts of the
Furnace Creek Copper Company. Bottom: Close-up of same site, showing
wooden hoisting platform. 1978 photos by John Latschar.

Illustrations 210-211. Top: General view of the townsite location of

Furnace. Although no structures are remaining, close examination of the
ground will reveal numerous old tentsites and an occasional piece of debris.
Bottom: Two of the stone houses still standing in the small valley where
Kunze was once located. The one on the right is still complete with roof, but
the one on the left has deteriorated considerably. 1978 photos by John
Latschar.
3. Coffin Mine
To the northwest of Greenwater, about five miles, is the site of the abandoned 'Coffin' Mine,
so named in retrospect by its proximity to the peak of the same name. The mire's only
documented claim to fame stems from a letter reportedly written home by a young miner:
"Dear Pop, and All. Well I just came in from the Grave Yard Shift; of the Coffin Mine, on
the Death Valley Slope of the Funeral Mts. How's that? Tragical enough?" Although this
letter, which hangs in the Furnace Creek Ranch museum, is dated 1906, there are several
problems with its authenticity. The voluminous information on the Greenwater District does
not contain any reference to a Coffin Mine; the mine itself is situated on the Amargosa slope
of the Black Mountains rather than the Death Valley slope of the Funeral Mountains; and all
the physical evidence at the site indicates that it was a gold mining operation of a later date
than the Greenwater boom.

But whatever the origin of the letter, the Coffin Mine has some rather typical ruins, including
a shaft, some dumps and the scattered debris of several building sites, probably bunk and
cook houses. Gasoline tins scattered around the site would seem to indicate that this mining
effort took place later than Greenwater, probably in the 1910s or 1920s, The site itself is not
very impressive, but the isolated setting and obvious lack of civilization aptly sums up the
type of life experienced by the operators of a small time desert mine. The Coffin Mine site
does not have National Register significance, but should be examined by a historic
archaeologist. In the meantime, benign neglect is recommended.
Illustrations 212-213. Top: Concrete hoist foundations, dump and shaft of a

mine near Greenwater Spring, typical of the many mining remains in the
Greenwater District. Bottom: Scattered debris, dumps and a shaft mark the
location of the "Coffin" Mine. 1978 photos by John Latschar.
All in all, therefore, the physical remains of the Greenwater District are not particularly
noteworthy in their own regard, and, unfortunately, the best remains of early twentieth-
century ruins are on Bureau of Land Management holdings. Nevertheless, the sheer history of
the area, even when totally unsupported by historic structures, together with its historical
archaeological values, are enough to warrant nomination to the National Register as a
Historic District. Greenwater experienced one of the most violent and short-lived mining

booms of any mining camp in the western United States, and the total human effort invested
in its mines, coupled with the total lack of success, has never been equaled. For a few short
years, Greenwater was a name familiar to stock brokers and mining investors from New York
to San Francisco--a name first loved, then despised. Its site deserves recognition, protection
and interpretation.

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION IV:
EAST SIDE
3. Greenwater District Mines
a. Mines and Mining in Greenwater
During the short and spectacular Greenwater boom, fully seventy-three mining companies
were incorporated within the district, and literally scores of smaller mines and prospects were
opened Papers have been located for thirty-three of the companies which did incorporate,
which show their combined capitalization value to be over $76,000,000. Although the exact
capitalization totals of the other forty incorporated companies cannot be determined, the
minimum standard capitalization for the time period was $1,000,000 per company, which
would give us a total capitalization value of the Greenwater district mines of over
$116,000,000. This total, of course, in no way reflects the actual amount of money spent in
the district, but it does give some idea of the amazingly vast amounts which investors and
promoters hoped to reap from the rich copper ores of Greenwater.
But as we know, the district turned out to be a complete bust, with no ore of consequence
ever being mined. None of the seventy-three companies ever entered the production stage of
mining, but this is not to say that none of the companies were profitable. Many of the
companies which were incorporated for business in Greenwater never actually did any
mining at all, nor ever intended to. Indeed, as the Death Valley Chuck-Walla pointed out in
several cases, quite a few of the companies did hope to mine the pockets of their gullible
investors. The scheme was relatively simple and was quite easy to pull off during the giddy
days of the Greenwater boom, for few if any investors in New York or San Francisco could
hope to determine which companies were serious and which were fakes. All an unscrupulous
operator had to do was incorporate a company with a Greenwater-like name, advertise it as
being in the heart of the district or near a well-known mine, and collect the money which
started to pour in for stock subscriptions.
The stock, of course, was worthless, since the company either had no and or no intention of
mining, but the promoters would have collected their profits and departed the scene long
before this fact became evident.
That this scheme was played over and over again in Greenwater is quite apparent, given the
fact that thirty of the mines which were incorporated in that district never did any work at all.
Undoubtedly, the great majority of these companies were much more interested in mining the
pockets of investors than in mining the ground. In the long run these were the only mining
companies who made a profit of the Greenwater boom, for no one who invested the
stockholders funds in actual mining efforts made any money. Nor should we feel too sorry for

the investors. Anyone caught up in a boom spirit such as prevailed in Greenwater cannot be
pitied for having his dreams fail, for greed was the primary consideration of investors) just as
it was for mining promoters. Indeed, investors lost no more money in fraudulent mining
schemes than in honest ones, since Greenwater had no productive ores.
But, of course, not all the Greenwater mines were fakes. Most of the companies did make an
honest search for ore, and several, particularly the Greenwater Death Valley Copper
Company and the Furnace Creek Copper Company, continued that search long beyond the
bounds of reasonable doubt. All in all, however, the infant mortality rate for Greenwater
mines was shockingly high. Fifty-two of the seventy-three companies did not last longer than
six months, and only five companies were in operation longer than one year. The average life
expectancy for a Greenwater mining corporation was a dismal four months and three weeks.
Since it would be a lengthy task to even outline the histories of these seventy-three
companies, representative samples are given instead. Included are the stories of the two major
companies in Greenwater, that of a typical company which lasted a brief five months, and
that of an outright fraud.
INCORPORATED MINING COMPANIES, GREENWATER DISTRICT
Date First Date Last

Name
Mentioned Mentioned
Furnace Creek Copper Company 23 June 1905 17 March 1909
Furnace Creek Gold Mining Company 8 September 1905 8 September 1905
Greenwater Consolidated Copper Co. 4 May 1906 10 April 1909
Funeral Range Copper Company 4 May 1906 29 March 1907
Greenwater Copper Mining Company 1 July 1906 1 May 1907
Furnace Creek South Extension Mining Company 3 August 1906 1 May 1907
**Greenwater Death Valley Copper Co. 10 August 1906 1 September 1909
Butte & Furnace Creek Copper Mining Company 17 August 1906 17 August 1906
Greenwater Monitor Copper Company 17 August 1906 17 August 1906
Greenwater Calumet Copper Company 27 August 1906 10 March 1909
Clark Copper Company 7 September 1906 1 May 1907
11 September 1 May 1907
Greenwater Black Jack Copper Mining Company
1906
15 September 15 April 1907
Greenwater Furnace Creek Copper Co.
1906
17 September 1 May 1907
Furnace Creek Consolidated Copper Co.
1906
21 September 15 April 1907
Furnace Creek Extension Copper Mining Company
1906
28 September 24 October 1907
Greenwater Red Boy Copper Mining Company
1906
Butte & Greenwater Copper Company 12 October 1906 1 June 1907
Greenwater Hercules Copper Company 12 October 1906 12 October 1906
Greenwater United Copper Company 12 October 1906 12 October 1906
Anaconda Consolidated Copper Company of 12 October 1906 12 October 1906
Greenwater
*Boston-Greenwater Copper Company 12 October 1906 12 October 1906

Pittsburgh-Greenwater Copper Company 18 October 1906 1 June 1907

Greenwater Saratoga Copper Company 19 October 1906 24 October 1907
Furnace Valley Copper Company 19 October 1906 1 April 1907
Greenwater Rambler Copper Company 23 October 1906 23 October 1906
Butte Funeral Range Copper Company 23 October 1906 1 January 1907
23 October 1906 30 December
**United Greenwater Copper Company
1908
Greenwater Copper Company 23 October 1906 9 February 1907
Salt Lake & Greenwater Copper Co. 26 October 1906 26 October 1906
Kunze Consolidated Copper Company 27 October 1906 15 February 1907
**Ironclad Greenwater Copper Company 3 November 1906 24 October 1907
Funeral Range Copper Extension Mining Company 6 November 1906 6 November 1906
Greenwater-Furnace Creek Consolidated Copper 6 November 1906 6 November 1906
Company
15 November 15 November
Greenwater Townsite Copper Company
1906 1906
16 November 1 May 1907
Kempland Copper Company
1906
17 November 29 June 1907
South Greenwater Copper Company
1906
New York Greenwater Copper Company
1906 1906
Original Greenwater Copper & Gold Mining 22 November 22 November
Company 1906 1906
Greenwater Bonanza Copper Company
1906 1906
Greenwater Iron Mountain Copper Co.
1906 1906
30 November 15 March 1907
Ramsey Consolidated Copper Company
1906
10 December 10 December
North Greenwater Copper Company
1906 1906
Greenwater Consolidated Copper Company of Funeral 11 December 11 December
Range 1906 1906
15 December 1 May 1907
Greenwater Pay Copper Company
1906
15 December 1 June 1907
Consolidated Greenwater Copper Mining Company
1906
Greenwater Apache Mining Company
1906 1906
Greenwater Death Valley Copper Mines & Smelting 15 December 1 September 1909
Company 1906
(The $25,000,000 holding co.)
Death Valley Copper Glance Mining Company
1906 1906
28 December 25 January 1907
Greenwater Salt Lake Copper Company
1906

Greenwater Thrifty Copper Company 1906 1906

(undated incorporation paper in 1906, never
mentioned again)
Montana-Furnace Creek Copper Company 1 January 1907 1 May 1907
Greenwater Ibex Copper & Gold Mining Company 4 January 1907 4 January 1907
Greenwater Central Copper Company 5 January 1907 18 February 1909
**Greenwater El Capitan Copper Company 1 February 1907 24 October 1907
East Greenwater Copper Company 15 February 1907 10 March 1909
*Greenwater Death Valley Copper Mining Company 15 February 1907 15 February 1907
Greenwater Bonanza Copper Company
1906 1906
Greenwater Iron Mountain Copper Co.
1906 1906
30 November 15 March 1907
Ramsey Consolidated Copper Company
1906
North Greenwater Copper Company
1906 1906
Greenwater Consolidated Copper Company of Funeral 11 December 11 December
Range 1906 1906
15 December 1 May 1907
Greenwater Pay Copper Company
1906
15 December 1 June 1907
Consolidated Greenwater Copper Mining Company
1906
Greenwater Apache Mining Company
1906 1906
Greenwater Death Valley Copper Mines & Smelting 15 December 1 September 1909
Company 1906
(The $25,000,000 holding co.)
Death Valley Copper Glance Mining Company
1906 1906
28 December 25 January 1907
Greenwater Salt Lake Copper Company
1906
Greenwater Thrifty Copper Company 1906 1906
(undated incorporation paper in 1906, never
mentioned again)
Montana-Furnace Creek Copper Company 1 January 1907 1 May 1907
Greenwater Ibex Copper & Gold Mining Company 4 January 1907 4 January 1907
Greenwater Central Copper Company 5 January 1907 18 February 1909
**Greenwater El Capitan Copper Company 1 February 1907 24 October 1907
East Greenwater Copper Company 15 February 1907 10 March 1909
*Greenwater Death Valley Copper Mining Company 15 February 1907 15 February 1907
*Greenwater Consolidated Mining Co. 15 February 1907 15 February 1907
Consolidated Greenwater Copper Mining Company 15 February 1907 1 June 1907
Copper Oxide Company 15 February 1907 15 February 1907
Copper Sulphide Company 15 February 1907 15 April 1907
Furnace Creek Copper Oxide Company 15 February 1907 1 April 1907
Gladstone Greenwater Copper Development Company 15 February 1907 15 April 1907

Greenwater Bimetallic Copper Company 15 February 1907 29 March 1907

Greenwater Copper Helmet Company 15 February 1907 15 April 1907
Greenwater Ely Consolidated Copper Company 15 February 1907 15 February 1907
Greenwater Superior Copper Mining Company 15 February 1907 15 February 1907
Greenwater Furnace Valley Copper Company 15 February 1907 1 April 1907
Greenwater Vindicator Copper Mining Company 1 March 1907 1 June 1907
Greenwater Chuck-Walla Copper Co. 15 March 1907 1 May 1907
Kingston Range Copper Mines Corporation 15 March 1907 15 March 1907
Salt Lake & Furnace Creek Copper Company 29 March 1907 29 March 1907
Greenwater Copper King Company 15 April 1907 1 May 1907
Kentucky Copper Mining Company 1 May 1907 1 May 1907
* - Companies exposed by the Death Valley Chuck-Walla as frauds.
** - Companies included in the Greenwater Death Valley Copper Mines &

Smelting Company merger.
Illustration 214. The inscription on this 1906 photo simply reads "California
and Calumet Mines, Greenwater, Cal." and amply portrays the holdings and
improvements of a typical mine during the Greenwater boom--nothing.
b. Furnace Creek Copper Company
In the early 1900's, Patrick Patsy Clark of Spokane was one of the best known copper
magnates of the United States. As noted before, when two prospectors made their initial
copper discoveries in Greenwater, they immediately notified Clark's agents, and Clark
became interested in the new district. In May of 1905, Clark visited the virgin Greenwater
territory and purchased the claims. By the middle of the next month, he had already opened
up a mine, and by the end of June had eight men working in a shaft which was thirty-five
feet deep. Clark was the first major operator in the district, and hoped to reap a quick fortune
by finding the immense underground copper deposits from which came the rich surface
croppings of Greenwater.

By March of 1906, although the copper lode had not been found, Clark had decided that the
indications on the ground warranted permanent and extensive exploration and development,
and his young mine was upgraded into a mining camp by the arrival of tents, camp supplies,
working tools, etc. By this time his working force had been expanded slightly to nine, and
the shaft was sixty feet deep. The Greenwater rush was now starting in earnest and numerous
prospectors and rival promoters were on the ground. Taking advantage of the initial wave of
excitement which was sweeping the mining world, Clark incorporated his company in March,
and named it the Furnace Creek Copper Company. The company was formed with a capital
stock of$1,250,000 and shares in the company were put on the market at 50¢ each, one half
of their par value. Clark offered 125,000 of these shares to the general public, in order to
build up development capital, and within three hours every share had been sold. The Mining,
World explained the phenomenon by noting that "Mr. Clark's success as a mining operator
has been so great, and Butte as well as Spokane people have such confidence in any property
that he backs, that they eagerly purchase what stock he has to offer.
With the success of his capitalization, Clark stepped up work at the mine, and by mid-April
had fourteen men employed and was sinking two shafts, down to fifty and one hundred feet,
respectively. Arrangements were made to purchase a small 15-horsepower gas hoist to speed
up the work, and by mid-May, the new hoist had arrived and was installed. By this time, with
the Greenwater boom well under way, prices of Furnace Creek Copper, the earliest and best-
known mine in the district, were leaping through the roof. One bold investor in New York
city purchased an entire block of 100,000 shares at the price of $3.25; 1,500 more were sold
in the same city for $4.25 per share; and the price at Los Angeles went even higher to $4.50.
These were totally unheard-of prices for stock in a company which had yet to extract or ship
a single pound of ore.
With the money roiling in, Clark discarded his 15-horse power hoist and replaced it with a
larger 40-horse power model, which would enable him to sink to a depth of nearly 1,000 feet.
Clark also began buying up adjacent claims and had soon extended his company's control to
an area of approximately 400 acres. Both the Tonopah & Tidewater and the Las Vegas &
Tonopah Railroads offered to build a spur line to his mire, upon request, and Clark
mentioned that he was considering the construction of a 300-ton smelter. But for the time
being, these ambitious plans were laid aside until the copper body could be proven. The staff
was expanded to sixteen miners, and the shafts went deeper and deeper) reaching the 150-
foot point in mid-July. The Bullfrog Miner, suitably impressed by the rapid development of
the company, commented in July that the "Furnace Creek Copper company, owned by Patsy
Clark, is developing into one of the biggest things of its age known in copper mining."
During the summer of 1906, small pockets of high grade ore were occasionally found in
Clark's mine, but no bodies large enough to mine commercially. Still, it was much too soon to
expect much, and development continued. By mid-August, the shaft was down to 220 feet,
and three shifts were working around the clock in the mine. The shaft had been sunk to 265
feet by early September, the work force increased to eighteen men, and another large hoist
was procured. By this time, stock in Clark's company had leveled off somewhat, and was
being sold and traded at a steady $4 per share, tour times its par value.
But as the Greenwater boom reached its most violent phase in the fall of 1906, there was no
holding down the price of stock, regardless of the lack of any ore yet produced. Furnace
Creek Copper stock rose to $4.50 in late September and then up to $5 and $5.25 per share by
mid-October. Some of this flurry was caused by prevalent rumors of a consolidation between
Clark and his chief competitor in the district, Charles Schwab, but even after that rumor
proved false, stock prices remained unrealistically high.

In mid-October, excitement prevailed at the company's headquarters, as copper ore was

struck in a crosscut from the 200-foot level of the main shaft. Development was spurred by
the discovery, and by the middle of November, in addition to the numerous crosscuts and
drifts which the company was sending out from the 100 and 200-foot levels of its shafts, the
main working shaft was still going deeper. By the end of 1906, the company had two large
hoists working on its shafts, the main one of which was down to 385 Feet, and forty men
were employed by the firm. No ore had yet been found, but the company was in tremendous
financial shape, and there was plenty of time for development work.
Almost as an afterthought, Clark also entered the townsite business late in 1906, due more to
public pressure than desire. Since supplies and accommodations throughout the district were
in such shortage at the peak of the boom, miners and prospectors naturally flocked towards
Clark's camp, where stores had been established to cater to the needs of the miners he
employed. Realizing that the only way to control his camp in the face of the unwanted
crowds was to organize a townsite, whether he wanted one or not, Clark entered the townsite
battle in October. Shortly thereafter a townsite company was incorporated and by December
advertisements were printed in the Rhyolite newspapers, advertising losts for sale from
between $250 and $750 apiece. [12]
Illustration 215. View of the workings of the Furnace Creek Copper

Company, ca. December 1906. The rude collection of tents soon afterwards
grew into the mining camp of Furnace, which was later moved down the
valley when it began to interfer with mining operations. Note the pile of
shaft timbers to the left of the hoist, and the water wagon in the center.
As 1907 opened, the Death Valley Chuck-Walla reported that Patsy Clark had one shaft
down to 300 feet in depth, and others were on the way. In addition, the young townsite of
Furnace (sometimes called Clark) was bustling with a store, a restaurant, a hotel and other
business firms, and a Post Office had been applied for. Sinking continued rapidly during that
month, since the cold weather forced companies working near the surface to shut down, end
Clark for once was able to hire all the miners he needed. By the middle of the month the
main shaft had broken the 400-foot level. When the growing townsite threatened to interfere
with the operation of the mines, it was bodily moved away from the main shaft down the
slope to the north, and replatted there. Town lots began to command a premium, especially
since the consolidation of Kunze's and Ramsey's townsites made Furnace the only reasonable

place to live for miners employed by Clark and other nearby companies. As development
continued, and the problem of obtaining supplies for the mine and townsite grew, a road was
surveyed to the site, in order to ease deliveries.
During February, work continued on the main shaft, although several other exploratory shafts
and cuts were being run. By the middle of that month the main shaft had been sunk to 480
feet, another crosscut was started at the 250-foot level, and the growing town of Furnace
counted a population of 500. By March 1st, with the shaft at the 500-foot level, new
crosscuts were started and ore was discovered. Although the copper deposits uncovered were
not large enought to crow about, they were large enough to mine, and the Furnace Creek
Copper Company began sacking its best ore for shipment to the smelter. To get there, the ore
had to be hauled over fifty miles across the sandy desert to the Las Vegas & Tonopah station
at Amargosa.
By mid-March, the company was still stoping ore for shipment, and the shaft had been
continued below the 500-foot level. Only ore which averaged above 12 percent copper, a
very high figure, could be profitably shipped. At the end of that month, the company was still
assembling a shipment, which indicates that it did not have a great abundance of 12 percent
ore. Nevertheless, with the main shaft down to 550 feet, the Death Valley Chuck-Walla felt
justified in calling the Furnace Creek Copper Company the very best mine in the entire
Greenwater District.
Sometime in April, the first shipment of ore was sent out, which represented the first
shipment from the Greenwater District. The shaft was now down to 600 feet, and the Bullfrog
Miner reported that 150 men were working in the vicinity of Furnace, most of them for the
Furnace Creek Copper Company. In mid-May, the company was still shipping ore, but no
returns were received from the smelter until late in that month. Those returns showed that
one carload of hand-sorted ore sent cut contained 22.58 percent copper, which was of
profitable level, but two other carloads (of approximately twenty tons each) had not yet been
heard from.
Despite these shipments, which represented the closest anyone in the Greenwater District had
yet come to becoming a real producing mine, the Death Valley Chuck-Walla noted on June
1st that the Furnace Creek Copper Company was not looking good. Formerly one of the best
in the district, it was now running out of development funds, in the Chuck-Walla's
assessment, and for some reason it had taken its biggest hoist off the main shaft and replaced
it with a rather useless 5-horsepower hoist. That hoist could have no hope whatever of
raising rock over 600 feet from the bottom of the shaft The magazines' presentments were
correct, for shortly after that the mine shut down. The management implied that the shut-
down was to avoid the extremely hot weather of the summer months in Greenwater, but
everyone knew better, and no one was particularly surprised when the mines were not
immediately reopened in the fall.
The company definitely had problems, for it had expended enormous sums in fruitless
development work, and now it faced the problem of whether to give up completely, or to
continue to look for the elusive green ore. At the annual meeting, held in early October, some
of the problems were ironed out, and a picture of the company's financial condition emerged.
According to the Bullfrog Miner, the company had experienced some "internal difficulties"
which meant that the directors were undecided as to who to blame for past failures. These
difficulties are easy to understand when it is pointed out that stock prices in the company had
slipped over $4 in less than a year. Stock which was eagerly sought for over $5 less than one
year ago had slumped all the way to 20¢ per share by the end of October, 1907. Although the
decline of the Greenwater boom and the Panic of 1907 were contributing factors, still the
basic reason for the stock slump was the essential fact that after spending thousands of dollars

on development work, the company had no ore to mine for future profits.
An analysis of the balance sheets showed that $135,303 had been spent in such work in the
past year, including $59,250 for labor and supplies, $1,857 for legal expenses, $4,927 for
machinery and plant, $4,409 for buildings and fixtures, $5,181 for surveys and patents, and
$9,000 for stable expenses, chiefly water. Exactly 228,600 shares of treasury stock had
already been sold, bringing in $131,687. Receipts from ore shipments totaled $2,625.09, and
money value of equipment and supplies on hand was placed at $20,536, including timbers,
mine and boarding house supplies, gas hoists, wagons, teams, tanks, and office buildings.
Over 2,800 feet of work had been done, including eleven shafts totaling 850 feet, one
crosscut of 764 feet, six drifts of 652 feet and nine surface cuts of 332 feet, two stopes of 30
feet and one tunnel of 161 feet.
But what really mattered was that the company had only 21,400 shares of treasury stock left
to sell, which would raise only $4,280 at present prices. This, coupled with 50,000 shares of
personal stock donated to the company by Clark for development purposes and $16,110
remaining in the company's treasury, meant that the Furnace Creek Copper company had left
no more than $30,390 to spend in the search for ore. Nevertheless, the company hired eight
men and resumed work, announcing that the shaft would be sunk to the 1000-foot level
before giving up. With the revival of work, which continued through the rest of 1907,
Furnace Creek Copper stock rebounded somewhat, and closed out the year at 25¢ per share.
[13]
As the first months of 1908 passed, the Furnace Creek Copper Company continued to work
with a "good force of men," as the Clarks were determined to either prove their holdings
immensely valuable or demonstrate the utter failure of the property as a producer." Early in
March a new 60-horsepower hoisting plant arrived and was installed, and by the beginning of
April the main shaft was approaching the 800-toot level. Sinking and lateral exploration
continued through April, May and June, and occasional small pockets of copper ore were
found. Although all these pockets soon pinched out, the presence of some ore at these depths
was just enough to keep the company's hopes alive, and it confirmed that the shaft would he
sunk to 1000 feet in depth before giving up.
Work continued through the summer, although the work farce was not large enough for very
rapid progress to be made. As August approached, the best assessment of the company was
that the development results were encouraging, "but nothing out of the ordinary has been
reached." Still the company continued to sink, and steady progress was reported through the
fall of 1908, but still without finding any commercial ore bodies.
As 1908 turned into 1909, the work at the Furnace Creek Copper Company became slower
and slower, and the company began giving up hope. Finally, in mid-March of 1909, the mine
was closed. The Rhyolite Herald sadly announced that the company had "finally given up
hope of developing satisfactory ore bodies without going to great depth" and after several
years of effort, "work was entirely suspended a few weeks ago." Miners were discharged and
soon even the watchman was given his notice. The elusive ore body, which had been
followed sporadically down to 200 feet below the surface, had been completely lost at that
point, and although the shaft had been sunk below 800 feet, no more ore had been found.
For a few months, the Furnace Creek Copper Company, held on to its property, waiting to
see what would happen to the Greenwater Death Valley Copper Company's property, whose
shaft was below 1,000 feet and still sinking. If that shaft hit the copper ore which everyone in
Greenwater had been looking for, there was a possibility that the Furnace Creek Company
would be able to resume operations. But such did not come to pass, and the Furnace Creek
Copper Mines were abandoned. The entire collection of claims belonging to the company

was allowed to lapse, and reverted to county land status in June of 1910, when the company
failed to pay $10.51 in Inyo County taxes. [14]
c. Greenwater Death Valley Copper Company
The other major mine in the Greenwater district, the Greenwater Death Valley Copper
Company, was also owned and operated by one of the great business magnates of the early
twentieth century, Charles Schwab. After making his fortune in steel, Schwab had been
attracted to the gold fields of Nevada following the Tonopah and Goldfield booms, and, as
we have seen, dabbled constantly in mines in and around the Bullfrog area. When the
Greenwater rush began, Schwab, like most major operators in the area, rushed to the site in
order to capitalize on what seemed to be the biggest boom of them all.
Schwabs activities are hard to follow during the early days of the boom, since he had several
agents in and around the mining towns of Death Valley who bought and sold mining
properties on his behalf. For a short time in early 1906, Schwab held an interest in the
Funeral Range Copper Company, but it was shortly sold, apparently because he was unable to
gain outright control of the company. In July of 1906, Schwab began buying up mining
claims in his own right. Schwab paid $180,000 to Arthur Kunze and his partners for a group
of sixteen claims, and on August 10, 1906, the Greenwater Death Valley Copper Company
was incorporated. The capitalization was for $3,000,000, one of the largest capitalizations in
the district, and Schwab retained majority control of the company, even though his name
does not appear as a member of the board of directors. The company by this time held title to
300 acres of ground, and announced that the installation of mining machinery and the
inauguration of an extensive development campaign would soon start.
In addition to its mineral holdings in Greenwater, the Schwab company also owned water
rights at Ash Meadows, and preliminary plans were announced to install a pumping and
power station in that vicinity. Lumber and supplies began to flow into the company's property
at Greenwater and work began. According to the usual procedure a limited amount of
Greenwater Death Valley Copper Company stock was offered for sale in Rhyolite and other
mining towns of the west, and by the end of August, the main shaft of the mine was down to
100 feet in depth, and work was started on two other shafts. The company ordered three gas
hoists to facilitate the sinking.
With the organization of a company such as this, with a man of Schwab's reputation behind
it, the local newspapers immediately began to follow the progress of the company. The
Bullfrog Miner reported in late September that the company was already employing forty
miners on its property. In addition, it said, the company had ordered three gas hoists (of 25,
40 and 50-horsepower), which would easily give it the largest hoisting capacity in the district.
These first indications of development work were quite promising, and the Inyo Independent
reported towards the end of September that the company had "good ore.
Although the Furnace Creek Copper Company was the darling stock of the Greenwater
District, Greenwater Death Valley Copper did not do poorly. The attraction of the Schwab
name--even though he had never attempted copper mining before--plus the good location
and the obvious intent of the company to develop its property extensively, caused the price of
its stock to soar upwards, until it was selling for $2 per share in late September, twice its par
value. By the end of that month, the three new hoists had arrived at the mine and were being
placed above their shafts, two of which were already below the 100-toot level.
The company added a few more claims to its property list in early October, and spurred by
this and other mysterious activities, the newspapers soon picked up the smell of something
big. Since the biggest thing they could imagine would be a combination of Clark's and

Schwab's mines--the two largest in the district--incessant rumors circulated of a merger

between the two powerful operators. The rumors caused especially heavy trading of the
stocks of both companies in Boston and New York, and the rumors became so proliferant
that the papers began to believe themselves. The Inyo Independent reported in mid-October
that the merger between the companies was practically final, since the main points affecting it
had been settled between Clark and Schwab. When another month passed, however, without
any merger announcements, the Bullfrog Miner revised its estimate and reported that
difficulties had arisen, which had delayed the consolidation.
In the meantime, the Greenwater Death Valley Copper Company was working hard, and
early in November began taking shipping ore out of one of its shafts. By this time the
company had two of its shafts below 100 feet, a third below 50 feet, and had built two
comfortable frame offices on its property. Work continued through the rest of 1906, and by
early December the two deeper shafts were at the 200-level, and the Greenwater Death
Valley Copper company had emerged as one of the largest operations in the district.
Then, on December 15th, the long-anticipated merger took place. Unfortunately, the papers
had been speculating about the wrong companies, however, for the Furnace Creek Copper
Company had no part in the merger. Instead, a consolidation was announced, of the
Greenwater Death Valley Copper, the United Greenwater Copper and several unincorporated
mines owned by John Brock and some Philadelphia financiers.
The new merger company was named the Greenwater Death Valley Copper Mines and
Smelting Company, and had a capitalization of $25,000,000, with five million shares worth
$5 each. It was easily the largest incorporation that the Death Valley region had ever seen.
The new company was a holding corporation, and as such bought up the controlling interests
in the companies it took over. The stock distribution in the new company was based upon the
amount of stock which had been sold in the older companies, and 68 percent of the merger
company's stock went to buy out the Greenwater Death Valley Copper Company, 18 percent
to the United Greenwater, and the rest to the owners of the unincorporated mines. Charles
Schwab, it was definitely pointed out, was in control of the holding company, and plans were
announced for the erection of a smelter at Ash Meadows, where the Greenwater Death
Valley Copper Company already had water rights. In addition, the holding company
announced that it would build a railroad from the smelter site to the Greenwater mines. A
smelting expert was hired for $25,000 per year to supervise the selection of the construction
site and the construction of the plant, and hopes were raised that the smelter would be
running within a year.
Under the management arrangement of the holding company, however, the subsidiary
companies under its control would continue to work on their own, retaining their names,
identities and management--subject, of course, to the approval of Schwab and the parent
company. Thus the mines continued to explore and develop their own deposits, and the
holding company was used for a pooling of resources and capital, which would be necessary
in order to finance the capital expenditures which were proposed. [15]

Illustration 216. an early view of the Copper Queen shaft of the Greenwater
Death Valley Copper Company, ca. December 1906. This was the shaft
which was ultimately sunk to the depth of over 1400 feet. In this view,
however, work has barely startd, and the miners are still using a crude hand
whim to raise the rock to the surface. The young town of Kunze may be
seen in the background. Photo courtesy Nevada Historical Society.
Illustration 217. Another view of the same shaft, this one taken below
ground, where an intermediate hand whim was being used. The man sitting
at the right, with suspenders, notebook and pen in pocket, is undoubtedly
the mine superintendent. He may also be seen in the background in the
preceeding picture. Photo courtesy Nevada Historical Society.
Under the impetus of the new merger arrangements, and with the Greenwater boom at its
very peak, the Greenwater Death Valley Copper Company opened 1907 in impressive style,
increasing its work force to nearly fifty men! Two more gas hoists were added to the
property, bringing the total to five hoists pumping away over five separate shafts. Four of the
shafts were over 100 feet in depth, and the deepest one had reached 125 feet. By early
February the holding company announced that construction plans were completed for its

smelter, which would cost $1,500,000 to build, and reaffirmed that a rail line would be
constructed between the smelter site and the mines. The Death Valley Chuck-Walla reported
that the Greenwater Death Valley Copper Company had itself spent over $100,000 since
starting work in August of 1906, and now had all five shafts down past the 100-foot point.
Labor costs alone were running the company $10,000 a month to pursue its vigorous
campaign. The deepest shaft was now down to 140 feet, and an air compressor had been
ordered to force air down to the men working below ground.
Early in March the Greenwater Death Valley Copper Mines & Smelting Company added
more mines to its holdings, including those of the Greenwater El Capitan Copper company.
Construction on the smelter was slated to start within sixty days, and survey work for the
railroad spur was started. By the middle of that month, the deepest shaft on the Greenwater
Death Valley Copper Company's property was near the 300-foot level, and two others were
down to 275 and 200 feet. Three shifts were working around the clock, a machine shop had
been installed at the central shaft, an assay office was built, and a sawmill was under
construction, to facilitate the shaping of timbers for the deep mine shafts.
The rapid exploitation of the company's property continued through April, and the payroll
was increased to 75 men. By the 19th of that month the deepest shaft was down 475 feet, and
had fairly good copper ore (3%) at the bottom. Sinking kept pace in the other shafts, and
towards the end of April, four of the company's five working shafts were below 40:0 feet. As
May progressed, crosscuts were run from several of the shafts, as exploratory measures, and
by the end of May another small strike was reported at the 485-foot level in one of the shafts.
In the meantime the holding company was completing plans for its smelter, and equipment
for the, construction of the plant was ordered. The holding company also increased its list of
subsidiary mines, until it held title to over 200 claims comprising some 4,000 acres of land.
Although the Greenwater Death Valley Copper Company was clearly the leading subsidiary
within the umbrella group, sinking and exploration was also carried on in numerous of the
company's other mines.
More strikes were made in June, and although none were large enough to turn the mine from
development into production, all were encouraging as they gave indications of an immense
copper body just a little farther below the surface. The Bullfrog Miner reported towards the
end of June that six shafts were working at the Greenwater Death Valley property, the
deepest of which was now 500 feet. Miners were still scarce in Greenwater, and since
contractors refused to work on crosscuts during the graveyard shift, the company was forced
to cut back its operation to two daily shifts. "The success of this mine, which would lead to a
smelter being built," concluded the Bullfrog Miner, "is most important for the Greenwater
district."
Further strikes of small copper deposits were reported in July, and late in that month, the
Greenwater Death Valley Copper Company made a shipment of two carloads (approximately
forty tons) of its high-grade ore, which had been taken out of the small strikes during the past
months. Following that shipment, the news from the mines decreased, and development
slowed down somewhat as Schwab and other operators began to feel the effects of the Panic
of 1907. Not until late October was the Greenwater Death Valley Copper Company
mentioned again, when it was reported that they had added ten more men to the payroll. By
now the Greenwater Death Valley Copper Mines & Smelting Company was employing 100
men in its combined operations, and more than half of them were working directly for
Greenwater Death Valley Copper Company.
In November, however, three of that company's shafts were closed, in order to economize on
development work, and only three shafts were still in operation. An indication of some past
troubles was alluded to in the Bullfrog Miner, when it mentioned that the Schwab property

was resuming full-scale work. As the year closed out, developments seemed to be increasing
once again, as the company let a contract for 500 feet of sinking in its main shaft. The shift
from company work to contract work, though, was a ready indication that the Greenwater
Death Valley Copper Company was beginning to feel the financial pinch. [16]
By the beginning of 1908 the Greenwater boom had busted, and the Greenwater Death Valley
Copper Company was one of the few still working in the district. Gone were the balmy days
when companies were organized for $25,000,000: the Greenwater Death Valley Copper
Mines & Smelting Company quietly faded into the background, and no more word of smelter
construction or railroad building was heard. Rather, operations were contracted, development
was restricted to the most economical means, and the Greenwater Death Valley Copper
Company tried to save all its previous investments in a desperate search for ore. Happily, the
company still had a fat treasury, due to wise management practices and the constant sale of
company stock in previous days when prices had been high.
As the new year opened, the main shaft at the property was approaching the 600-foot level,
and progress was steady now that work had been concentrated on one shaft. The company
reported in March, after two more months of work, that $125,000 was left in its treasury for
further development work, and that its shaft was now 740 feet deep. Another contract was let
at this time to sink 100 feet further. By the first of April, the shaft was down to 850 feet, by
far the deepest of any in the district, and towards the end of April was approaching the magic
1000-foot level, where all the company's experts had predicted the giant copper body would
be found As May ended, the shaft was down to 940 feet, and Superintendent Jerry O'Rourke
optimistically told the Rhyolite Herald that "they will make a camp of Greenwater yet."
On June 10th the 1000-foot point was finally reached, and true to prediction, ore was struck.
The first assays on the copper body ran 5 to 6 percent copper, but no one could yet estimate
how extensive the deposit was. This strike, as noted before, caused a minor rush back into the
Greenwater District, as prospectors and companies who had let their titles lapse rushed back
in to reclaim them. But within a week, the strike had proven to be no more than a small
stringer or ore. Still, no one doubted that the presence of this small stringer indicated that
there was a large body of copper within the vicinity, and the strike did prove that Greenwater
was "not a surface proposition as has so often been claimed.
The company was still confident that ore was in the ground, and stated in late June that in
case ore is not struck in the crosscut which has been started from the 1,000-foot level, that
the company will sink another 1,000 feet to demonstrate its theory that a body of copper ore
exists in the locality. However, it is believed that the present crosscut will uncover
commercial copper when it reaches its objective point." As July progressed, the company
pursued that objective, via crosscuts from both the 500 and the 1,000-foot levels, and was
apparently satisfied enough with the results of the search to finally apply for a patent to its
claims. The application listed a total of thirty claims and thirteen fractions, for a total of over
515 acres.
In the meantime, the crosscuts were continued, and although ore assaying 6 percent copper
and eleven ounces of silver, for a total worth of $25 per ton, was discovered in the crosscut
from the 500-foot level, nothing of importance was found at the deeper 1,000-foot level.
Despite this discouraging result, the company kept working. Time and money, however, were
beginning to press the Greenwater Death Valley Copper Company, and the work force was
cut back until it was described in late October as a small force of men. Work was resumed in
the main shaft in November, and by the end of the year, it had been sunk to nearly 1,100 feet.
Small stringers of copper ore were found as the shaft went deeper, but nothing of commercial
grade or extent could be found. [17]

After a disappointing 1908, the new year opened on a more promising note for the
Greenwater Death Valley Copper Company. The drifts continued to find ore, its quality
started to improve somewhat, and the Rhyolite Daily Bulletin reported in early January that
"the situation in the Greenwater district is very encouraging." The paper again reported
towards the middle of January that the company was bringing up buckets or ore, which was
starting to appear in bunches, and "every indication points to a monster vein in the property
that should soon be tapped." The Mining World picked up on that report, but cautioned that
considerable work remains to be done to demonstrate the extent and value of these finds."
But after years of fruitless searching for ore, it was hard to hold down the elation over
finding copper, even though its commercial extent was not yet proven. Early in February the
Bullfrog Miner reported that the recent discovery of sixty feet of 5 percent copper ore at the
1000-foot point of the shaft had caused the company to become "highly elated" over the
discovery, and to push "developments vigorously." "On the proving of the new ore body,"
remarked the Bullfrog Miner in an understatement, "depends the future of the Greenwater
Death Valley mine and practically of the camp of Greenwater.
Hard on the heels of this discovery came another, as ore was finally found in the crosscut
from the 1,000-foot level of the shaft, 200 feet out. This body was soon proven to be forty
feet in width, which was stilt not enough to warrant commercial production, but much more
than enough to warrant further exploration and development. "The find has caused all kinds
of excitement around Greenwater," reported the Rhyolite Daily Bulletin, "and all indications
point to a big revival in the mining industry." The Bullfrog Miner agreed, and reported that
the "camp of Greenwater is on the rise from all indications Parties with holdings there are
putting forth more zeal in the development than has been shown for over a year."
With the revival of hopes, the Greenwater Death Valley Copper Mines & Smelting Company,
which still held control of the Greenwater Death Valley Copper Company, released its
annual report for the year ending December 31, 1908. The holding company had a cash
balance of $138,136 at the end of that year, which included $49,099 in the treasury of the
United Greenwater Copper Company and $87,136 in the treasury of the Greenwater Death
Valley Copper Company. Since the United Greenwater had long ago ceased work, its
treasury funds were available for application towards the continuing development work on
the Greenwater Death Valley Copper Company's mines. The parent company, it was
announced, owned or controlled 96 percent of the capital stock of the Greenwater Death
Valley Copper, the United Greenwater Copper, and the El Capitan Copper Mining Company.
All but the Greenwater Death Valley Coper Company, however, were idle.
Pushing hard upon its discoveries, that company continued its work through March. By the
middle of that month, the main shaft was down to 1,220 feet and was going for 1,500, which
was now seen as the point of decision. Fifteen men were employed at the mine. Work was
temporarily halted in early April, when Fred Kelly, a 39-year old miner, fell to his death in
the shaft of the mine, but was soon continued, and in late April and early May, more small
copper bodies were found. By the middle of May, with the shaft approaching the 1,300-foot
mark, the future of the mine was still indecisive, for although the "usual indications of copper
are present . . . . no commercial ore bodies have been encountered."
The Bullfrog Miner reported at this time that the total treasury of the Greenwater Death
Valley Copper Mines & Smelting Company, based upon its earlier annual report, would be
sufficient for more than four more years of development work, based upon the average costs
of $2,500 per month at the mine. Such an expenditure would be impractical, however, for
everyone agreed that if copper was not found by the 1,500-foot depth, the mine would be
abandoned, since copper below that level, no matter how rich, would be very expensive to
mine. But the Greenwater Death Valley Copper Company and its parent holding company

were both in rather good financial shape, and even though ore was not found, the price of
stock in both companies began to rise, going from 4¢ to 9¢ per share. The reason for the
trading, explained the Rhyolite Herald was the tact that if the company quit work, the
remaining treasury funds would be divided among the holders of its outstanding stock, which
made that stock worth a few cents per shares. Shareholders, in other words, now hoped that
the Greenwater Death Valley Copper Company would either find ore quickly, or else close
down quickly and distribute the remaining funds.
On July 24th, it looked like the latter would be the option taken. Work was halted at the mine,
for the shaft had reached the 1,400-foot level, and the present hoisting plant at the property
did not have the capacity to raise rock from any lower down. The superintendent asked for
instructions, giving the company the options of purchasing a new hoist for deeper sinking, of
crosscutting from the 1400-foot level, or of shutting down the mine. After some thought the
company decided to purchase a larger hoist, and while awaiting its arrival, to crosscut at the
bottom of the shaft.
But the crosscutting soon proved futile, and for some reason the company reversed its
decision, for the new hoist was never ordered. Work gradually slowed down at the mine, and
finally, on September 1st, was halted. The work force was laid off. After sinking to a final
depth of 1439 feet below the surface, the deepest shaft in the Death Valley region, the
Greenwater Death Valley Copper Company finally gave up its search for copper ore and
abandoned its mine. Greenwater was now totally dead, for this was the last company
operating in the district. The Inyo Register printed the obituary for both the mine and the
district: "With the cessation of all work at the Greenwater Death Valley mine, the once
thriving camps of Greenwater and Furnace Creek, California, have been given over to the
reign of the coyotes. There is scarcely a man to be found in the entire district, and locally it is
considered extremely doubtful that the Schwab company will ever resume work at the mine,
which was once pronounced a bonanza." Ironically, with the cessation of work at
Greenwater, shares in the Greenwater Death Valley Copper Mines & Smelting Company shot
up from 7¢ to 11¢ each, as stockholders anticipated the splitting of the remaining treasury
funds.
The stockholders, however, were doomed to disappointment, for the holding company
decided to invest the remaining funds in other mining districts rather than dissolve the
company, and for the next several years, sporadic reports of the company could be found
from gold districts in Nevada and California, where they tried their luck. Unfortunately, the
other districts proved no more fruitful than had Greenwater, and the company eventually
went broke.
In the meantime, however, the Rhyolite Herald had nothing but praise for the Greenwater
Death Valley Copper Company, for in Greenwater it had done all that could be expected and
more to try to prove the benefits of the once highly praised district. The management of the
company, said the Herald, had always been honest and above board, and reasonable men
could have been expected to give up long before they had. No one should he able to
complain about the conduct of its business in the Greenwater District.
Shortly after the mine was closed down, contracts were let to haul the machinery and
equipment out of the district for use elsewhere, a job which was expected to take five or six
weeks. The cannibalization of the Greenwater Death Valley Copper Mine was so complete
that the timbers were even stripped from the shafts and brought up for use again elsewhere.
The company's property was totally abandoned, and in June of 1910 reverted to county
control, when the once mighty Greenwater Death Valley Copper Company failed to pay
$10.85 in county taxes on its numerous mining claims in the district. [18]

d. Kempland Copper Company
The two companies discussed above were quite unusual, and they do not represent the
average Greenwater District mining company. As noted before the average life of a copper
company in Greenwater was limited to slightly less than five months, considerably less than
that of either the Furnace Creek Copper Company or the Greenwater Death Valley Copper
Company. For the sake of comparison, therefore, a short narrative of the life and death of a
more typical copper company should prove instructive. Such is the Kempland Copper
Company, which lasted five and a half months from its first mention in the newspapers to its
last.
The origin of the Kempland Copper Company is shrouded in mystery, as is most of those
which surfaced in Greenwater, and was undoubtedly the result of a series of mining sales,
trades, and consolidations of claims. It was first mentioned on November 16, 1906, when the
Bullfrog Miner noted in passing that it was located near the Clark Copper Company and the
Greenwater Calument Copper Company. It was again mentioned in December 21st, when the
Inyo Independent commented that a tunnel was being driven on its property.
The Death Valley Chuck-Walla alluded to the Kempland property on January 1, 1907,
writing that it was located near the townsite of Furnace, in close proximity to the mines
mentioned above, as well as the big Furnace Creek Copper Company. From this description,
and the fact that the Kempland first appeared during the latter days of the height of
Greenwater's boom, it is safe to infer that it was a typical risk" operation. In other words, the
grounds owned by the Kempland Copper Company were undoubtedly purchased and mined
more for their proximity to the Furnace Creek Copper Company's property than for any
mineral content or worth of their own. As mentioned before, this was quite a common
practice at the time, and was a practice which was responsible for the proliferation of mines
around any big strike. We have seen this same phenomonem at work in Bullfrog, and again
in the South Bullfrog and Lee-Echo districts.
Although we have no incorporation papers for the Kempland Copper Company, it was
undoubtedly capitalized for $1,000,000 with shares worth $1 each par value, since this was
the lowest incorporation ever seen in Greenwater. By mid-February, the company had
succeeded in selling enough of these shares to start permanent development work, and the
Death Valley Chuck-Walla reported that the company was working on a tunnel, and had a
large enough work force to warrant the hiring of a superintendent. The company was steadily
developing its ground, and had a good showing of ore.
On March 1st, by which time the company's tunnel was in 100 feet, the Death Valley Chuck-
Walla noted that it was owned by J. Ross Clark. Clark was also the owner of the Clark
Copper Company, which adjoined the Kempland, and was the brother of William Clark,
president of the Las Vegas & Tonopah Railroad. The company had ore in its tunnel, said the
Chuck-Walla and was making plans to ship it as soon as possible. By the middle of the
month, although no ore had been shipped, more progress had been made in the tunnel, which
was now 200 feet deep into the side of the hill.
By April 1st, the company looked even better. It now owned twenty-two claims northwest of
the townsite of Furnace, and was crosscutting on the ore ledge. Full surface equipment had
been installed, the copper ore brought up was giving high assays, and plans were still being
made to start shipments in the near future. In summary, the Death Valley Chuck-Walla called
the Kempland Copper Company One of the best properties in the district. On April 15th, the
company was still working on its claims, but no shipments had been made. Later in that
month the Bullfrog Miner reported that the company had a small eight-foot ledge of ore
which assayed about 7 percent copper, and on May 1st, the Death Valley Chuck-Walla again

reported that the company was at work, and was preparing to ship ore.
But that was the last reference ever made to the Kempland Copper Company. Evidently,
work ceased soon after May 1st. What had happened? Although we will never know for
certain, the demise of the Kempland undoubtedly paralleled that of many other Greenwater
mines. With the great number of mines and mining companies around Greenwater, the
competition for the investment dollar was intense, and there were not enough dollars to go
around. With a rather limited budget, the average company was able to spend what funds it
could raise in exploring the ground for several months. When the funds ran out, with the
inevitable failure to find any commercial ore, the mine was simply and quietly shut down,
and the miners departed to find work in another of Greenwater's concerns. It had been a good
gamble to try to find ore next to the bonanza holdings of the big Furnace Creek Copper
Company, but the gamble had failed. The investors were out their money, and the directors
their time. With the great number of mines in Greenwater, however, and the relative
insignificance of the Kempland Copper Company as compared with the giants of the district,
no one particularly cared. The death of the mine was certainly not important enough to
warrant mention in the papers. [19]
e. Greenwater Death Valley Copper Mining Company
Readers who think that this mining company has already been discussed should look closely
at its name, for therein lies its story. This is a far more interesting company than the
Kempland Copper, and is one which really illuminates what the Greenwater mining boom
was all about. First organized and advertised in February of 1907, the company immediately
came under the suspicions of the editors of the Death Valley Chuck-Walla. The Chuck-
Walla, they wrote, has been unable to located the properties of the company, which was
promoted by the C. M. Sumner Investment Securities company of Denver--a city which had
had over fifty years of practice in all sorts of shady mining maneuvers. The company's claims
could not be found anywhere in the Greenwater District, wrote the Chuck-Walla and it
evidently hoped that the similarity between its name and that of the Greenwater Death Valley
Copper Company, one of Greenwater's finest, would be sufficient to confuse enough
investors to make some money on a non-existent mine.
So far, the story is not particularly unusual, for such is the way the mining game was played
in the early twentieth-century west. But the Greenwater Death Valley Copper Mining
Company would not give up.
It persisted in advertising its advantages, despite its exposure, and even went to the lengths
of describing its good copper claims, supposedly located four miles north of Greenwater. The
Death Valley Chuck-Walla panned the outfit again and warned its readers that "we cannot
find such claims as this company claims exist. We suspect that the concern is doing a wildcat
business at the expense of Greenwater's good name and we warn investors to be careful
before placing their money into this." As a courtesy and also a warning to others who were
thinking of trying to fool potential Greenwater investors, the editors sent a copy of their
magazine, including the article damning the company, to its promoters in Denver.The
response was amazing. The Sumner investment Company of Denver wrote back to the Death
Valley Chuck-Walla admitting that they had never seen their claims, but affirming that they
did have two of them, and they were supposed to be good ones. However, they "could not
tell where they were, as they themselves did not know. They were seeking information about
their property through us," wrote the Chuck-Walla and at the same time "they were
advertising stock for sale in their company." Such exposure presented the mining business at
its worst, for the Denver company was admittedly advertising stock for sale in a mine which
did not exist, on the basis of two copper claims which they had never seen and could not
locate.

But the Greenwater Death Valley Copper Mining Company was not one to give up easily,
and they again wrote to the Death Valley Chuck-Walla Now in regard to the 'Bronze and
'Midkado' claims in Greenwater we are more anxious to know something about them than you
are . . . We will therefore greatly appreciate it f you will inform us of what expense will be
attached to having some reputable surveyor go out and see whether he can find these claims
and if they are property monumented, etc. The Chuck-Walla was so flabbergasted by this
request that it printed it verbatim in its magazine. Few wildcat mining companies had the
nerve expressed by the Greenwater Death Valley Copper Mining Company--to ask the
editors of the magazine which was exposing it to the world as liars and cheats to help them
find their own mine.
Although there is no denouement to this story, for the claims were never located and the mine
never existed, it does serve to tell a point. Undoubtedly, even with the wide and unmistakable
exposure of this fraud, the promoters of the Greenwater Death Valley Copper Mining
Company made money.
Even with the bad publicity, there was enough just in the name of the corporation to fool
some of the people some of the time. [20]
f. The Greenwater Boom
As a final note, which is perhaps necessary after reciting the history of the Greenwater Death
Valley Copper Mining Company, it should be pointed out that the Greenwater district as a
whole was not a fake. Inevitably, considering the rapid rise and fall of the district, which has
seldom been paralleled elsewhere, modern writers of western lore have begun to look upon
California, they could see booming mining camps. None of these camps had yet reached the
peak of their booms when Greenwater started, and as a result the boom spirit of the
surrounding territory was at its highest ever. Greenwater, in a sense, was the culmination of
that spirit, for only after Greenwater had failed did other camps begin to falter. In short,
Greenwater came at a time when all of Nevada was booming, and the times were totally--
although unrealistically--optimistic.
In short, there was copper ore at Greenwater. Unfortunately, it did not improve with depth, as
it was supposed to have done. The boom at Greenwater eclipsed all others seen before, due to
the boom spirit of the times, but it was based upon the contemporary belief that the district
held untold richs. Although there were more fraudulent mining companies in Greenwater than
in any district we have seen, that was more a result of the unbelievable boom spirit which
prevailed throughout the country than of any underlying conspiracy within the district.
Greenwater was a real and legitimate mining district, and several companies proved that point
beyond all doubt by expending enormous sums of money trying to exploit it. Unfortunately,
Greenwater did not have sufficient copper ores to turn it into a producing district.

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION IV:
EAST SIDE
4. Greenwater Suburbs
Just as the great Bullfrog boom spilled out into the surrounding territory and caused
secondary booms at locations such as Skidoo, Echo-Lee and Greenwater, the Greenwater
boom also had a ripple effect, and caused several smaller rushes into the surrounding
territory. Like Bullfrog, the first mad scramble to the Greenwater area soon filled up all the
available ground for miles around the heart of the district, and late-arriving prospectors began
to drift farther afield in the search for ore. Several mining districts were thus discovered, such
as East Greenwater and South Greenwater, alluded to in previous chapters. In addition, three
minor areas within Death Valley National Monument were opened and explored in this
fashion, and they will be the subject of this chapter.
a. Willow Creek and Gold Valley
1. History
The Willow Creek and Gold Valley area, located about ten miles south of Greenwater--about
fifteen miles by road--was the scene of a Greenwater boom in miniature. Indeed, the story of
the mines and settlements in that area is so similar to that of Greenwater, although on a
considerably smaller scale, that we need not take too much time to examine it.
Not surprisingly, considering the great problem of water in the Greenwater District, the first
mention of Willow Creek is not one of a great mineral location, but the discovery of water.
In August of 1906, just as the Greenwater boom was swinging into its height, several
prospectors who had wandered down to the south reported the discovery of a good spring of
fresh water, which they estimated was capable of supplying three to four thousand people.
That news immediately attracted more prospectors to the area, for Willow Creek was one of
the few good water sources in the southern Death Valley area. if they were not able to find
copper or gold in the vicinity, at least the prospectors would be assured that they would not
die of dehydration.

Illustration 218. Map of the Southern portion of the Funeral Peak area.
With the Greenwater boom at its peak, and a good water source handy, Willow Creek was
soon swarming with prospectors, and within a very short time copper was located in the
vicinity of the spring. By the end of August, a camp had been established at the spring, and
several locations had been staked out. Although most prospectors agreed that Willow Creek's
copper was not as good as Greenwater's, still the Bullfrog Miner proclaimed that "Willow
Creek Is the Latest."
The boom spirit which had thrust Greenwater to the top in such a short time spilled over into
the Willow Creek area, and soon a minor boom was well under way. By the end of
September enough prospectors were in the area to warrant the establishment of a freight line
from Kingston, the newest station on the Tonopah & Tidewater Railroad. Some of Rhyolite's
leading mining promoters had already moved into the new territory, including Senator T. L.
Oddie, who secured a fairly large group of copper claims Chet Leavitt, who we have met
before in the Lee-Echo District, also moved quickly into Willow Creek. In addition to staking
out numerous claims, Leavitt announced the formation of a townsite company, to promote
his new town of Copper Basin. Willow Creek's first mining company, the Greenwater
Pasadena Copper Mining Company, was incorporated in September and soon had six men
working on several of its forty claims. The Bullfrog Miner reported that it "is understood that
some very high grade copper ore was uncovered, and that there was quite a rush from
Greenwater to the scene of the discovery.

During October of 1906, Oddie started work on his property, and paid $30,000 to extend his
holdings. On the 4th of that month, he incorporated the Greenwater Arcturus Copper
Company, with a capitalization of $3,000,000. Within a few weeks, Oddie had plenty of
competition in the area, as the Greenwater Willow Creek Copper Company was incorporated
for $2,000,000 on November 12th, and the Greenwater Baltic Copper Mining Company was
incorporated for $1,000,000 on November 14th. A slight idea of the frantic activity which
accompanied the opening of this subsidiary area may be gained from noting that one man
purchased five copper claims for $25,000, and the Greenwater Baltic obtained its four claims
near the headwaters of Willow Creek for the price of $75,000.
The excitement over these new copper strikes and the ensuing rush into the district caused the
inevitable battle over townsite locations. On November 16th, the townsite of Willow Creek
was organized, near Willow Spring and next to the property of Oddie's Greenwater Arcturus
Copper Company.
Surveyors were immediately put to work laying out a pipe line from the spring to the new
townsite, and a pump was ordered. The new townsite was promoted by E. E. Mattison, and
he placed advertisements in the Rhyolite newspapers, promising prospective citizens an
"ample water supply" and telephone and telegraph connections immediately. Lots were put
on sale from $150 to $250 each. In this case, the townsite battle was an extremely short one,
for with the opening of the Willow Creek townsite, we hear no more of Chet Leavitt's
townsite of Copper Basin, which apparently folded overnight. The life of his townsite--if it
ever existed on the ground--was so brief that we cannot place its location definitely, although
it was not very far away from the new townsite of Willow Creek.
The mild Willow Creek copper boom continued through the rest of 1906, paralleling the
Greenwater boom in miniature, On November 30th, the Busch brothers of Rhyolite
announced the organization of the Greenwater Amalgamated Copper Company, which had
fifteen claims in the district, and sales of other claims continued. One enterprising prospector
managed to unload fifteen claims for $30,000 in cash, merely due to their close proximity to
Senator Oddie's Greenwater Arcturus properties.
Other claims were bought, sold and traded, and several of the incorporated mining
companies, such as the Greenwater Pasadena and the Greenwater Amalgamated Copper,
started to work. By the end of 1906, the report that Willow Creek "is going to make a
flourishing camp." Already, the young townsite had three stores, two lodging houses and
three saloons. [21]
During the winter, the rush into the Willow Creek area subsided, for the initial copper boom
was over. The various companies settled down to look for ore, and since it was now obvious
that the copper belt in the Willow Creek area was rather small, the amount of prospecting in
the vicinity tailed off. The Greenwater Arcturus, Senator Oddie's company, worked steadily
through the first several months of 1907, while the other companies worked more
sporadically. The Greenwater Amalgamated Copper Company, for example, ceased work
after barely a month of operation, and was never heard of again, while the Greenwater
Willow Creek Copper Company never even began work at all.
Although the rush to the area had definitely subsided, several more mining companies were
organized. The Greenwater Clinton Copper Mining Company, which held eight claims, was
incorporated for $1,500,000 on March 1st, and announced that work would start shortly on its
property. Interestingly, the Greenwater Clinton also revealed that it had some gold values
mixed in with its copper claims. Likewise, on March 8th, the incorporation of the Nevada
Greenwater Mining, Milling and Smelting Company was announced. Finally, on March 15th,
the incorporation of the Greenwater Guggenheim Copper Company was announced, with a

capitalization of $1,500,000--and absolutely no connection to the famous Guggenheim

family. The Death Valley Chuck-Walla however, immediately denounced the last company
as an outright fraud, since the three claims it claimed to have in Willow Creek did not exist.
Unlike other companies we have seen, the Greenwater Guggenheim ceased advertising its
non-existent mine shortly after its exposure, and was not heard of again.
By the end of March, with the Greenwater Pasadena, the Greenwater Arcturus, the
Greenwater Baltic and the Greenwater Clinton mining companies hard at work, a local
resident felt safe in boasting that the Willow Creek section would prove up the richest copper
mines around Greenwater." As April passed and May began, the district settled down, with
its companies looking for the copper deposits, and Willow Creek looked every bit the picture
of a small suburb of Greenwater. Then, on May 10th, the picture suddenly changed, when the
Greenwater Baltic Mining Company discovered a high grade silver-lead streak on its
property.
Illustration 219. A typical Willow Creek mining advertisement, from the

Death Valley Chuck-Walla, 1 April 1907.
Copper was one thing, but silver was quite definitely another, and the Willow Creek rush
began all over again. Within a week after the strike on the Baltic was announced, the
Bullfrog Miner proclaimed that a "Wild Rush Is On to Willow Creek. Numerous new
locations were made and several more silver strikes announced, and another wave of
prospectors rolled over the country, looking for the silver indications which had previously
been ignored in the initial rush for copper ground. The Greenwater Copperhead Company
was formed, with silver-lead indications on its claims, and numerous smaller silver mines
were opened. The Bullfrog Miner reported that the keenest interest is being shown in
Greenwater over the events of the past few days in Willow Creek, and rigs and outfits are
now at a premium." To help those rushing into the district, volunteers began working on a
wagon road to improve access to the camp. The Willow Creek Townsite Company was ready
for another boom, for its plat of Willow Creek had just been approved by the Inyo County
Board of Supervisors. The new camp had thirty-one blocks surveyed and marked and just
over 300 lots for sale.
As the new rush continued, the Bullfrog Miner wrote in mid-May that WILLOW CREEK
STILL ON THE BOOM. THE NEW CAMP 15 ASSUMING CITY PROPORTIONS.

Telegraph and telephone lines would be there soon, the paper said, and a water company had
been organized to pipe water from Willow Springs up to the townsite. The Tonopah &
Tidewater Railroad, taking note of the amount of freight which was now going into the re-
booming area, included Willow Creek as one of the freighting points on its new timetable,
with teams connecting the townsite with Tecopa Station.
Illustration 220. Advertisement from the Bullfrog Miner, 24 May 1907.
The new rush also caused the older copper companies of the district to re-evaluate their
holdings, and new assays were run on their ore, looking for indications of silver or gold
which had been ignored before. By the end of May, with both the new and old companies
working, the Willow Creek District looked extremely prosperous and full of promise for the
future. The Greenwater Baltic, said the Bullfrog Miner, was the best property in the area, and
had gold and silver on its claims, in addition to copper. The Nevada Greenwater looked
second best, but its shaft was only down to twenty-seven feet below ground. In addition, the
Greenwater Arcturus, the Greenwater Clinton, and the Greenwater Copperhead were all
working and looking good. The Arcturus, in particular, was evidently serious about its mining
efforts, since it had ordered a 50-horsepower hoist for its property. A petition was being
circulated in the area for a new Post Office, and a movement was underfoot to use the pure
water of Willow Creek to start a brewery. In summary, although the Bullfrog Miner noted

that the Willow Creek excitement was taking many people away from Greenwater, it
cautioned that there were "no deep workings in the camp" as of yet, and more time was
needed to demonstrate the permanency of the Willow Creek ores.
If nothing else, Willow Creek was definitely an up and down mining area. At the same time
that the new gold and silver finds were causing a new rush to the territory, some of the older
copper mines were beginning to close down, since the rich surface copper streaks pinched out
with depth, just as they did at Greenwater. Thus, the Greenwater Pasadena Copper Mining
Company ceased work in late May and the Greenwater Copperhead Company in early June.
But the Greenwater Baltic, the Greenwater Arcturus, the Nevada Greenwater and the
Greenwater Clinton continued to work, as most of them discovered enough traces of gold or
silver on their properties to warrant further development work.
The Willow Creek townsite was also described in mid-summer as looking very prosperous,
and was conceeded to be a sure winner, since it "lies in a natural basin and is the one
available location in that section to house and home a mining and business population." It
was described on June 1st as being a "considerable-sized" community. At the same time, the
Greenwater Clinton was called the best mine in the district, but it was being pushed by the
Greenwater Baltic. "More miners are wanted at once," for the latter property, said the
Bullfrog Miner, "and will be put to work as fast as they can be obtained." [22]
Then, on June 22d, the Willow Creek area suddenly boomed all over again, when Harry
Rasmey and O. B. Clover made a surface strike of gold about four miles southeast of Willow
Spring. The strike had gold which assayed at $200 per ton, and the Bullfrog Miner predicted
that the "discovery will give still another boom to the Willow Creek section . . ."The paper
was absolutely right, for once again prospectors and promoters poured into the region to look
at the ground around the new strike, and the game was started all over again. Ramsey and
Clover claimed--as had many others over the years--to have finally found the "Real and only
Breyfogle" mine. Several more gold strikes were made within a short period of time, and
suddenly the Willow Creek area was transformed from a copper mining camp to a gold
camp. With the new promise of riches, the opinion was soon forthcoming that the Willow
Creek area would "undoubtedly distance Greenwater in a short time."
After the dust had settled somewhat, the papers were able to begin to assess the new
situation. A new mining company--the Willow Creek Greenwater Copper Mines Company--
had been formed, and its bad timing in incorporating a copper company for $2,500,000 when
all everyone else cared about was gold is reflected in the fact that it never went to work. The
Bullfrog Miner remarked in late July that "Considerable excitement has been caused at
Willow Creek by the late strike of gold in paying quantities in the Clover property in that
section. Details are lacking at this time, but according to brief communication received the
outlook is encouraging. The Inyo Register was not so cautious in its assessment, writing that
the "Latest reports from the scene of the new strike in the Willow Creek district, situated in
the Funeral Range, about 12 miles south of Greenwater, indicates that the surface showing is
the richest ever discovered in this desert region, if not in the world.
WILLOW CREEK & GOLD VALLEY MINING COMPANIES
Date First Date Last

Name
Mentioned Mentioned
28 September
Greenwater Pasadena Copper Mining Company 24 May 1907
1906
Greenwater Arcturus Copper Company 4 October 1906 5 October 1907

Greenwater Willow Creek Copper Company

1906 1906
14 November
Greenwater Baltic Copper Mining Company 1 January 1910
1906
30 November 21 December
Greenwater Amalgamated Copper Company
1906 1906
Greenwater Clinton Copper Mining Company 15 February 1907 4 January 1908
Nevada Greenwater Mining, Milling & Smelting
8 March 1907 5 October 1907
Company
*Greenwater-Guggenheim Copper Company 15 March 1907 15 March 1907
Greenwater Copperhead Company 10 May 1907 8 June 1907
Willow Creek Greenwater Copper Mines Company 8 July 1907 8 July 1907
28 September 22 November
Sunset Gold Mining Company
1907 1907
Willow Creek Gold Mining Company 11 October 1907 8 July 1908
Willow Creek Combination Mining & Milling 22 November 22 November
Company 1907 1907
- denounced as a fraud by the Death Valley Chuck-Walla
Although that seemed a bit premature, the Bullfrog Miner soon joined the band wagon and
dropped its caution, headlining that "WILLOW CREEK WILL BE A SECOND
GOLDFIELD." The new rush, which soon resulted in numerous small mines being opened
up, also reintroduced the townsite battle to the area. Early in April the Goldsworthy brothers,
who were responsible for one of the bigger gold strikes, announced the formation of Gold
Valley townsite. These brothers did not think small, and when the plat of their townsite was
approved by the Inyo County Board of Supervisors, it showed an immense camp of ninety-
six blocks, with over 1,200 lots surveyed and ready for sale.
Willow Creek was now definitely booming, and just to prove the point the miners of the area
pulled out of Greenwater and organized a district of their own. As August continued, more
gold strikes were reported, and two wise prospectors, taking advantage of the new rush fever,
sold their gold claims for $50,000. "Willow Creek is going in the near future to make one of
the biggest camps in the southern country," stated one operator to the Bullfrog Miner, and
the prediction seemed borne cut, when Ramsey and Glover uncovered a pocket of $500 Gold
ore at the 17-foot point of their shaft. The rush to the new gold section of the district
threatened to entirely eclipse the older copper section, and the Greenwater Arcturus closed
down on October 5th, as did the Nevada Greenwater Mining, Milling and Smelting
Company. In the meantime, the new gold section was booming and the Gold Valley townsite
was described as having a general store and a saloon, with more business slated to come in
soon. "According to all reports," said the Bullfrog Miner, "Willow Creek is attracting as
much or more attention than any of the other Southern camps. It seems to have set
Greenwater in the shade a degree or so, and it is stated that several firms are preparing to
move from Greenwater to the new camp."
By the end of that month, it was quite clear that gold had replaced copper in the Willow
Creek District, "not because they don't have copper," said the Bullfrog Miner, "but because
copper is down to 15¢ a pound and gold is $248 a pound." The paper counted fourteen gold
strikes in the district, and noted that most of the miners and prospectors, wary of the boom
and bust cycle of the Greenwater mining companies, were attempting to work their properties
without outside financing. It was undoubtedly a wise move, for in addition to the Greenwater
bust, which was beginning to become quite apparent. the Panic of 1907 was also making itself
felt in the western mining regions, and investment dollars for new districts and unproven

mines was almost impossible to attract.
Despite these problems, several new gold mining companies were incorporated in the fall of
1907, including the Sunset Gold Mining Company, in late September, the Willow Creek Gold
Mining Company (capitalized for $1,000,000) in mid-October and the Willow Creek
Combination Mining and Milling Company (capitalization $1,000,000) in late November.
The effects of the panic were drastically shown in the case of the latter company, for it was
utterly unable to attract investment dollars, and never succeeded in going to work.
But in the meantime, the miners forged ahead with what means they had available, and the
new gold district looked good, considering the times. The new town of Gold Valley added a
lodging house and a barber shop to its list of businesses in October, and the Bullfrog Miner
called it "a considerable mining settlement." Fully half a dozen good-looking gold mines
were being opened late that month, and the Miner reported eight new strikes being made in
the district. "The surface showings are surely great," the paper continued, "and if they
continue Willow Creek will be shipping ore in three months if not sooner." All in all, a local
resident confidently predicted "a prosperous winter" for everyone.
Frank Reber, editor of the Greenwater Times stated in early November that only the collapse
of the Greenwater District and the effects of the Panic of 1907 kept Willow Creek from really
booming. "If it were any other time than now you would see one of the greatest stampedes
into Willow in history, but it is hard to interest people the way conditions are at this time."
The Bullfrog Miner, early in November, also stated that "No mining camp of recent times has
shown so many and such rich ore discoveries as Willow Creek can now show for so short a
history." Fully thirty-five gold strikes and twenty or more silver-lead strikes were on record,
and a long list of properties were working--although the great majority of them were small
one or two-man operations, which would take quite a while to turn into producing mines.
Since the lack of a friendly financial atmosphere kept the great majority of these mines from
incorporating and using investors' dollars to develop their properties, the district as a whole
turned to the easing system, whereby the owner would rent his property to anyone who was
willing to work it, in return for some combination of cash rent or a percentage of the ore
taken out of the mine. Leasing work, as compared to the more extensive work which was
possible through full-scale development, was slow and tedious, and as the district settled
down in the late fall of 1907, there was not much to report. The Rhyolite Daily Bulletin noted
in late November that "While the financial depression has affected Willow Creek to a certain
extent, the showing is such that work will be continued on a large number of properties." The
reversal to older and small-time methods of mining was highlighted by the use of an arrastra
in the district, from which some miners were said to be making as much as $50 per day.
Late in December, the Rhyolite Daily Bulletin again assessed the camp, and reported "mining
matters very encouraging at that camp, and while quiet at present, in sympathy with the
general financial conditions, the district is developing into a good camp." In accordance with
the abatement of the rush, and the lack of capital to develop the mines, the new town of Gold
Valley was not growing very fast, although it had succeed in eclipsing the townsite of Willow
Creek. The Rhyolite Herald reported late in-December that accommodations at Gold Valley
were limited to ten or twelve tents, a store and a saloon. But still, more than half a dozen
gold mines were still operating, although at a rather slow pace. [23]
As 1908 began, the copper section of Willow Creek, which had been responsible for opening
the district originally, was entirely dead, and the only copper companies still operating were
those which had subsequently discovered gold or silver on their property. The Greenwater
Baltic, for example, was still working its mine, but was looking solely for gold and was no
longer interested in copper. The Greenwater Clinton Copper Mining Company, however,

which had found traces of gold on its property in addition to its copper, closed down early in
January of 1908, as its gold deposits were not sufficient to warrant any further work. In
addition to the Baltic, the only other incorporated company at work in the district was the
Willow Creek Gold Mining Company, although several non-incorporated mines were still
hard at work.
All in all, as the new year started, the district looked about as good as it could, considering
the nationwide depression which was following on the heels of the panic. One of the lessees
in the district was about ready to begin shipping out his high-grade gold ore, and none of the
new gold locations made the previous fall had been allowed to lapse. One of the district's
operators stoutly maintained to the Rhyolite Herald in late January that Willow Creek is
going to be the banner camp of the section when it gets a little more attention and money.
The panic has set it back, but . . . the goods are there." Showings were so good on the
property of the Willow Creek Gold Mining Company that its owners began talking about
adding a dozen more men to the payroll and of building a 15-stamp mill for the mine.
But development work was necessarily slow, and the Inyo Register was still reporting in
mid-February that "If at depth the same values hold as now appear upon the surface and from
shallow workings, the coming few months will witness another prosperous camp in the
Funeral range . . . Indeed, as February drew to a close, Willow Creek got a shot in the arm
from the rapid collapse of its giant neighbor to the north, Greenwater. The Rhyolite Daily
Bulletin reported that "what buildings are remaining in Greenwater are being torn down and
moved to Gold Valley, the Willow Creek town," and many Greenwater merchants, before
giving up entirely on the Death Valley region, decided to give Willow Creek a try. Alkali
Bill, for example, who could no longer find passengers for his Death Valley Chug Line,
opened service into Gold Valley, although it is doubtful that he was able to find many
passengers willing to pay the $100 which he had charged during the glory days of
Greenwater. With the influx of Greenwater migrants, Gold Valley experienced some growth,
and by the end of March was described as having a population of seventy, with about twenty
tent and frame buildings under construction.
With its new prosperity, the citizens of the town applied for a Post Office, and the Gold
Valley Mercantile Company finished and moved into its new building. Then, in late May, the
event which the district had long awaited took place, when one of the biggest lessees in the
district made the first shipment of ore. Although accounts vary, approximately twenty-five
tons of ore was shipped out, at an estimated worth of around $300 per ton. But despite this
shipment, which gave the first indications that Willow Creek was turning into a producer, the
Bullfrog Miner sadly noted that "Very little outside interest . . . is being manifest in the
district." But the paper was sure that "when times get better Willow Creek is going to make a
noise like velocity."
Unfortunately, however, times did not get better, and following that one shipment of ore, the
Willow Creek District started to decline. No more news was heard from the area between
July and December of 1908, and the mines began to close down. The Willow Creek Gold
Mining Company, for example, ceased operations early in July, and most of the independent
operators were forced to follow its example. Once again, the isolation of the Death Valley
mining districts was taking its toll, for the expense of mining, transportation and living in a
desolate region made the mining of all but the highest grades of ore impractical. The Rhyolite
Herald however, was not quite ready to give up on the district, and reported in December that
several tons of shipping ore had been taken out of the Greenwater Baltic during the fall of
1908, and that numerous outfits were going back into the district to perform their annual
assessment work necessary to retain title to their claims. "Everyone interested seems
optimistic regarding the future."

But although most prospectors retained their titles through 1909, and the Greenwater Baltic
even performed its annual work in order to retain its property through 1910, the Willow
Creek District was dead--the victim of hard times, isolation, and too little ore. Most of the
miners left the area during the fall of 1908 and the rest early in 1909. Their spirits were not
broken, however, by the failure of one more mining district, as evidenced by Jack Robichau,
who left Willow Creek early in January of 1909, on his way to the new boom district in
Alberta, Canada. [24]
Not much is left to picture the short life of the Willow Creek District, for none of the mines
were ever developed enough to even warrant the installation of a gas hoist, and neither of the
two townsites ever boasted any substantial buildings. The mines, particularly the gold mines
around the site of Gold Valley, are clearly visible from the tell-tale dumps spilling down the
mountainsides, but none of the workings are very extensive. Gold Valley townsite itself can
be picked out of the valley floor, due to the visible remnants of tent sites, building sites, and
scattered debris and garbage around the area.
To the west, around the site of Willow Creek townsite, even less is left. One substantial stone
platform, which once housed the only real building in the district, can still be seen, as well as
several tentsites, and a small accumulation of mining debris. The Willow Creek townsite,
incidently, has long been confused as a millsite, but there is no evidence of any kind of mill
ever being erected in the district. The spring, as many in the Death Valley area, was used as a
water source for many years after the demise of the mining district by the desert rats who did
not have enough sense to quit looking for gold in Death Valley, and therefore has a small
amount of Depression-era garbage associated with it.
There is nothing, however, within this district which warrants National Register nomination,
although the area does have potential historical archaeological values. The remote and
beautiful scenery of the Willow Creek and Gold Valley area would make a very interesting
trip for Monument visitors. The story of the mm-rush to the area should be interpreted, either
at the site, or at the Visitors Center.

Illustrations 221-222. Top: View of Gold Valley townsite, looking

northwest towards the road leading into Willow Creek. The pole in the
center marks the approximate center of the old townsite. Bottom: One of the
larger stone foundations at the old Willow Creek townsite, which supported
a tent and frame business in days gone by. 1978 photos by John Latschar.
b. Rhodes Springs
1. History
Even farther to the south of Greenwater was another of its subsidiary mining areas, loosely
known as Rhodes Springs. In this area, approximately twenty miles south of Greenwater, and
over thirty miles by road, was one of those isolated Death Valley mines which had been
discovered in the late nineteenth century and was reopened under the impetus of the mining
booms which swept the Death Valley region in the early 1900s.

Illustration 223. Map of Northcentral portion of Confidence Hills area.
The first notice of Rhodes Springs was in 1886, when the Mining & Scientific Press reported
that A. G. Rhodes and his partner had located some good prospects in southeast Death
Valley. The mine which the two men had discovered was several miles from the spring itself-
-which was named by Rhodes. Due to the total lack of transportation facilities in the entire
region in that time period, Rhodes was forced to haul supplies into his mine all the way from
Daggett, California, and to haul his ore back out across the same forbidding desert.
Nevertheless, Rhodes did bring 1,200 pounds of silver ore into Daggett in May of 1886,
which netted him almost $800. Despite this absymally small return for a large investment of
labor and time, Rhodes declared that he would return to his mine after the hot weather of
summer had passed. But on the return trip both Rhodes and several prospective purchasers of
his mine were lost, and were presumed to have perished in the desert.
The mine was rediscovered in December of 1905 by three prospectors who were wandering
far afield in south Death Valley, looking for potential unstaked ground. The three men
reported finding Rhodes' original location notices, which were still legible, as well as an old
trail leading to the mine, and an old windlass and a wooden bucket. The dump of the old
mine, in addition, contained about two tons of silver ore, which the prospectors claimed was
very valuable. Late in December, the re-locators of Rhodes' mine brought in a mining
engineer, who examined the dump and recommended that the mine be reopened.

As usual, the discovery led to a number of other prospectors coming into the area, but this
time not much was found. It was September of 1906 before any more valuable ground was
located in the area, and during the following month several other mines were opened. The
activity, although not very extensive, was enough to make the Mining World call Rhodes
Springs a camp, and by the end of 1906, about five mines were being opened up by various
groups of men. J. Irving Crowell, a Rhyolite investor, led the pack with the incorporation of
the Bonanza Greenwater Copper Company, which had smatterings of copper, silver, lead and
gold on its property in the vicinity of the springs.
Operations in this vicinity were never very impressive, but were carried out on a shoe-string
basis for several years. One of the more promising locations in the district was bonded for
$100,000 in May of 1907, and the Bonanza Greenwater Company had enough ore to start
sacking it the following month. That ore would be shipped, according to the Bullfrog Miner,
as soon as a wagon road into the mine was finished. Since this area was closer to the railroad
line than was Greenwater, transportation costs were not quite so prohibitive, and the Bonanza
Greenwater estimated that the total cost of mining and freighting its ore would be about $28
per ton. Since they estimated their high-grade ore at around $100 per ton, a good profit could
be made on their deposits. Work was eased by the fact that the ore being mined was all
exposed on the edge of a dyke, which made the operation a strip mine-type affair.
The Bonanza Greenwater had twelve men working on stripping its ore in mid-June, and
Irving Crowell, its owner, predicted that the amount of ore which could be simply dug off the
top of the ground was worth $100,000. To back up his statement, he made a twenty-ton
shipment of the ore to a smelter in Salt Lake City late in June. The ore returned just over $90
per ton, which after deducting $20 per ton for freight and shipping, left Crowell with $1,400
to pay for his supplies, labor and profit. Crowell's success, although marginal, was enough to
inspire other prospectors to scour the area for similar deposits, and the Bullfrog Miner
reported in late June that "All the ground has been located for miles and then one or top of
another in desperate attempts to get as near the discovery as possible."
Although not many people found similar deposits, one group of prospectors felt that they had
enough promising ground to form the Copper Basin Mining Company in September of 1907.
But that effort was shortly proven futile, and the company folded after little more than a
month's operation. In the meantime, the Bonanza Greenwater Company continued to mine its
ore through the rest of 1907, and towards the end of the year reported that the access road to
its mine had been completed at a reported cost of $6,000. With the new road easing the
transportation difficulties considerably, said Crowell, his company would soon become a
regular shipper of ore.
After that bold declaration, however, Crowell and the Bonanza Greenwater Copper Mining
Company disappeared from view forever. Although we have no way of knowing for certain,
it would appear that one more mining company had felt the effects of the decline of the
Greenwater area boom, as well as the Panic of 1907. Probably, Crowell had stripped off all
the easily-mined ore from the surface in his first shipment, and soon found that costs of
supplies and transportation, as well as the lack of investor confidence, made it impossible to
purchase the necessary tools and equipment to start underground mining.
In March of 1908 another strike was made in the vicinity of Rhodes Springs by three
prospectors named Thomas McMurry, W. P. Graham and Lewis Rice. Again, the initial
discovery was rather sensational, with bunches of ore on the surface which assayed $25,000
per ton in gold. The strike caused the usual sensation, and other prospectors converged on the
area, but within two months it was proved to everyone's satisfaction that the men had merely
made a lucky discovery of an isolated high-grade pocket of ore. Unfortunately, there was
considerably less than one ton of the extremely rich stuff. After one group of miners ran a

tunnel 100 feet into the side of the mountain and another sunk a shaft about seventy feet
deep, everyone gave up and left the district. Rhodes Springs and its vicinity, which had seen
the effects of a very outer ripple of the tremendous splash caused by the Greenwater boom,
never amounted to much, and was soon deserted except for the faint footsteps of an
occasional prospector who came back to make sure that the hidden bonanza had not been
overlooked. [25]
The Rhodes Springs area today bears absolutely no trace of these brief and minor efforts to
mine the surrounding hills--which is not at all surprising considering the limited time and
effort which went into those mines. Instead, the site bears the marks of much later
development, including a nondescript miner's shack which has been built and added on to
between the 1930s and the 1960s and the ruins of a small milling effort. These were
originally built by a miner who worked a small claim in the hills during the 1930s, and
erected the buildings which are still visible. Based upon the remaining evidence, the mill at
this site was a cone-crushing type, and was not used for very long, for there is little evidence
of tailings in the area. There is a substantial concrete water holding tank built above the mill,
which is all that is still intact today. Below the small mill site, which is built on the side of a
little hill, extensive collections of wood and metal debris can be found. Between the mill and
the living shack are ruins of several more sheds, including a pump-house, all dating from the
post-depression era. All in all, this site can best be summed up as a small-scale effort by a
one or two man team, which never amounted to much. None of the remains possess historical
or architectural significance. After historical archaeological clearance, the site should be
cleaned up. Any artifacts useful for interpretation should be collected, leaving the concrete
and wooden ruins of the little mill to the efforts of time.

Illustrations 224-225. Top: Ruins of the main cone-crushing element of the

Rhodes Springs mill, which measures eight feet in diameter. Bottom: The
ruins of the mill foundations at Rhodes Sprigns, with the water tank in the
upper right corner of the photo. 1978 photos by John Latschar.

Illustrations 226-227. Top: Ruins of the pump-house at the Rhodes Springs

camp. Bottom: The living shack at Rhodes Springs, with numerous signs on
the door predicting death and disaster to anyone who enters. 1978 photos by
John Latschar.
c. Virgin Springs
1. History
An even smaller and still less important mining effort took place in the confines of Virgin
Spring Canyon during the early 1900s. Like Willow Creek and Rhodes Springs, the discovery
of ore in Virgin Springs Canyon was a direct offshoot of the Greenwater boom. When a
lonely prospector found surface croppings of 30 percent copper in the area in the fall of 1906,
the South Furnace Creek Copper Company was soon organized, with a capitalization of
$1,250,000. Stock was put on sale for 25¢ per share, and due more to the name of the
company than to any knowledge of its property, enough shares were sold for mining to start.
The company owned nine claims, and towards the end of 1905 had employed six miners to
start a shaft on one of them. The work was disappointing, however, and after a brief life of
two months, the mine was abandoned and the company folded.
The Virgin Spring area was not molested again until the spring of 1908, when another short-
lived strike was m ado. This time, gold was discovered, as a result of the little gold boom in
nearby Willow Creek. Before the flurry died down, several claims had been optioned for a
reported $60,000. Like the earlier strike, however, this one soon proved worthless, and the
mine was quickly abandoned. [26]
The Virgin Spring area has been deserted ever since, with the exception of a small milling
operation which was connected with the Desert Hound Mine, which will be discussed later.
There are, however, some historic structures in Virgin Spring canyon, which are a result of
one of the two short-lived strikes in the area. On the west side of the wash which travels
down the center of the canyon, about one mile north of Virgin Spring, stand the ruins of four
stone structures and one tent site, which were used as living quarters, probably by the
employees of the South Furnace Creek Copper Company.
Several of these stone buildings are only ten to twelve feet in length, with walls which have
crumbled down to only two feet in height. The fourth, however, is much more imposing,
being some twelve by twenty feet in size, with well-laid stone walls six feet high--probably
near their original height. This structure is built into the side of a large rock, which has
protected it from the elements, and is complete with a doorway, a wooden window frame,
and a large stone chimney. Although the site is very interesting, and gives a good picture of
isolated living in a Death Valley mining camp, it does not warrant nomination to the National
Register. It does deserve being left intact, but that should not be difficult, since it is extremely
doubtful that many will ever visit the site. The access road has been completely washed out
for years, and will probably never be replaced. The site can only be found by someone with
patience, a strong four-wheel drive vehicle, and a knowledge of its precise location. The
mining around the area was not important enough to warrant interpretation, either on the site
or elsewhere.

Illustrations 228-229. Top: One of the smaller stone ruins at the Virgin
Spring Camp site. Bottom: The larger ruin, showing the doorway in the
front, window at the right and chimney at the left. This is one of the largest
stone structure ruins within Death Valley, but it is completely inaccessible.

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION IV:
EAST SIDE
5. Miscellaneous Black Mountain Properties
Scattered around the southern portion of the Black Mountains on the east side of lower Death
Valley are several properties which cannot be logically grouped or discussed as part of any
mining district or time period. As such, they are lumped together here and presented for what
they are--isolated examples of several more attempts by lone individuals or small groups to
wrest wealth from the forbidding terrain of Death Valley.
a. Desert Hound Mine
1. History
The Desert Hound Mine was first discovered in the late summer of 1906, when the
Engineering & Mining Journal reported that E. M. Wilkens and Burt Sides had located it
high on the summit of the Black Mountains, overlooking Death Valley. The mine was
perhaps the most isolated in all of Death Valley, particularly when transportation time to the
nearest points of settlement were considered, for the only way in or out was via a five-mile
hiker either from Virgin Spring or the Death Valley floor, The closest point of contemporary
civilization, Greenwater, was over twenty airline miles and close to thirty road and trail miles
away.
Nevertheless, the two men managed to sell their property to an eastern syndicate for $30,000
in cash and 75,000 shares of stock in a new company, which became known as the Keys
Mining Company. The company was owned and promoted by F. D. Mellen & Company of
Boston, and had sixty-five claims, with both gold and copper values. Bill Keys was the local
manager and representative of the company on the ground, and the Desert Hound Mine was
commonly known as the Keys Mine.

Illustration 230. Map of Northcentral portion of the Confidence Hills area.
Following its discovery, the Desert Hound Mine underwent a bewildering shift of owners, as
each subsequent purchaser found out exactly bow isolated the mine really was, and how
costly it would be to operate. Through it all, Bill Keys remained the only stable individual, as
he served first one and then another owner as its ground representative and manager. The
DuPont Powder Company, in a rare venture into mining, bought the mine from the Boston
promoters in early 1907, and announced that development would start soon. DuPont,
however, soon found out how expensive it would be to start developments, and as late as July
1907, still had not started work.
The next mention of the Desert Hound is in October of 1907, when Bill Brockington replaced
Bill Keys as manager of the property. This time development work was started, under the
direct supervision of Brockington, and by the end of October the Rhyolite Daily Bulletin
reported that Brockington was ready to ship out two carloads of ore, worth an estimated
$20,000. Six men were employed at the mine at this time, and development work continued
through the rest of 1907. Late that year, by which time a tunnel had been run in 120 feet and
a shaft sunk to seventy feet, a gold strike was reported, but no more shipments were made.
Sometime in the fall of 1907, DuPont leased the mine back to a group of Boston promoters,
although it took the local newspapers several months to catch up on that change.
In February of 1908, the Inyo Independent reported that Brockington was working eight men

on the property. Two assayers had been brought in from Boston, and a complete assaying
outfit had been installed at the mine, including a furnace which weighed 600 pounds. Work
was necessarily slow, due to the extreme isolation of the mine, but by the end of April, the
Rhyolite Herald reported that the miners were beginning to sack high-grade ore for shipment.
The Bullfrog Miner reported several weeks later that the assay testing done by the Boston
experts had been successful, and the company was planning a big development campaign.
Following that report, however, no more news was heard from the mine until December of
1908, when Brockington told the Rhyolite Herald that the mine "is destined to become the
greatest producer in California." A party of Boston promoters of the Key Gold Mining &
Milling Company had arrived in Death Valley for a visit to the mine, and reports indicated
that the visitors were so pleased with its prospects that they planned to install an aerial
tramway near the mire to take the ore down to a proposed mill site.
In January of 1909, the Rhyolite Daily Bulletin reported that a wagon road was being built
from Death Valley Junction to the property, in order to facilitate the planned improvements,
and the Bullfrog Miner confirmed later that month that plans were being made to construct a
small mill on the property. Water was scarce in the vicinity, however, and the fact that the
mine was located in an almost inaccessible place made such plans difficult in the extreme to
carry out.
Nevertheless, work continued at the Desert Hound, and the Rhyolite Daily Bulletin reported
in February that a second mine had been opened at the camp, which was "rapidly coming
again to the front." The Rhyolite Herald reported considerable development later that month,
with the mine holding an abundance of ore between $80 and $100 per ton. A mill would be
required to mine it profitably, however, due to the costs and difficulties or transportation.
Little more is heard from the property in 1909. The Bullfrog Miner reported in May that a
good force of men were working, and the Rhyolite Herald mentioned in September that
between ten and fifteen men were working on a crosscut tunnel and a drift.
No further word was heard from the mine for a year and a half, until April of 1911, when the
Rhyolite Herald reported that the Key Gold Mining Company was running a 1,300-foot
tunnel to tap its vein, and had recently shipped forty tons of ore to the Needles, California,
smelter, worth about $310 per ton. Highlighting the difficulties of the mine, the Herald stated
that $60 ore was often dumped out at the mine, since it did not pay to ship to the smelter.
Following that report, the Desert Hound was not heard from for another year, until the Inyo
Register reported in February of 1912 that the DuPong Powder people were working at the
mine. That, however, was the last mention of the mine for quite some time.
After twenty-some years of idleness, the Desert Hound was again reopened in the 1930s, as a
small one-man operation. This enterprising miner blazed a pair of nice hiking trails between
his property and Virgin Spring Canyon, where a small milling operation was set up at the
spring. Judging from the ruins of that mill site, which consists of no more than a small
tailings dump and a small concrete engine mount, the milling operation was neither long-
lasting nor particularly successful. Sometime in the late 1930s, the mine was finally
abandoned for good. [27]
The Desert Hound is one of the most isolated mines in all of Death Valley, for the only
access to the site is either via a relatively pleasant tour-mile hike from the Virgin Spring
trailhead, or a rough two-mile hike up from Ashford Mine, on the west side of the mountains.
To complicate matters, the Virgin Spring trailhead can only be reached by a determined
driver of a four-wheel drive vehicle who knows precisely where he is going, and Ashford

Mine can only be reached via a steep one mile hike up Ashford Canyon from the point where
the access road is washed out. In other words, not many people will want (or be able) to take
the effort to visit the Desert Hound Mine.
Nor should they. The Desert Hound is the most unsightly place in Death Valley. It can best
be described as a large garbage pit. Anyone who has lingering doubts about the romanticism
of depression-era mining, on a one-man scale, will be totally absolved of such delusions by a
visit to the Desert Hound.
The complex consists of several different sites, strung out along the access trail. At the
farthest western side, on a ridge overlooking the Ashford Mine and Death Valley, is a former
tent community, consisting of nine tent sites and a twelve by twelve stone shelter, with some
walls remaining This community was undoubtedly the home of the 1907-1909 era miners.
The only remnants of their occupation are the tell-tall rectangular placed stones, which were
once used. to keep their tents from blowing off the ridge into Death Valley. One quarter of a
mile to the east is the main mine site, which was worked both in the early 1900s and again in
the 1930s. The marks of the earlier occupation are mostly obscured by the 1903s era junk,
although two tent platform sites are still discernable. In addition, a jumble of rusted and
stripped machinery lies in the bottom of a small defile below the mine site, probably the ruins
of the 600-pound assaying furnace hauled in during 1908.
Other than that, the rest of this site has been totally demolished by its later occupants. The
third Desert Hound site, located about one half miles east of the mine, along the access trail,
consists merely of the faint outlines of stone retaining walls around two tent sites.
In summary, there is nothing of particular historic significance at the Desert Hound, although
it may yield historical archaeological values. The site dies not warrant interpretation, and
should be left in its disorderly state. Due to its remote location, it is extremely doubtful that
more than one or two hardy souls will find the site each year.
The mill site at Virgin Spring associated with the 1930s mining at the Desert Hound is
neither large nor impressive Total remains there consist of a. small concrete engine mount
and an eroded pile of tailings. Whatever milling machinery was used there has long since
disappeared, and the site has no particular significance.

Illustrations 231-232. Top: View of the tent sites west of the Desert Hound
Mine. The two people in the center and far center of the photo mark the first
and last tent sites, which are barely discernable even on the ground. Bottom:
The main Desert Hound Mine site, showing a small portion of the junk
accumlated by the its last resident. 1978 phots by John Latschar.
b. Ashford Mine and Mill
1. History
In January of 1907, Harold Ashford wandered into the Death Valley region, and attracted by
the gold strikes at the Desert Hound Mine, prospected in that vicinity. Within a few months,
he discovered that the Keys Gold Mining Company had failed to do the required assessment
work on several of its claims, and Ashford relocated them and started to work on his own. It
took the Keys Gold Mining Company almost two years to discover that someone else was
working their former claims, and when Ashford refused to vacate, the company took him to
court In January of 1910, however, the judge found in favor of Ashford and he retained title
to his claims. He might have been better off if he had lost.
Harold Ashford and his brother, Henry and Lewis, worked the mine off and on between 1910
and 1914, without spectacular results. Then, in November of 1914, the brothers managed to
lease the mine to B. W. McCausland and his son, Ross. The McCauslands started to work on
a large scale, and within a year had driven a tunnel 180 feet into the side of the mountain. At
the height of their operation, the McCauslands had twenty-eight men employed, had invested
over $125,000 in capital improvements, including machinery, trucks and labor costs, and had
completed 2,000 feet of total workings. In addition, a mill had been built on the floor of
Death Valley, five miles and 3,500 feet below the mine, where the ore from the mine was
trucked for preliminary treating. The mill included a jaw-crusher, a ten-foot Lane mill, a
Wilfley table and a Diester slime table. The McCauslands were described by the Inyo
Register as being wealthy residents of Los Angeles, and in late August they announced that
their forty-ton capacity mill was in operation, and they had plans to increase its capacity to
150 tons.
But despite taking out an estimated $100,000 worth of ore, the McCauslands soon discovered
that the ores from the mine were not rich enough to justify all this capital expenditure, and
they ceased operations in September of 1915. In order to cut their losses, the McCauslands
decided not to pay the Ashfords for the year's lease on the mine. The Ashfords took them to
court, but never got their money back.

Illustration 233. The Ashford Mill, built in late 1914 or early 1915. This
photo was marked as being taken in 1942. If the date is correct, then the
mill was in remarkable shape at the time, since it was never again used after
the McCauslands abandoned their efforts in late 1915. Photo by an
unknown photographer, from a box marked "new prints," Death Valley
National Monument Library.
Following this fiasco, the mine and mill were idle for some years, until 1926, when it was
reported that four men were working. The total footage of workings at the mine, however,
had not increased since 1917, which indicates that they were not working very hard. Neither
did they work very long, for the mine was soon closed down again. Another long period of
idleness followed, until 1935, when the Ashfords once again leased their mine, this time to
the Golden Treasure Mines, Inc. That company reopened the mine, and since the old mill was
inadequate to treat its ores, shipped their rock out to Shoshone where it was loaded upon the
Tonopah & Tidewater Railroad. The long truck hauls, however, proved very expensive, and
after searching for other ways to reduce costs, the company settled down to taking out only
the highest grade of ore available. Work on the mine by the Golden Treasure company lasted
until sometime in 1938, when they gave up. Total shipments by the Golden Treasure
company amounted to no more than $18,000 over a period of two years.
Following the departure of their lessees, the Ashfords began working on their mine again,
and in August of 1938 made a 38-ton shipment. By this time the mine was described as
comprising twenty-six claims, and had a 320-foot shaft with a crosscut, a 215-foot tunnel,
and a 200-foot drift. Equipment at the site included a portable Ingersoll- Rand compressor
and various camp buildings. Three men were working, probably the three Ashford brothers.
After working the mine themselves for a short period, the Ashford's leased it again, this time
to the Bernard Granville and Associates of Los Angeles. That company immediately went to
work, employing ten men, and soon installed a short aerial tramway, to facilitate the task of
consolidating the ore from the scattered shafts and tunnels to one central point for trucking
down the mountain. Operations continued until sometime in 1941, when the new lessees gave
up. No record of any shipments being made by Granville and Associates can be found.
The Ashfords continued to hold title to their mine following the departure of their last
lessees, although they apparently never returned to work it themselves. In perhaps the best
summary of the spotted history of the Ashford Mine, C. B. Glasscock wrote that it was able
to produce just enough gold to keep the Ashfords in groceries and lawsuits for more than a

third of a century. [28]
Structures at the Ashford Mine are numerous, although not many of them could be classified
as historic. The main mine site itself is situated high on the west side of the Black Mountains,
overlooking Death Valley, and the old road to the site has been washed out for many years.
Access today is only possible via an arduous hike about one mile from the end of the road up
to the mine site. Structures at the main complex consist of one collapsed shack, an outhouse,
a large office and cookhouse building, two wooden bunkhouses, a tin shed, a headframe and
ore bin, and the tramway towers and terminal. All of these structures date from the 1930-
1940 period of mining. Although they present a good picture of a small mining community
during that period, they are not of National Register significance, due to their late date and
relative lack of contribution to the history of the locale.
Just around the knoll from the main mining site--towards the east--are the ruins of an older
mining effort, undoubtedly the remnants of the McCausland's work in the 1910s. Here may
be found several older adits and dumps, the ruins of a collapsed shack and half a dozen level
sites, the former homes of a small tent community. This site has better integrity than the
former, since it was relatively undisturbed in later mining years, but still does not possess
historic significance. Benign neglect is recommended for these mine sites, both of which
possess potential historical archaeological values.
The ruins of Ashford Mill stand on the floor of Death Valley. Structures here consist of the
crumbling walls of a concrete office building, and the ruins of the mill itself. Not much is left
of the mill, with the exception of the large concrete foundations and a very limited amount of
debris. The ruins of the mill foundation and the office building are rather interesting, and
according to local legend, are due to the fact that a double load of cement was shipped to the
McCauslands when construction was in progress. Rather than send it back, which would have
entrailed further transportation expenses, the extra cement was used in construction of the
mill and office building, which largely accounts for their still standing today.
The Ashford Mill is a popular tourist stop, as it stands lust adjacent to the main south Death
Valley road. There is a large interpretive sign at the mill, which is substantially incorrect,
since it relates a romantic tale of foreign princes and huge sums of money. As none of that is
true, it would behoove the Monument staff to replace the sign with a more factual--if boring-
-account of the mill. Other than that, the only recommendation for the Ashford Mill site is
one of benign neglect, for it does not possess National Register significance.

Illustrations 234-235. Top: The Ashford Mine, showing the complex used
in the 1930s. The cookhouse and office is in the foreground, the
bunkhouses are to the right, with the headframe, collapsed tramway
terminal and a shed visible in the rear. Bottom: View of the upper Ashford
Mine complex, where the 1910s mining efforts of the McCauslands took
place. 1978 photos by John Latschar.

Illustrations 236-237. Top: The office building at the Ashford Mill site.
Bottom: Ruins of the foundations of the Ashford Mill. 1978 photos by John
Latschar.
c. Confidence Mine and Mill
1. History
The last mine discussed in the chapter is one of the oldest in Death Valley. The Confidence
Mine was first discovered sometime around the early 1890s by an Indian woman named
Mary Scott, who thought it was a silver mine and neglected it. In 1895, Mary relocated the
mine on a grubstake from Frank Cole and Jimmy Ashdown. When samples showed high gold
content, Cole and Ashdown sold the mine to George Montgomery for $36,000. In November
of 1895, the Inyo Register reported that Montgomery was in town buying mules to use to
haul freight and supplies over 100 miles from Daggett, California, to the mine, which had
just begun operations. The mine, said the paper, had opened up some fine looking gold ore,
running from $15 to $75 per ton, and due to the transportation difficulties, a 30-ton Bryan
mill was being built seven miles below the mine, on the floor of Death Valley. The mill
engine would run on gasoline, since it was far cheaper to haul in gas than was the effort to
collect wood. Mining expenses in the isolated and little-known region were not helped by the
price of $100 per head which Montgomery was forced to pay for fourteen large mules.
During the first part of 1896, the new mine was worked vigorously. The Inyo Register
reported early that year that the Confidence Mining Company was operating the mine and
mill, with the backing of financiers from Salt Lake City, particularly John Q. Cannon. The
mill was under construction, and was expected to be completed soon, and a full force of
miners and millmen had been hired, although no accommodations had been provided for
them. That was not too bad, said the Register, since "as it seldom rains," everyone merely
camped in the open air. The Confidence, said the paper, was one of" the most difficult and
expensive mines to work in the country, owing to the scarcity of fuel and water principally,
but freighting from Daggett [is] equally as arduous a task."

Illustration 238. Map of Eastcentral portion of the Confidence Hills Area

and Westcentral portion of the Shoshone Area.
Due more to its uniquely isolated location in unexplored Death Valley than to its size or
importance, the Confidence Mine also received attention from a national mining journal. The
Mining & Scientific Press, in January of 1896, reported that the mine had three shafts and a
tunnel, with the deepest shaft being about 125 feet. The mill would be ready to run by
February 1st. Later that month, the Inyo Register reported that the mill was started up and
was running well, and twenty-five men were employed by the company.
In May of 1896, the Inyo Register again reported on the mine, with some detail. It had been
purchased in partnership by Cannon, Montgomery and a man named Langford, all of whom
were also operating mines around Johnnie and Chispa, Nevada. It had two shafts of 150 feet
each, connected by a drift. A well had been dug near the mill, from which a China pump
raised "about the saltiest water on earth" from a depth of eighty feet. In order to reduce the
water for the mill, it was necessary to first pass it through a condenser. The mill consisted of
a rock breaker, a Bryan roller mill with a capacity of twenty tons per day, and a few feet of
silvered copper plates. Power was supplied by a 20-horsepower gas engine.
Costly as these provisions were, said the report, they were not nearly sophisticated enough to
reduce the rebellious ore to buillion, and consequently the mill had been shut down after only

a few months of operation. A fairly large tailing pile indicated that a sizeable amount of ore
had been run through the mill in its three-month life, before its owners realized their errors.
Indeed, the mill had proved so inefficient that local prospectors claimed they could make $5
per day by panning the mill tailings. The company did not even have assaying equipment at
the mine or mill, and in short, said the Inyo Register, "one wonders how they can have any
idea of "where they are at" in the mining and milling business."
Supplies were hauled into the mine from Daggett, but when the reporter visited the mill in
early May, no superintendent or paymaster had been there since January. Twenty men had
quit on April 4th, and scattered across the desert to find one of the mine's owners to demand
their pay. "The company must have expended forty to fifty thousand dollars in a mill that
will [have] to be extensively added to or removed entirely before they can ever get a dollar
out of it."
This story of inefficient and bumbling management caught the attention of the Mining &
Scientific Press, which reprinted it in its entirity, with the following introduction: "In vast
southeastern Inyo there are mines and mining operations which few residents know anything
about. And in that region of mountains and deserts it is difficult to describe locations, no
existing map showing anything about them. It is also hard to describe some of the
mismanagement in their attempts to get money out of the mines."
The Inyo Independent reported in ate July of 1896 that the Confidence Mine and Mill was
still closed down, with "no pay day in sight." The mill still stood in Death Valley, but the
owners had not been back to it, and "it looks like the result of bad management." In October,
the paper again reported that the "Salt Lake company owning the Confidence mine and mill
on the east side of Death Valley in the Amargosa mountains have not resumed operations,
neither has it paid a dollar of numerous debts.
Illustration 239. The Confidence Mill, from a photo taken in 1909. The
caption reads "Confidence Cyanide Plant, has stood 15 years on the desert."
From "Niter Lands of California," Death Valley National Monument
Library, Neg #3090.
The mine remained closed in early 1897, and in February of that year Montogmery sold his
half interest in it to Cannon for $81,000--indicating that Cannon, at least, still believed that
there was gold in the ground. Two months later, one L. F. J. Wrinkle was reported to have
offered Cannon and his associates $100,000 for the mine, plus one fifth of the non-assessable

capital stock in a new mining company, and a guarantee that $100,000 worth of work would
be done at the property. The Inyo Register, in an understatement, commented that "The
figures now offered, considering the isolated location of the property, indicate that a bonanza
is believed to exist there."
But that sale came to naught, and the mine and mill lay idle. Further speculation concerning
the Confidence property surfaced in 1898, when the Inyo Independent reported a rumor that
the Meneva Mining and Milling Company was about to buy the mine from Cannon. Cannon
apparently thought so also, for be took the precaution of patenting his claims, but again the
deal was not consummated.
Not much was heard from the mine or its owners for the next several years. In 1901, the
property changed hands, although it stayed within the Cannon family, and in 1904 the
Confidence Mine was listed on the Inyo County delinquent tax rolls, for failure to pay $6.06
in taxes on the patented property. Again a veil of silence fell around the mine, which was not
lifted until May of 1907, when the Death Valley Chuck-Walla during an assessment of
mining possibilities in that part of the country, mentioned the old Confidence Mine, which
had long been idle. With "the renewal of activity in the district in other sections and the
opening of new mines," speculated the Chuck-Walla "work will again commence on the
Confidence." Later that fall, the Rhyolite Daily Bulletin also mentioned the idle Confidence
Mine as one with possibilities, since it had smelting-quality ores.
But despite the optimism of those two mining camp newspapers, the mine was not reopened,
even though the Salt Lake organization retained control and title to it. Finally, in May of
1909, the long awaited resumption of work began. The Bullfrog Miner reported that month
that the Confidence Mine "which has been idle for several years, has again started work with
a good force of men. The development is being backed by Salt Lake Capitalists and unless
the extremely hot weather prohibits, will continue during the summer."
The new lessees of the property, the Death Valley Gold Mining Company, worked only
sporadically during the summer, due to the intense heat in that portion of Death Valley, but
in September operations were stepped up. The Rhyolite Herald reported that W. J. West, the
new manager, had taken five sacks of ore from the mine into Salt Lake City for milling tests.
The ore was averaging $50 per ton, and the company had three shafts working, down to
twenty, seventy and 150 feet, respectively. Apparently the old mill, which was still standing,
was deemed inadequate to reduce the ores--not surprising, since it had been inadequate in
1896--and the company was making plans to erect a new mill. As usual, the Rhyolite Herald
concluded that the lack of an adequate water supply was the main problem facing the
company.
Two weeks later, the Rhyolite Herald confirmed that operations had been resumed on the old
Confidence. One Mr. Merritt, who seemed to be heading up the organization, told the paper
that he would bring in machinery to the property "as soon as he can conveniently get around
to it," and that "if the old Confidence will only do half as well as in the pioneer days it will
be all that he will ask." Meanwhile, the men at the mine were sacking the high grade gold
ore. The Mining World also confirmed in September that the Death Valley Gold Mining
Company was planning to erect a mill in Death Valley, as soon as the Salt Lake ore tests
could determine the kind of mill required. The mine, it reported, had a sufficiently large
tonnage of ore blocked out to justify the expense of constructing a mill.
One month later, in mid-October, the Rhyolite Herald reported that the Confidence Mine was
just completing a shipment to the smelter in Salt Lake City. The ore was regarded as fairly
high grade, assaying between $60 and $150 per ton. But after that report, the mine fell idle
once again. Apparently the ore tests in Salt Lake City had shown that the ore was too low

grade or too hard to process to make its extraction from an extremely isolated corner of
Death Valley profitable. In June of 1910, and again in 1911, the property of the Confidence
Mining Company appeared on the Inyo County delinquent tax rolls, for the want of $14.11 in
county taxes.
Unfortunately, at about this Lime a great desert legend was born, when W. C. Mendenhal I,
writing for the Geologic Survey, confused this Confidence Mine with the old "lost" Mormon
mine from which the Mormons were traditionally believed to have taken much gold in the
1850s. Mendenhall's mistake, due to the prestige of USGS publications, has been habitually
repeated throughout the years, until the truth is hard to separate from the fiction. There is
absolutely no evidence that the Confidence Mine in Death Valley is the lost Mormon mine,
and there is much evidence to the contrary. The contemporary descriptions of the mine in
1895 and 1896 make absolutely no reference to the Mormons, and indicate quite strongly that
Montgomery and his partners were the first men to operate it. Such legends, however, are
hard to kill.
In the meantime, R. J. Fairbanks, the enterprising merchant from Greenwater and Shoshone,
bought the Confidence Mine and operated it on his own for three years. The difficulties
which beset him, as well as previous owners, are best put in his own words.
This was a gold proposition, and in spite of the fact there's gold in there that will run $35,000
to the ton, I operated entirely at a loss. Most of the ore would run about eight dollars to the
ton, and I'd have to crack hundreds of tons of the eight-dollar ore trying to get a few pounds
of the $35,000 stuff. The financial failure of this venture was due entirely to the utter
impossibility of the transportation problem. Everything had to be wagoned in and out from
the railroad at Shoshone, and the haul more than ate up the profits After Fairbanks gave up,
the Inyo Register printed a rumor in July of 1915 that "It is now practically assured that a
new management will soon open" the Confidence Mine. However, that rumor was false, as
were those printed by the Mining World in March of 1915. At that time, it was believed that
the Corona Mining and Milling Company planned to reopen the mine, and to construct a
100-ton stamp mill on the property. The Mining World went on to repeat the silly tale
connecting the Confidence with the lost Mormon mine, and then improved upon that by also
stating that the Confidence was the secret source of Death Valley Scotty's wealth. About the
only truth to its entire report was the statement that the "workings are in bad shape and have
every appearance of having been ruthlessly looted."
Needles to say, the Corona Mining and Milling Company never reopened the Confidence
Mine, and it lay idle for several more years. A traveler to the area in 1921 saw no evidence of
mining anywhere in the area, and although several desert rats did move into Confidence
Wash in the latter years of the 1920s, none of them worked the Confidence Mine. In 1926 the
California State Mineralogist reported that the mine was idle and had been for several years,
and that the mill had been dismantled. Sometime around 1934, the mine was again operated
very briefly, and a small amount of high-grade ore was packed out and shipped to a smelter.
Then, in the fall of 1941, an exhaustive examination of the mine was made on the behalf of
some Salt Lake City investors who had become interested in the mine. The inspection of the
property showed around 740,000 tons of ore blocked out in previous development work, with
an average value of $14 per ton. Although some high-grade ore worth $125 per ton could be
found, most of that had already been stripped out by previous operators. Water was available
about one and a half miles from the mine, and the examiner believed that enough water could
be developed to support a mill. Considerable stoping had already been done by previous
miners, as well as the driving of two tunnels, one about 175 feet into the mountainside, and
the other about 375 feet. Previous production, according to this report, was claimed to be
about $200,000, most of it in the early days of the mine. "If sufficient capital can be

secured," wrote the Journal a mill would be built and the property would be brought back
into production.
But such was not the case, probably due to the combination of lack of capital and the
isolation of the mine, which would have made mining very expensive even in 1941. In any
event, mining of gold was forbidden the following year, due to war-time demands, and
following the failure of this last effort, the old Confidence Mine was at last left alone. [29]
Not much remains to mark the efforts of so many people over so many years to exploit an
isolated Death Valley mine. At the mine site, approximately six miles up Confidence Wash
from the mill, some ruins may be seen. These consist of two prospect holes in the side of the
wash, used for living and storage areas by later occupants of the site, and a series of adits and
shafts which climb far up the side of the mountain. The main mining complex, towards the
top of a very steep ridge, has several stained out areas, and a faint foot path leading from one
adit to another. The complex is centered around the ruins of an old ore bin, which was once
connected to a crude bucket tramway to lower the ore down to the floor of the wash. Some
tramway rails, a crude rocker box, and other paraphernalia from the last periods of mining
may be found. Evidence of earlier occupants has been destroyed long ago by later miners.
For several miles up and down Confidence Wash in this area, other traces of very small-scale
mining attempts may be found, mostly dating from the Depression years, when numerous
down-and-out individuals resorted to living rent-fee in the wilds of Death Valley. The home
of one such occupant, fondly known as the "Wind Cave," is located a short distance up the
wash from the mine, but it has absolutely no historical significance. All in all, the ruins in
Confidence Wash are impressive, but only in the sense of making the viewer wonder what
desperate hopes could have led men to believe that they could get rich from this forsaken
territory.
The mining area of Confidence Wash is not historically important enough to warrant National
Register consideration. Although the lack of access to the site at present denies its
interpretive potential, benign neglect is recommended. The area should not be reclimed,
cleaned up or naturalized, but rather left to the elements, and left for the enjoyment of what
few back country hikers may stumble upon its remains.
Down in Death Valley is the site of the old mill. Not much remains here either, for years of
wind and occasional cloudbursts have combined to almost cover the mill site. The mill
machinery has long been hauled away for other uses, and the most visible sign of the old mill
is a raised earth platform with a thin and crumbling cement floor in the middle. Piles of
assorted concrete bits and remains of tanks and pipes are scattered around the area at the
whim of the elements, and the old well, where once the saltiest water on earth was found, is
almost completely filled with sand.
The Confidence Mill has significance due to its age, but the almost complete destruction of
the site by the hands of men and the weather has destroyed its integrity. It will not be
nominated to the National Register, but is recommended for historical archaeological study.
The location of the mill site also negates its interpretive potential, since the lower east side
road has been closed to protect the fragile environment of the rare pup fish at Saratoga
Springs. Benign neglect is recommended for the mill site, along with a strong
recommendation against any attempts to clean up, reclaim or naturalize the area.

Illustrations 240-241. Top: The old Confidence Mine site, showing several
adits just above the floor of the wash. The old ore bin, which marks the
center of the main mining complex, can barely be seen in the top center of
the photo, just below the ridge line. Bottom: The ore bin, from which a
crude bucket tramway once descended to the floor of the wash below. 1978

Illustration 242. Ruins of the Confidence Mill, on the floor of Death Valley.
The thin concrete slab and the engine mount are the only substantial
remains of the old mill. 1978 photo by John Latschar.
d. Bradbury Well
Bradbury Well, located along the Salsberry Pass road opposite Rhodes Springs, was first
located and named in the late 1910s or early 1920s. The well is mentioned as a good
watering place in 1921, and again in 1922, when Margaret Long described taking off the
boards which covered the top of the well, and pulling up a bucket of water. Other than those
brief mentions, the well has never been referred to in connection with the early history of
Death Valley. [30]
The well site today is still easy to find, due to the tell-tale vegetation which clearly marks
every source of water in Death Valley. The well, however, has been filled with sand by the
winds of the desert, and only the circle of stones which once marked its site to desert
travelers is now visible. The site has no historic significance or interpretive potential, and is
recommended for benign neglect.
Illustration 243. Bradbury Well, looking north towards the Salsberry Pass
road. 1978 photo by John Latschar.


Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION IV:
EAST SIDE
D. South Death Valley and the Ibex Hills
1. Introduction
This section of Death Valley is perhaps the most desolate region within the Monument.
Dominated by the dry sink of the Amargosa River, the landscape consists mostly of sand,
salt, and the low Ibex Hills. The region has always been isolated from any centers of
population, however small, and the present road network completely bypasses. Two spots of
vegetation, Ibex Springs and Saratoga Springs, possess practically the only signs of life
within the area.
As might be expected, historic activities within this region have been centered around those
two springs, which represent the only sources of water in the south valley. Saratoga Springs
was known as a dependable water source by 1880, and Ibex Springs shortly thereafter. For
most of the ensuring hundred years, the use of these two springs, by travelers entering or
leaving the valley, has beer the only activity of note.
Small-scale mining attempts, however, have taken place. The original Ibex Mine was opened
in the 1880s, and ran for a few years. A very brief niter rush swamped the south valley with
prospectors in 1902, and a more prolonged rush occurred during the Bullfrog boom years.
This latter rush saw the brief exploitation of several mines in the Ibex Hills, and an ill-
conceived attempt by gold-mad promoters to dredge the floor of the desert. With the demise
of the Bullfrog boom, the area reverted to practical desertion until the modern talc mining
operators began in the 1930s. With the exception of the dormant talc mines, whose edifices
dominate the physical remains in the region, very little is left with which to interpret the
earlier years. Time, weather, sticky-fingered prospectors, and salvaging talc miners have
combined to erase all but the most minute signs of earlier activities.

Illustration 244. Map of South Valley and Ibex Hills.
In brief, the South Valley and Ibex Hills region has seen periods of short and intermittent
life, interspersed between years of practical desertion. The history of the area as a whole is
not a continual tale of mans exploitation, but rather a series of brief and unconnected
attempts to wrestle wealth from the barren ground. There is little left within the region with
which to interpret its spotted past.

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION IV:
EAST SIDE
D. South Death Valley and the Ibex Hills (continued)
2. The Ibex Springs Region
a) Ibex Hills Gold and Silver Mining
1. History
Early references to mining activities in the Ibex Hills area are somewhat questionable, due to
vague and contradictory geographic references in the contemporary newspapers and journals.
The first serious mining to take place in this region apparently began in December of 1882,
with the incorporation of the hex Mining Company--a Chicago based group. The exact
location of the original Ibex Mine is undetermined, but it is probably safe to put if within a
mile of the Ibex Mine located on the 1951 Shoshone quadrangle.
The Ibex Company had good luck initially, as evidenced by its decision to build a five stamp
dry roasting mill in 1883. Following the completion of the mill, several loads of silver-lead
ore were shipped out, but production was never extensive. This early mine soon experienced
all the problems which would plague later mining efforts in the Ibex region--intense heat,
water shortages, exorbitant freight costs--thus preventing the profitable extraction of any but
the highest grade of ore. As a result, the original Ibex Mine was never very successful. In
1889 the mine was operated only sporadically due to fuel problems, and by 1892 the mine
and mill were idle. [1]

Illustration 245. Southwest Portion of Shoshone Area.
For the next several years, the Ibex district was deserted, with the sole exception of Frank
Barbour, who relocated the Ibex Mine and performed the necessary assessment labor year
after year. Then, after fifteen years of isolation, Barbour was suddenly crowded with
company--a result of the prospecting wave set off by the Bullfrog boom.
In June of 1906, a party of three prospectors on their way north towards the Greenwater
District discovered the Orient Group of claims approximately two miles north of the Ibex
Mine, and the rush was on. Within a year, three major claims, as well as many minor ones,
had been staked. The Busch brothers, prominent mining promoters from Rhyolite, purchased
two of these, the Orient and the Rusty Pick Groups. The third, the Evening Star Mine, one
mile from the Rusty Pick, was owned and operated by the Heckey brothers, who moved their
wives and families to the site. Meanwhile, Frank Barbour continued to push development on
the old Ibex Mine. [2]
Attempts to develop these mines continued throughout 1907 and 1908. By December of
1907, the Orient had forty sacks of ore ready for shipment, and the Evening Star, which
boasted a sixty-five foot shaft, had taken out almost twenty tens of ore for eventual shipment.
The problems encountered by the mines were emphasized by the cost of $20 per ton
freightage, merely to get the ore from the mines to the railroad, twenty miles away.
Nevertheless, prospects were bright enough to warrant a Christmas dinner hosted by the

Heckey women, and attended by the miners of the region.
Developments continued during the early months of 1908. In February, the Busch brothers
bonded the Orient and Rusty Pick claims to a Goldfield operator, and the Heckey brothers
readied their first carload of ore for shipment, claimed to be worth $85 to the ton. By May,
the Rusty Pick shaft was down to eighty feet. Then, due to a combination of summer heat,
lack of development funds and the failure of promising ore leads, this portion of the Ibex
District suddenly slowed down. [3]
By May of 1909, a year later, the Rusty Pick Mine, which had been sporadically active, still
had only 200 total feet of development work, and had made only one shipment of ore, worth
$50 a ton Nevertheless, the Busch brothers managed to bond the mine again, to Chicago and
Goldfield operators. The new owners promised immediate and extensive developments, but
the promise went unfulfilled.
The following years saw occasional activity, but little real mining. In 1910 the Busch brothers
managed to bond the Orient and Rusty Pick once more, but no work was done on the
property. Funds were so low on the Evening Star property that the former partners were suing
one another to recover the costs of assessment work. Although several men were at work on
the Rusty Pick again in 1911, by the end of the year Pete Busch, the mining promoter, was
reduced to performing his own assessment work. By this time, the Evening Star group had
been abandoned, as John and Melvin Heckey left with their families, to join their brother
Ross in Alaska. [4]
In the meantime, a few miles southeast of the "old hex Mine, the area in the vicinity of Ibex
Springs had undergone a very similar experience. Like the "old' hex Mine, the Ibex Springs
region pre-dated the Bullfrog boom, but did not undergo any serious developments until the
effects of that boom had spread southward. The first known miner in this area was Judge L.
Bethune, who located three claims at Ibex Springs in April of 1901. When Judge Bethune got
drunk and died in the desert in 1905, his mine immediately became lost and subject to all the
folk tales peculiar to lost mines. In this case, however, it was not lost for long, for the mine
was relocated in January of 1906. [5]
The new locators, primarily Rhyolite men, incorporated themselves as the Lost Bethune
Mining Company in October of 1906, and with a capitalization of $1,250,000 began
development work. Bunk houses and a boarding house were erected at Ibex Springs during
1907 and by March of 1908 the mine's eight employees had sunk a shaft 200 feet deep, had
fifty tons of ore on the dump and had shipped over 300 tons, which averaged $43.30 per ton.
Despite this encouraging start, however, the demise of Rhyolite, which curtailed the flow of
development funds and increased freighting and supply expenses, had its effect upon the Lost
Bethune. Although monthly shipments of high grade ore were still reported in May of 1909,
the mine was abandoned the next year. [6]
Five years later the Ibex District experienced a revival of sorts. Leading the way was the old
Ibex Mine, still owned and operated by Frank Barbour. The mine employed twenty men in
1915, and was termed a regular shipper. Across the wash to the east, the Wonder Mine had
been developed, and plans were announced to erect a mill. In 1916, by which time Barbour
had sold out, the Ibex had fifteen men at work, and the new owners were planning to
construct a 2,800-foot aerial tramway from the mire on the side of the mountain down to the
wagon road below. In 1917, although the Wonder had already become idle, the Ibex was still
active. Nineteen men were employed, paid at $4 per shift, and seven or eight tons of ore were
being trucked out daily--the tramway had not been built. By 1921, however, the mine was
again idle, and this time it had breathed its last. [7]

One other mine bloomed briefly in the Ibex region. The Rob Roy, about one mile north of
Ibex Springs, was located in 1914, and by 1915 was described as well developed and
shipping ore of good quality. This mine was periodically active as late as 1924, when the
owners, the Ibex Springs Mining Company, received a patent for four lode claims and one
mill site. As quietly as it had appeared, however, the Rob Roy sank back into obscurity, and
with the exception of lonely prospectors who still roamed the desert dreaming of riches, the
Ibex region lay quiet. [8]
2. Present Status Evaluation and Recommendation
Very little remains to mark the sites of all this activity. Ground explorations have failed to
specifically mark the site of the '19th-century mine and mill of the Ibex Mining Company.
Given the extensive activities of following years and the prevalent practice of
cannibalization, however, this lack of physical evidence is not surprising.
The 20th-century remains are hardly more promising. The main efforts in the Ibex Hills area
were centered around the Rusty Pick, Orient, and Evening Star Groups, all of which were
north of the Monument boundary, and thus were not examined. At the Ibex itself, sporadic
prospecting and development work, which was carried on even into the 1970s, has succeeded
in erasing all signs of earlier activities. Examination of these sites reveals unnumbered holes
in the ground, but little else.
A similar tale is told at the Ibex Springs area. Here, all trace of early 20th-century mining has
been completely obliterated by the talc mining carried on in later years. Thus, with the
exception of the buildings at Ibex Springs (discussed below)., there are no remains worthy of
preservation consideration in the Ibex Hills area. There is potential for historical archaeology,
particularly around the "old" Ibex Mine.
Illustration 246. General view of the Ibex Mine area in 1978. Note
numerous dumps, pits, and cuts in vicinity. 1978 photo by Linda Greene.
b) Ibex Springs Area Talc Mines
1. History
The last stage of mining activities in south Death Valley opened in the mid-1930s, when
John Moorehouse located 16 talc claims a short distance northwest of Ibex Springs. By 1941,

Moorehouse had managed to extract 1100 tons of talc. After a short period of idleness,
Moorehouse then leased his claims to the Sierra Talc Company in the mind-1940s. Sierra
Talc developed the ore bodies extensively, and produced almost 62,000 tons of ore by 1959.
By then the talc seams were largely depleted, and the mine was operated only sporadically
until about 1968. Site examination leads to the conclusion that no more than assessment
work, and very little of that, has been done since the latter date.
Two other talc mines were also operating during this same general time period. Ralph Morris
and associates located the Monarch group of four claims in 1938, and operated it until 1945,
when it was also leased to the Sierra Talc Company. Sierra Talc operated the mine until
1950, with a total production between 1938 and 1950 amounting to 46,000 tons. The mine
was then idle for six years, until it was leased to the Southern California Minerals Company
in 1956.
Just to the south of the Monarch is the Pleasanton group of two talc claims, first opened in
1942. The Sierra Talc Company acquired the lease to this group also in 1946, and total
production for the mine reached 16,000 tons by 1947. The Pleasanton was then idle for
several years, until the Southern California Minerals Company acquired its lease in 1956, and
connected the underground workings with those of the Monarch. Operated together, the
Monarch and Pleasanton yielded another 7,500 tons between 1956 and 1959, for a total
combined production of 69,500 tons. Between 1959 and 1968, intermittent operations were
continued, but site examination indicates that little serious production was undertaken during
that time. Both the Monarch and Pleasanton mines are now idle, and have been for several
years. [9]
2. Present Status Evaluation and Recommendations
Due to the recent nature of these mining activities, extensive structural remains are present in
the area. At the Moorehouse, which consists of three distinct levels, the progressions of
mining activities can clearly be seen through the development of mining structures. The
lower and middle levels, reflecting the lode mining activities of the earlier years, contain
extensive complexes of adits, ore bins, ore chutes and tramway networks. These wooden
structures are rather picturesque, are in relatively good condition, but are not of historic
significance due to their lack of age. A policy of benign neglect can best be suggested for
this complex, for the lack of historic significance does not warrant any preservation funds
being spent at this time. Conversely, the mine structures certainly should not be destroyed or
carted away, as the value of the complex will obviously grow with age.
The upper level of the Moorehouse reflects the latest period of development and assessment
work, being nothing more than an extremely unsightly complex of scars, pits, and heaps left
over from stripping operations.
Both the Monarch and Pleasanton also have extensive structural remains. At the Monarch,
these consist mainly of a small living compound, containing three 1940s era living shacks, a
cookhouse, and various support buildings. These shacks are all of poor construction, although
they are still in reasonable shape. They warrant no preservation or concern. The Monarch
Mine workings consist of a small complex of adits, tramways and ore bins, all in very poor
shape. Again, the best policy should be to let them rest in peace.
At the Pleasanton, more extensive mining structures remain. Like the Moorehouse, the
Pleasanton was worked on several levels, with a (collapsed) connecting shaft in between. On
the lower level is a large loading dock and tramway network, used for loading both Monarch
and Pleasanton ores during the latter years of combined operations. On the upper workings
are several shafts and adits, complete with a partial tramway and a wooden headframe.

Although interesting, these structures are not nearly as complete as those of the Moorehouse,
and benign neglect is again recommended.
Viewed as a whole, the best extant representation of recent talc mining operations in
southern Death Valley is contained in the structures of the Moorehouse Mine. The remaining
structures at that site are the most extensive, of the best condition, and reflect several
different periods of mining activity. As stated before, however, even this complex does not
warrant preservation efforts at the moment. The Moorehouse structures should remain
relatively intact for a period of time, however, since the only access road to the area brings
the visitor (who would have to be a four-wheeler) directly into the front of the Monarch -
Pleasanton areas, with the Moorehouse tucked behind a low ridge out of sight. As Such, the
Moorehouse will probably remain relatively untouched for some time, and should be kept in
consideration far potential future preservation efforts.
Illustration 247. Homestead of Tom Wilson, a former employee of Southern

California Minerals Company, who built this complex to avoid paying rent
in the company town of Ibex Springs. Photo by Park Ranger Hill, 1962,
courtesy Death Valley National Monument library, #2670. This site,
adjacent to the workings of the Monarch Talc Mine, had changed very little
by 1978, with the exception of natural deterioration of the structures.

Illustration 248. View of the lower workings of the Pleasanton Talc Mine in
1962, when the mine was still sporadically active. Note the white talc
dumps of the Monarch Mine to the upper right. Photo by Park Ranger Hill,
courtesy Death Valley National Monument Library, #2674.
Illustration 249. View from above, of lower level workings of Pleasanton

Talc Mine. 1978 photo by Linda Greene.

Illustration 250. View of upper level workings of Pleasanton Talc Mine.

Illustration 251. Lower, and older, level of workings at Moorehouse Talc

Mine in 1962. The scene has changed little in succeeding years, with the
exception of normal deterioration of the structures. Photo by Park Ranger
Hill, courtesy Death Valley National Monument Library, #2673.

Illustration 252. View of more recent strip mining activities on upper level
of Moorehouse Mine. 1978 photo by John Latschar.
c) Ibex Springs
1. History
Desert watering holes are difficult places to interpret, and Ibex Springs is no exception.
Although we know from the data that certain activities took place at Ibex Springs during
certain periods of time, constant use of the watering hole by prospectors, travelers and miners
for almost one hundred years has slowly erased all but the most recent signs of the past.
Nevertheless, certain of the remaining structures can be identified and dated.
The first specific references to Ibex Springs were in connection with the "old" Ibex Mine of
the 1880s. Unfortunately, both the mine and the spring moved around constantly in the vague
geographic descriptions given in the early accounts, making it impossible to pinpoint any
specific activities. Ibex Springs, however, was undoubtedly the water source for the old Ibex
Mine and Mill.
During the Bullfrog boom years of the early twentieth century, references become more
specific. The locators of the Lost Bethune Mine, which was in the immediate vicinity of the
springs, described the area as having old arrowheads and stone cooking pots laying around,
and told of the "remains of old buildings that no modern Indian could or no Mormon would
build." One of these buildings, a three-sided stone structure, was converted into a bunkhouse
by the miners. Subsequent descriptions of the locale in 1907 described it as a fine camp of
bunk houses, boarding house, etc. Whether these buildings were constructed of stone, wood,
or canvas is unknown. [10]
With the demise of the Bullfrog era mines, the small camp at Ibex Springs was deserted, and
became fair play for the needs of wandering prospectors and travelers. Although we can not
be certain, it is probably safe to surmise that little remained of the camp by the time the Ibex
talc mines opened in the mid-1930s. Throughout the active operations of the Moorehouse,
the Monarch and the Pleasanton from the 1930s to the 1950s, and the intermittent mining of
the 1960s, Ibex Springs was exploited as a water source for mining and living needs, and a
fairly substantial camp appeared. Since the talc mines have remained in private hands until
recent years, the remains of this camp have escaped large-scale destruction, and dominate the
present scene.

The talc mining camp at its height consisted of a dozen wooden buildings, including a
bathhouse with plumbing, several sheds and storehouses, and several living quarters. Most of
the buildings were constructed of boards and plasterboard, and had electric lights and
propane appliances. The spring was improved by the talc miners by means of a concrete
spring house and collecting tank, from which water was pumped or flowed to the shacks. The
area is spread with numerous artifacts of very recent vintage, such as car hoods, Pepsodent
toothbrushes, and a plastic Zenith radio casing. Although the buildings themselves remain in
a fairly good state of repair, the proliferation of junk throughout the site makes it an eyesore.
Interspersed among the modern ruins are signs of the more removed past, such as remnants of
stone walls, dugouts, and storage caves. Most of these are located in the northern part of the
complex, nestled against the slope of the hills. The most important are two stone
dugout/shelter ruins, consisting of three to four foot high wails, constructed of unmortered
rock. Bottles in a small dump near the dugouts date the ruins to the Bullfrog era boom, and
the dugout shelters were undoubtedly used as temporary shelters before the erection of the
"fine camp" of the Lost Bethune Mining Company. No other surviving structures can be
positively dated from the Bullfrog era.
Illustration 253. Ibex Springs townsite in 1962, during last years of use.
Photo by Park Ranger Hill, courtesy of Death Valley National Monument
Library, #2690.

Illustrations 254-255. Top: View of typical structure of Ibex Springs

townsite, showing deteriorated condition in 1978. Bottom: One of two
small stone cabins on hillside to the north of Ibex Springs townsite. 1978
Due to the great predominance of the scene by the modern talc mining camp, there is very
little historic integrity left at Ibex Springs. The modern camp is certainly not of historic
significance. The early 20th-century stone ruins have more interest, but due to a great
proliferation of such type ruins throughout the Monument, and the fact that the more modern
structures negate the integrity of these remains, preservation efforts are not warranted on this
site. Since the older stone ruins are small, difficult to locate, and are tucked away out of sight
of the rest of the camp, a policy of benign neglect should lead to no more than natural
deterioration of the site.

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION IV:
EAST SIDE
3. Gold and Nitrate
a) Amargosa Gold Placers
1. History
In 1907, the intense gold fever which gripped the Death Valley region spilled out from the
mountains surrounding the valley into the desert floor below. Following the strikes at
Rhyolite, Lee, Greenwater, Gold Valley, Ibex, Harrisburg and Skidoo, anything seemed
possible, for gold was being found practically everywhere a prospector stuck a pick into the
rocks. Moreover, the men who searched for gold on the barren floor of the desert had a
theory--one that seemed to make the discovery of riches a foregone conclusion.
In the original 1849 California gold rush, the initial finds had been in the stream beds below
the mountains, where gold nuggets and flakes had been washed down from the lode claims in
the mountains above. As time and experience proved, a prospector could find the original
lodes by following the stream beds or geologic faults back up the valleys and mountains,
until he found the source of the gold. In Death Valley, the opposite theory was proposed.
Since gold had already been found in so many of the valleys and mountains surrounding the
desert floor, there must be some on the floor itself, washed down through thousands of years
of erosion. The only problem was to find it.
The first indication of this effort came in March of 1907, when the Inyo Register reported
that over 40,000 acres of land had been located as placer claims on the floor of south Death
Valley, straddling the Inyo-San Bernardino County line. Since the Register was somewhat
detached from the immediate scene of the excitement, it was somewhat skeptical of the
prospects, wondering what anyone expects to do with about 70 square miles of Death Valley .
..
The Bullfrog Miner, however, was much more interested. As the local paper, vitally
interested in the welfare of any mining enterprise in the area, the Miner gave the erosion
theory much more credit. 'It is held by scientists who have made a study of the situation that
the floor of Death Valley, or the great sink which ranges below the sea level, probably
contains some of the richest gold deposits to be found in the world.
The Miner reporter had undoubtedly been talking to a Rhyolite prospector, Clarence Eddy,
who was the leading proponent of the new theory. "Death Valley proper," Eddy later
explained in detail,

contains about 500 square miles. Within this area there is sufficient wealth to
make every poor man in the world richer than Croesus; to make King Solomon's
mines and Monte Cristo's treasure look like penny savings banks. It is literally
composed of gold, silver, copper and lead. . .
For ages the rains and snows have been beating these mountains down into
Death Valley. They are filled with the precious metals. Cold, silver, copper and
lead abound here. The great quartz rocks, on account of their weight go down.
Down, down, down, they have rolled for centuries! The melting snows and rains
of winter keep the. surface of the basin damp throughout the season. The entire
surface of the valley is composed of the highest chemical matter. There is salt,
saltpetre, iron--every chemical known to science, in one form or another. Vats of
vast areas have formed which are perfect quagmires of chemicals under constant
action.
Well, these highly mineralized rocks, largely impregnated with the precious
metals, are constantly rolling down into this cauldron of chemicals. They have
been doing it for ages and centuries, as already stated. The dampness of winter
set the processes to work. The hot suns of summer follow. No drugests graduate
not, assayer's crucible ever performed more scientific functions!
The quartz may be seen there in all stages of decomposition. It melts under these
processes like the snows in the burning sunshine above. In a few years the ore is
a part and parcel of the bed of this great sink--a mixture of strong chemicals in
powdered and liquid form that work on and on with the centuries, filling higher
and higher the great basin that has become one of the seven wonders of the
world.
For time immemorial the ores of the mountains have been rolling down into the
valley; the processes have been as busy as nature itself. Gold is indestructible. It
may be 100, 1000, or 10,000 feet below, but it is there, and when the process is
discovered by which it may be reclaimed, all the world will be rich, and gaunt
poverty will cease its weary journey in the land. [11]
Not one to rest upon his theories, Eddy had already located the most promising spots in this
bed or riches. Together with F. L. Gould of Reno, Eddy had made a prospecting trip to the
region during the early part of 1907. His partnership with Gould soon dissolved into
competition, however, as Gould managed to secure the backing of a San Francisco operator,
J. A. Benson (ironically, a man who had already been convicted of government land frauds).
Gould and Benson led a party into the desert region in November of 1907, in order to test the
sands and locate desirable placer claims. While the Gould-Benson party was quietly
acquiring placer locations (they may be the ones who located the 40,000 acres mentioned
above), Eddy was more noisily doing the same, Having obtained some capital backing from
Salt Lake and Rhyolite, Eddy made a trip to the vicinity of Bennett's Well with Judges L. O.
Ray and J. A. Largent of Rhyolite. Ray and Largent were convinced of the possibilities. "It
would require dredgers to handle the dirt," they reported, "but it is argued that there is plenty
of water--salt water--to be had at almost any part of the valley, and that machinery of this
kind could be easily operated. Neither judge, however, was sufficiently convinced to put up
any further, money.
Nevertheless, Eddy made another trip to the valley in December, when he located 112 placer
claims in the vicinity of Bennetts Well and Tule Hole, in the name of his Salt Lake
financiers. The Gould-Benson group, in the meantime, was busily surveying the valley.

The fever continued through January of the next year. Eddy staked out 1,220 acres for his
company, and the Gould-Benson interests, reportedly organized as the Death Valley Placer
Mining Company, drilled test holes and found water, some 300 feet west of Bennett's Well.
The test holes showed returns of from 50 cents to $3.50 in gold per cubic yard of dirt, far
more than enough to support a successful placer operation. Further test results in February
showed returns of $2.00 in gold and 30 cents in silver per cubic yard. Encouraged by these
indications, the Gould-Benson group actually ordered a dredger in order to begin mining.
Eddy, however, who felt that Gould and Benson had stolen his idea, was not having so much
luck. Apparently his Salt Lake financing had fallen through, for in late February James
Edmunds, of Chicago, arrived to inspect Eddy's placer claims. Edmunds, however, was not
very optimistic, following a short trip to the claims. In fact, his conclusions, released to the
Rhyolite newspapers, succeeded in bursting the overdue bubble. His faith, reported Edmunds,
was "considerably shaken in the theory. Shattered would probably be the proper word to use
in the premises . . " There may well be gold somewhere in the valley, but there certainly was
none where Eddy took him. In summary, Edmunds stated, it is fooling away time to look for
placers. As usual in such circumstances,one candid statement was all it took to completely
bust a mining fever. Even the Bullfrog Miner sadly concluded that Eddy's theory now seemed
to be based on "child-like" hopes. [12]
Eddy, however, was not so easily discouraged. Nor was Gould, who by this time had lost
both his dredger and his San Francisco backers. Naturally, the two again teamed up and
attempted to advance their scheme once again. Two prospectors with a theory and no money,
however, could obtain no results, and the great dream of dredging the floor of Death Valley
for millions in gold soon faded away.
Clarence Eddy's dream, though, was hard to kill. In 1932 and 1933, during the depression,
prospectors again flooded the west, searching in desperation for that one quick discovery
which meant instant wealth. Again, the floor of Death Valley was not ignored. Six miles
northwest of Saratoga Springs, an unidentified group dug shafts and drill holes, testing for
placer gold. 1,500 samples reportedly turned up gold to the value of 55 cents per cubic yard,
but no production resulted, due to difficulties in devising a method of recovery. At the same
time, a group headed by one T. A. Rhodimer, working in essentially the same area as had the
Gould-Benson group, claimed to have uncovered over 100 million cubic yards containing in
excess of $1.00 in gold per yard. When a potential developer, the Natomas Company, sent
out an expert in the fall of 1938, the old story was repeated. The experts tests showed only
traces of very fine gold, and the scheme collapsed.
In 1958, the dream was reborn once more. The Mineral Productions Company of Colorado
acquired leases on the same seventeen sections of ground northwest of Saratoga Springs, and
again initiated tests. Although they reported assays from a trace to over $1100 per yard--with
an average of around $1.00--every type of drilling equipment which was tested failed in
action. In 1959, the American Zinc, Lead and Smelting Company investigated the area, but
soon quit, as did Transworld Resources. Thus, despite glowing reports in at least one mining
journal, and the claims of the Minerals Production company that 98 percent of the gold was
recoverable by cyanidation, no serious attempts towards actual mining got off the ground.
[13]
Following the flurry of 1958-1959, no further attempts were made to open placer mines in
south Death Valley. Another hopeful prospector did file claims on thirty-two locations in the
fall of 1973, in essentially the same area tried by Benson and Gould in 1907 and Mineral
Production in 1953. As could be expected, recording of locations was the nearest he got
towards actual mining.

Due to the nature of these abortive placering attempts on the floor of the valley, absolutely no
physical clues remain to help locate the precise areas where these activities took place. The
early placer claims were made in two areas: the vicinity of Bennett's Well, and the general
area northwest of Saratoga Springs, along the Inyo-San Bernardino County line. More precise
locations, however, are impossible. Obviously, no historic structures of any significance are
in the area concerned.
There is, though, an excellent interpretive opportunity connected with this story. A feasibly
located interpretive sign, placed somewhere along the road leading to or through south Death
Valley, would have a decided impact upon tourists. Perhaps nothing could better impart the
real meaning of gold fever than to stand in the heat of the valley, staring across the
shimmering floor of the sink, trying to comprehend the dream of the men who thought it
possible to float a dredger in the middle of that wasteland.
b) Amargosa Nitrate Mines
1. History
The history of nitrate mining in south Death Valley is very similar to that of the gold
placering attempts. Both types of mining activity were in the same general region, both left
little or no traces on the land, and neither resulted in any production at all.
Attempts to find nitrate in the area, however, predated those of the gold hunters. As early as
1892, a mining engineer named J. M. Forney issued an ambiguous study of nitrate claims in
the area roughly fifteen miles northeast of Saratoga Springs and fifteen miles southeast of
Shoshone--outside the present Monument boundaries. In 1896, several groups of prospectors
recorded large claims of from 1160 acres to 2,760 acres in this region, but no further activities
took place. [14]
The first--and only--true rush to the area was in 1902. Again, the rush was the result of a
promising report, this time by the California State Mining Bureau. Its Bulletin 24, published
in the summer of 1902, described in glowing detail no less than eight niter fields in the south
Death Valley region, totaling some 32,000 acres. In the opinion of a modern geologist, the
"erroneous assertions" made by this report have been responsible for raising unjustified hopes
from 1902 until today.
But the damage had already been done, and the rush was on. Of the eight fields described in
the report, four were all or partially within the present-day borders of the Monument.
Contemporary descriptions are vague, but it is evident that much of the ensuing
pandemonium took place within the confines of the park.
The San Francisco Chronicle was the first paper to report the beginnings of the grand rush. In
October of 1902, 900 men were reported either in the valley already or poised to make the
rush. In an interview with a gold prospector, who professed not to be interested in niter, the
following was excerpted:
is there niter there? There is enough niter in Death valley to make it a center of
population and life instead of the center of desolation and death that it has long
been. Tens of thousands of men will be employed. Railroads will be run into the
valley from all points. From what I have seen and learned I should say that
Death valley will prove to be the rival of Chile as a producer of niter.
Within a week, however, the bad news come in. On October 13th, an official of the Geologic

Survey denounced the rush:
. . . There is, in my opinion, not the slightest chance that anybody going in to
locate nitre will make a dollar. The demand for saltpeter is comparatively small,
taking all manufactoring, mining and medical and chemical uses, including
gunpowder manufacture, and the market is held at present by a trust that controls
all the saltpeter to fill all the demand in sight.
In strikes me as a little short of insanity for the average miner to go into Death
Valley to locate nitre claims. I have been through Death Valley and know what
such a trip means. So far as profit is concerned they might well make a rush on
Salton basin and locate salt claims. [15]
The geologist was undoubtedly correct. Either due to his more pessimistic statements, or to
the inevitable disappointment of prospectors already on the scene, the rush faded as quickly
as it had appeared. Very few of the prospectors even had enough hope left to bother
recording any claims which they might have made.
Following the grand rush of 1902, more desultory efforts in the niters beds of south Death
Valley appeared from time to time. In the fall of 1905, it was reported that the state
government was inspecting the beds, and again in April of 1906, the unconvinced California
State Mineralogist called attention to the possibilities of the region. In 1907, two companies,
the Pacific Nitrate Syndicate, and the American Niter Company, ran tests in the area. The
Greenwater Times and the Greenwater Miner reacted to the news in the manner to be
expected of Greenwater papers, claiming that the "largest powder works in the world are to
be established at the southern extremity of Death Valley." Even the Bullfrog Miner scoffed
at that.
The Pacific Nitrate Syndicate ran fairly extensive tests in the area during the next year or
two, and had enough employees on the spot during 1909 to warrant the erection of several
tents and frame buildings at Saratoga Springs. When the tests proved futile, one of its
employees, A. W. Scott, Jr., filed on 160 acres of niter claims in the immediate vicinity of
Saratoga Springs, and continued the efforts for a short time. Scott was also kind enough to
leave behind a photograph album, Niter Lards of California, depicting life at Saratoga Springs
in 1909 and 1910. [16]
Further study of the areas niter beds was undertaken by the U.S. Government in 1912 and
1914, and by the California Nitrate Development Company in 1914 and 1916. The only
concrete results of all this study and testing were recommendations that further tests and
studies be made. Finally, in 1922, the USGS issued the definitive report of the niter deposits
of the region. Eleven deposits in and near south Death Valley were exhaustively studied,
including the two major deposits within the Monument boundaries: the Saratoga bed, lying
south and southwest of Saratoga Springs, and the Confidence bed, running ten miles north
and south of a point directly opposite of the Confidence Mill site.
The results of these studies effectively put an end to nitrate prospecting in Death Volley.
Speaking in general of the entire area, the report concluded that
Nitrate salts in extractable quantities have been found in the deposits described
in this report, but considered in relation to the needs of the country, even for a
very short period during the emergency of war, these deposits were not regarded
as of immediate practical importance, because of the relatively high cost of any
known method of collecting and extracting such nitrate in a commercial form, as
compared with the cost of getting the nitrate from Chile.

More specifically, the Saratoga deposits were considered "too small to be worth consideration
as a source of nitrate even under war conditions," while the "most abundant sort" of niter
found in the Confidence field was "too poor," and "the richest is too scarce, to be exploited
commercially." Thus died the niter mines of Death Valley, without ever having produced.
[17]
Illustration 256. Niter lands of California--this was the desolate country

which attracted the great nite rush of 1902. Photo from "Niter Lands of
California," courtesy Death Valley National Monument Library, #3083.
Again, like the gold placers of the same region, the nature of the activities involved in niter
prospecting left little or no visible scars on the ground. True fanatics, armed with accurate
and specific maps and research data, will be able to find various cuts and trenches scattered
throughout the area, but absolutely no remains of historic significance will be found.
The short-lived camp at Saratoga Springs connected with niter prospecting will be discussed
in the Saratoga Springs chapter below.

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION IV:
EAST SIDE
4. The Saratoga Springs Region
a) Saratoga Spring Area Talc Mines
1. History
Shortly after the discovery of talc mines in the Ibex Springs region, several more talc
deposits were located to the south, in the hills north of Saratoga Springs. The first of these
was the Ponga, a single talc claim about three miles north of Saratoga Springs, which was
located by Ernest Huhn in the mid-1930s. After sinking a small shaft, Huhn depleted either
his capital or his desire to develop the claim (or perhaps both), and it lay idle until 1948,
when it was eased to the Southern California Minerals Company. This company worked the
deposit from 1948 to 1955, obtaining 12,554 tons of commercial talc. The Ponga has been
idle since 1955, and is now owned by Pfizer, Inc.
The Superior Mine, located in the midst of the hills north of Saratoga Springs, was the next to
be developed. Consisting of three claims, this mine was owned and operated by the Southern
California Minerals Company from its beginning in 1940 until recent years. The Superior
Mine was easily the most developed and most productive talc mine in the southern Death
Valley region, producing 141,000 tons of ore during its most active period, 1940-1959. The
Superior remained in intermittent operation through the early 1960s. Its now dormant
facilities are owned by Pfizer, Inc.
Adjacent to the Superior is the Whitecap Talc Mine, also owned and operated during its
active life by the Southern California Minerals Company. Consisting of a single body of ore,
the Whitecap was worked between 1947 and 1951, yielding 6,315 tons of ore. The mine has
not been operated since 1951, and is now the property of Pfizer, Inc.

Illustration 257. Map of the Northwest portion of the Avawatz Pass Area.
To the southwest are the three groups of workings known collectively as the Saratoga Mine.
The northern group of this complex was opened in 1944 and worked for one year by the
Champco Minerals Company, which extracted about 1,000 tons of ore. After lying idle for
several years, the Saratoga complex was leased by the Southern California Minerals
Company, which opened new bodies of talc in the south group in 1949. These were worked
for several years until being abandoned in 1954, having produced only small amounts of talc.
Finally, in 1955, the central group of claims was opened by the Southern California
Company, and intermittently operated until the mind-1960s. As a combined total, the output
of the three groups of the Saratoga Mine are estimated as having produced 5000 to 10/000
tons of talc. All the Saratoga holdings are now idle, and are in the possession of Pfizer, Inc.
During the active phases of these Saratoga Springs area talc mines, ore was hauled by truck
to various railroad points for shipment to processors in Los Angeles and Ogden, Utah. The
usual shipping point was Dunn Siding on the Union Pacific Railroad, about 28 miles
southwest of Baker, California--a point approximately 64 miles from the mines. [18]
As a group, the Saratoga Springs talc mines closely resemble those of the Ibex Springs area.
At the Ponga, which was essentially a lode operation (with a minimum of bulldozer

exploration and assessment work), there is a wooden ore bin, a collapsed wooden headframe,
an engine house foundation, and two shafts. All of these structures are in poor condition, and
none possess any historic significance.
The Whitecap site contains only a wooden headframe and ore bin, but both are in excellent
condition. The Saratoga groups contain the usual assortment of wooden ore bins, headframes,
tramway remnants, and foundations-in various stages of deterioration. As in the case of the
Ponga, both the Whitecap and Saratoga were essentially shaft and lode operations, with a
minimum of bulldozer stripping carried on in the later years of development.
There is not much to differentiate between the Ponga, the Saratoga, or the Whitecap. The
wooden mining remains are relatively intact and most are in good shape, probably because all
three mines were operated by the same company, which refrained from stripping abandoned
sites, in case of future developments. As in the Ibex Springs area, a policy of benign neglect
is recommended. There is certainly nothing within these sites to warrant the utilization of
preservation money, and their remoteness from general tourist traffic will probably preserve
these remains with only a usual amount of natural deterioration.
The Superior Mine, reflecting its greater period of production, has more extensive structural
remains. These are, however, of a more modern period than found elsewhere in the region,
and consist of tin and frame living shacks and mine buildings, as well as a steel headframe.
In a mining sense, this site is the most important one in the area, but it is also the most
unsightly and the least historic. Judging from the condition of the camp, operations in the last
years were carried out on a shoestring budget. As a result, the area today resembles a modern
garbage dump more than a possible historic site. When the underground talc lodes ran out,
the company resorted to stripping operations before giving up, leaving the area pitted with
large and small gouges and holes, and destroying the possibility of interpreting the earlier
years of activity. This general condition of the site, coupled with the modern flavor of the
remaining structures, makes the Superior mine unworthy of any preservation efforts.
Illustration 258. Partial view of the Superior Talc Mine workings, showing
steel head frame, steel frames for abandoned buildings, and dumps. 1978

Illustrations 259-260. Top: Ruins of short-lived Ponga Talc Mine,

overlooking south Death Valley. Bottom: Wooden headframe and hoisting
works of Whitecap Talc Mine. 1978 photos by John Latschar.

Illustration 261. Saratoga Talc Mines: View from middle group of

workings north towards northern group. 1978 photo by John Latschar.
Illustration 262. Saratoga Talc Mines: View of southern group of workings.

1978 photo by Linda Greene.
b) Saratoga Springs
1. History
Like Ibex Springs to the north, activities at Saratoga Springs have been constant and varied
over the last hundred years, for the springs have long been the most important watering spot
in the south Death Valley region. As with Ibex Springs, little remains to bear witness to
Saratogas past, due to the destruction wrought by years of harsh weather and the sticky hands
of generations of prospectors and travelers.
The first printed mention of Saratoga Springs is connected with the 1871 Wheeler survey.
Although accounts are somewhat contradictory, a portion of the Wheeler party apparently
camped at the springs, and named them after the well-known resort of Saratoga Springs, New
York. Whether or not the springs were first discovered by Wheelers party, they soon became
known to travelers, teamsters and prospectors of the desert region, and were important desert
stops for all. Although the accounts again vary, the springs were a primary watering hole for
the famous 20-mule team borax wagons during the 1880s, as they were on the direct route
from the old Amargosa borax works, and the alternate route for the Harmony borax works of
Death Valley. [19]
After the borax works were closed in the ate 1880s, the springs reverted to the occasional use
of prospectors and travelers, until 1902, when the mad nitrate rush began. These rushers left
almost as soon as arrived, however, and the springs were quiet again until the reverberations
of the Bullfrog boom reached down into south Death Valley. Then, in 1905 and 1907,
occasional references were made in the Rhyolite newspapers to gold and silver miners who
had prospects nearby. None of these prospects panned out, and activity around the springs
soon declined. In 1909 the niter prospects were again investigated, and due to the efforts of
A. W. Scott, we have a pictorial account of life at the Saratoga Springs mining camp. But
Scott's camp only lasted a year or two, and the springs area was subsequently deserted. The
only visitors for the next twenty-odd years were lonely prospectors and tourists, who slowly

but surely dismantled what had been left behind by earlier occupants. A 1921 visitor saw no
signs of life in the vicinity of the springs. [20]
In the 1930s, with the opening of the Saratoga district talc mines, the springs once more
became an important source of water. Throughout the life of the Ponga, Superior,
Whitehouse and Saratoga mines, all water for the daily use of the mines and miners (with the
exception of drinking) was drawn from Saratoga Springs. At the same time, a small resort
and water bottling effort was carried out by a local entrepreneur. World War II killed the
resort, due to gas rationing, and the water bottling business soon followed suit. The mines
were slower to die, and continued to draw upon the Spring waters until the 1960s, when they
finally closed. [21]
Illustrations 263-264. Top: Stone cabin built ca. 1890, converted to

blacksmith shop in 1909 by Pacific Nitrate Company. Photo from "Niter
Lands of California," courtesy Death Valley National Monument Library,
#3076. Bottom: Same site, 1978. Photo by Linda Greene.

Illustration 265. Pacific Nitrate Company's camp in vicinity of Saratoga

Springs, at its height ca. 1910. Photo from "Niter Lands of California,
courtesy of Death Valley National Monument Library, #3104.
Illustration 266. Second stone cabin, Saratoga Springs area, probably built
by Pacific Nirtrate ca. 1909, may be seen through framework of cabin
under construction. Photo from "Niter Lands of California, courtesy of
Death Valley National Monument Library, #3092.

Illustration 267. Spring house at Saratoga Springs, undated, ca. 1930. Note
tourist accommodations in right background. Photo courtesy Death Valley
National Monument Library, #1563.
Little remains upon the site of all this activity. While this is not unusual for a desert watering
hole, the situation at Saratoga Springs is further confused by conflicting data concerning the
two principal remaining structures--the remnants of two stone cabins.
O. A. Hutford, a compiler of popular lore, wrote that in 1901 there were two old stone houses
at the springs, built in the 1890s, and used as a saloon and a store for the borax teamsters. A.
W. Scott, however, in his photograph album "Niter Lands at California," labeled one of the
structures as a stone house built by a "one lunger" about 1889, who lived there for two years.
Scott's niter company converted the stone house into a blacksmith shop.
Scott's pictures, taken between 1908 and 1909, also show halt a dozen tent and frame
structures built in the vicinity of the springs during that period, including a store and a spring
house. Although it is not certain, the spring house appears to be the one used by the Saratoga
Water Company in the 1930s.
Unfortunately, through the depredations of time, weather, and economic talc miners, no
remnants of the frame or tent structures built by the niter company are now visible. The only
extant structures at Saratoga Springs are the slowly crumbling walls of the original two stone
houses built sometime prior to the turn of the century. The smaller of these is little more than
a pile of rubble, but the larger one is still partially intact. Constructed of unmortered stone,
with dimensions of nine feet by twelve feet, the three to four foot high waits of this ruin are
clearly discernable. [22]
Due to its sensitive location, just north of the fish pool at Saratoga Springs, the site of these
stone ruins should be subject to a policy of benign neglect. Although they are a part of an
interesting site, the ruins do not justify preservation or stabilization funds, but should be
protected against vandalism, and made a part of the interpretation of the long history of
Saratoga Springs.


Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION V:
Recommendations for Treatment of Death
Valley Mining Sites
A. General Proposals
Specific recommendations for management of the sites studied in this report may be found in
the appropriate sections of the body of the text. The following are several general comments
that are valid for the entire Monument area.
All mining sites and properties researched possess various levels of historic interest and
significance. Those that have been determined to be historically significant have been or are
in the process of being nominated to the National Register of Historic Places. Those of
historic interest or importance that do not meet the criteria of eligibility for the National
Register due either to a lack of significance or a lack of integrity have been recommended or
a policy of benign neglect. This means that the Monument would make no effort to maintain
the structures at a particular site or provide or maintain access to them. It includes the
recommendation that the Monument not demolish any structures on the site nor reclaim or
naturalize the area.
As a general rule, benign neglect is a blanket recommendation for all mining properties
within the Monument that date prior to 1942 and that do not have National Register
significance. It is also recommended for certain mining properties that underwent their
greatest development after that year, which was a turning point in Death Valley mining
history for two reasons. First, the United States Government at that time banned mining of
non-strategic minerals as detrimental to the war effort. Secondly, and more important in its
effects on the Monument lands, the post-war era initiated strip-mining methods of operation,
where even the smallest mining effort left a quite visible mark upon the land, in comparison
to the minor surface disturbance generated by earlier underground excavations.
Death Valley National Monument announced recently the beginning of its RAMS
(Reclamation of Abandoned Mining Sites) Program, whose purpose, according to the
Superintendent, is the "reduction of safety hazards, removal of unwanted structures and
debris, and reclamation of disturbed resources." [1] Because of the vast number of sites
involved of varying significance, the broad scope of the program, and the irreversibility of
some of its proposed actions, the authors share several concerns over its impact on the
historic resources of the region, especially upon older mining sites that are not considered
eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. For such sites, which have been
recommended for a policy of benign neglect, the authors recommend against any demolition
of existing structures or the reclamation of sites. In addition, it is strongly recommended that
any necessary removal of "unwanted debris" be done with the assistance of a qualified
preservationist who would be given the opportunity to record and retrieve any artifacts of
value from the site. If the Monument staff decides to reclaim any pre-1942 mining sites, it is
recommended that a qualified preservationist first record the site photographically, record and

retrieve any artifacts, and maintain a permanent record of the site in Monument files.
As a general rule, a policy of passive safety measures is recommended for the reduction of
safety hazards inherent in mine shafts and tunnels, on both National Register properties and
those recommended for benign neglect. The use of steel grates, for example, placed just
below the collar of shafts and immediately inside tunnel entrances is greatly preferable to the
closure of shafts and tunnel through blasting or filling. Steel grates would both protect the
visitors and preserve the historic integrity and flavor of the mining sites.
In regard to cultural resources on the west side of the Monument, it is recommended that
efforts continue to acquire the Skidoo Mill site. This mill, the largest extant mill on Park
Service lands in the Western Region with its equipment still in place, is fast deteriorating due
to a lack of maintenance and the ravages of nature. If acquired, a course of action should be
undertaken immediately to stabilize the mill, and plans should be made for its future
restoration.
Access to the eastern side of the Monument by local residents and visitors is both easy and
frequent, and the sight of four-wheel drive vehicles and motorcycles is not uncommon.
Unfortunately, few of the dozens of access roads and trails are marked, so visitors do not
realize when they are entering protected National Monument lands. This problem is
especially acute in the Bullfrog Hills region and the Chloride Cliff area. Boundary markers
should be erected as soon as possible on all entrance roads and trails. Two properties on the
eastern side of the Monument, both of which have been nominated to the National Register
of Historic Places, need immediate stabilization and preservation work. The Keane Wonder
Tramway and its lower tramway terminal both need stabilization work, to prevent their
deteriorating structures from collapsing. In addition, the Homestake-King Mill foundations
should be examined by an architect to determine what, if any, stabilization measures are
necessary to keep those imposing foundations walls from slowly crumbling.
And, of course, the authors would like to see the fruits of their labors disseminated, through
better interpretation of Death Valleys rich mining heritage. Since this was one of the main
reasons behind the study itself, it is recommended that funds be programmed to implement
Death Valley's interpretive program, following the recommendations given in the body at the
report.

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION V:
Valley Mining Sites (continued)
B. National Register Properties
The following sites and districts have been, or will be, nominated to the National Register of
Historic Places.
1. The West Side
Site/District Status
Big Talc Mine Nominated - 1980
Chloride Cliff Road (Twenty-Mule-Team Borax Route) Nominated - 1980
Corduroy Road Nominated - 1980
Eagle Borax Works on NR - Dec 1974
Eichbaum Toll Road Nominated - 1980
Furnace Creek Wash Historic District Nominated - 1980
Garibaldi Mine Nominated - 1980
Gateway of the '49ers Nominated - 1980
Goldbelt Spring Talc Camp Nominated - 1980
Gold Hill Mill Nominated - 1980
Harmony Borax Works on NR - Dec 1974
Harrisburg Historic District Nominated - 1980
Hungry Bills Ranch Historic District Nominated - 1980
Journigan's Mill Nominated - 1980
Lemoigne Mine and Cabin Nominated - 1980
Lost Burro Mine and Mill Nominated - 1980
Nevares Homestead Nominated - 1980
Old Stovepipe Wells Nominated - 1980
Panamint Treasure Mine Nominated - 1980
Queen of Sheba (Carbonate) Mine and Mill Nominated - 1980
Skidoo Historic District on NR - April 1971
(April 1974 Nomination to be revised)

Stovepipe Wells Hotel Nominated - 1980

Ulida Mine and Camp Nominated - 1980
Wildrose Canyon Antimony Mine Nominated - 1980
Wildrose Canyon Charcoal Kilns Nominated - 1980
Wingate Pass Battle Site Nominated - 1980
2. The East Side
Site/District Status
Chloride Cliff Historic District Nominated - 1980
Echo Canyon Historic District Nominated - 1980
Greenwater Historic District Nominated - 1980
Homestake-King and Gold Bar Mine and Mill Nominated - 1980
Keane Wonder Historic District Nominated - 1980
Las Vegas & Tonopah Railroad Grade Nominated - 1980
Leadfield on NR - June 1975
Lee Historic District Nominated - 1880
Original Bullfrog - West Extension Mines Site Nominated - 1980

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION V:
Valley Mining Sites (continued)
C. List of Classified Structures
The following is a list of structures within Death Valley National Monument which are on
the List of Classified Structures, together with those which the authors recommend as future
additions to the LCS.
1. The West Side
Structure Status
Corduroy Road LCS report needed
Eichbaum Toll Road LCS report needed
Furnace Creek Wash Historic District Ruins LCS report needed
Garibaldi Mine Stone Ruins LCS report needed
Goldbelt Spring Talc Camp LCS report needed
Gold Hill Mine Site Ruins LCS report needed
Harmony Borax Works on LCS - March 1976
Harrisburg Historic District
Pete Aguereberry Camp LCS report needed
Eureka Mine LCS report needed
Stone Dugout between Eureka Mine and Cashier Mine LCS report needed
Cashier Mine and Mill Ruins on LCS May 1975
Wood and tin-sided dugout on LCS - May 1976
Hungry Bills Ranch Historic District
Arrastras LCS report needed
Fences on LCS - Dec 1975
Building Ruins on LCS - Dec 1975
Hunter Cabin on LCS - Dec 1975
Journigan's Mill Ruins on LCS - Dec 1975
Lemoigne Mine and Cabin LCS report needed
Lost Burro Mine and Mill Ruins LCS report needed
Nevares Cabin and Root Cellar on LCS - April 1976

Panamint Treasure Mine LCS report needed

Queen of Sheba (Carbonate) Mine and Mill Ruins LCS report needed
Skidoo Historic District
Stamp Mill on LCS Dec 1976
Ore Bin and Chute on LCS - Dec 1976
Tiny Mine and Mill Ruins LCS report needed
Pipeline Route LCS report needed
Ulida Mine LCS report needed
Wildrose Canyon Charcoal Kilns on LCS - Dec 1975
Wildrose Station Warehouse on LCS - Dec 1975
2. The East Side
Structure Status
Ashford Mill on LCS - Dec 1975
Chloride Cliff Historic District
1910 One-stamp Mill LCS report needed
Stone Dugout #1, Chloride City on LCS - Dec 1975
Stone Dugout #2, Chloride City on LCS - Dec 1975
Big Bell Cable Road LCS report needed
Big Bell Mill LCS report needed
Big Bell Mine LCS report needed
Big Sell Cabins LCS report needed
Confidence Mill Site on LCS - Feb 1976
Echo Canyon Historic District
Inyo Mill LCS report needed
Inyo Mine LCS report needed
Inyo Mine Cabins LCS report needed
"Furnace' Mill Ruins LCS report needed
Homestake-King Mine and Mill Ruins on LCS - Dec 1975
Keane Wonder Historic District
Keane Wonder Cable Tramway Towers on LCS - Dec 1975
Keane Wonder Tramway Upper Terminal on LCS - Dec 1975
Keane Wonder Tramway Lower Terminal on LCS - Dec 1975
Hoisting Engine and Cable Drum, Keane Wonder Mine on LCS - Jan 1976
Johnnie Cyty's 3-stamp Mill LCS report needed
Johnnie Cyty's Cabin LCS report needed
Las Vegas & Tonopah Railroad Grade on LCS - Dec 1975
Leadfield

Building #1 on LCS - Dec 1975

Building #2 on LCS Dec 1975
Outhouse (Privy) #1 on LCS - Dec 1975
Outhouse (Privy) #2 on LCS - Dec 1975
Lower Grapevine Ranch
Scotty's Ranch House on LCS - Dec 1975
Garage, Lower Vine Ranch on LCS - Dec 1975
Grain Shed and Corral on LCS - Jan 1976
Shed on LCS - Dec 1975
Scotty's Bridge, Lower Vine on LCS - Jan 1976
Old Administrative Building on LCS - Jan 1976
Scotty's Castle Area
Hacienda-Guest House on LCS - Dec 1975
Scotty's Castle and Annex on LCS - Dec 1975
Chimestower on LCS - Dec 1975
Powerhouse and Pavilion on LCS - Jan 1976
Gas House on LCS - Jan 1976
Cookhouse on LCS - Dec 1975
Motel Unit - Garage on LCS - Jan 1976
Scotty's Original "Castle" on LCS - Dec 1975
Solar Heater on LCS - Jan 1976
Stable on LCS - Dec 1975
Entrance Gate on LCS - Jan 1976
Gravel Separator on LCS - Jan 1976
Powder Storage Structure on LCS - Jan 1976
Swimming Pool on LCS - Dec 1975
Texas Spring Campground Comfort Station on LCS - Jan 1976

Death Valley NP: Historic Resource Study (Glossary)
Death Valley
A History of Mining
GLOSSARY
ADIT: A horizontal passage into a hillside
AERIAL TRAMWAY: transports loads in carries suspended from cables stretched between
two points, often far apart. On continuous tramways a series of loaded carries travel in one
direction while empty carriers return in another. A reversible tramway supports one carrier
that travels back and forth on the same cable.
AMALGAM: gold or silver combined with mercury.
ARRASTRA: a primitive ore mill whose design was brought to this country by the Spaniards.
Considered especially useful because it could be built anywhere from materials at hand, it
consisted of a circular trough constructed of smooth, hand, flat-surfaced stones set in clay
and averaging about two feet deep and six across, although the size varied according to the
amount of area available. A low stone coping followed around the periphery of the trough. In
the center of the structure was a pole that pivoted and dragged two large, flat stones around
the trough to crush the ore. This pole was powered by horse, mule, water, hand, or steam or
gasoline engine
The floor of the arrastra was then covered with one to two inches of broken ore to which
water was periodically added. The stones were dragged around until the gold ore was
pulverized to a sand, freeing the gold, a period of usually one to two days. The muddy, slimy
mixture was then flushed out down a sort of flume and sometimes quicksilver or mercury
amalgamated with the gold or silver in catch basins. The amalgam was then distilled and the
small gold particles separated and recovered. Any material caught in between the floor stones
could be scooped up with a small horn spoon and panned. Before abandoning the arrastra, its
floor stones were pulled up and any ore caught there removed. Sometimes a higher
percentage of gold could be gained in this fashion than from a small stamp mill, although the
latter was more economical where large tonnages of ore were concerned. The arrastra could
only be used with free-milling ore
ASSAY: chemical or physical method of ascertaining the commercial value of ore.
ASSESSMENT WORK: the locators of unpatented placer and lode claims were required by
law to perform $100 (in value) worth of labor and improvements per claim annually in order
to prevent relocation of their claim by others.
BALL MILL: a cylindrical or conical container, resting on supports, that is used for coarse
primary grinding. Its diameter approximately equals its length. It functions by rotating
horizontally while iron or steel balls roll over the ore. These balls may be up to five inches in
diameter, but smaller ones are used for finer grinding. In this latter case the mills are longer.
BOND-AND-LEASE SYSTEM: an arrangement that evolved circa the 1890s to protect

buyers from salted mines. A prospective purchaser posted bond in the amount of the selling
http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/deva/glossary.htm[7/26/2008 3:11:42 PM]

price of a mine, then took possession and carried out development work. The proceeds from
all pay ore were his. At the expiration of the lease period, if the mine was still producing, the
purchaser could exercise his option and buy the property, with the bond money going to the
owner. If the lessee thought the prospect had no future, be returned it to the vendor along
with any development installations and reclaimed his bond. In a leasing situation where no
bond has been put up, the vendor can refuse to renew a lease on a profitable mine after the
leasing period is up. In this way the owner of a mine who does not have time to work it
himself can get the necessary development work started and increase the assets of his
holdings.
CLAIM: a parcel of land legally held for mining purposes, the location of which is recorded
with the county and marked by monuments.
COLLAR: top of a shaft.
CONCENTRATOR: plant where ore is separated into valuable and rejected materials.
CROSSCUT: horizontal opening driven across a vein or across the direction of the main
workings. The connection from a shaft to a vein.
CRUSHERS: an apparatus that grinds ores without water and is designed to produce feed for
the grinding mills. Common types used are jaw and gyratory crushers (breakers) and
reduction gyratories, cone crushers, and rolls (intermediate crushers). The best-known type of
jaw crusher is the Blake, with a movable jaw pivoted at the top.
CUSTOM ORE MILL: a mill designed to treat for a fee small lots of ore from prospects or
mines not equipped with reduction facilities. An important factor in the early economic
development of a mineral area.
CYANIDE PROCESS: a chemical operation for extracting gold from finely-crushed ores,
concentrates, and tailings by application of cyanide of potassium. The ore is first crushed to
one-inch size and then conveyed to a set of rollers for grinding to the required fineness. It is
then put in circular tanks, about twenty feet in diameter. About eight inches above the base
are false bottoms of wood slats over which a canvas is laid to act as a filter. The ore was
spread on top of the canvas and a cyanide solution applied from the bottom of the tanks,
which worked on the ore until the gold was dissolved. The solution was then drawn off and
sent to a tank where it was precipitated. The precipitates were melted in a furnace and poured
into molds. Success of this process depended on the amount of tonnage (it could be costly)
and the composition of the ore. It was widely used in the 1930s to rework old mine dumps
because of its simplicity and the fact that larger percentages of gold could be recovered from
the ore.
DRIFT: horizontal underground passage driven along an ore structure such as a vein.
DUMP: a pile or heap of waste rock material or other non-ore refuse excavated in driving a
tunnel or shaft and located near a mine.
EXPLORATION: actions such as drilling, trenching, or excavating underground openings to

ascertain the size, shape and location of an ore body. Next step after area has been
prospected.
FLOTATION: a method of mineral separation akin to concentration. Crushed, ground, and

classified ore is pulped with water, while special reagents are used to make one or more of
the ore minerals water-repellant and responsive to attachment with air bubbles, As the
desired minerals float to the surface attached to the bubbles they are removed by mechanical

paddles as concentrate, leaving the other mineral to sink. Often several stages of flotation
with selective reagents are used to obtain the desired concentration.
FLUX: a substance promoting the fusion of minerals or metals.
HANGING WALL: the layer of rock or wall overhinging a lode, on the upper side of an
inclined vein.
HEADFRAME: the steel or timber frame at the top of a shaft, carrying a sheave or pulley for
hoisting the rope. Its height depends on the method of disposing of the rock and the size of
the ore bucket. It is used for development work and shaft sinking. Most were usually
constructed of wood because it was less expensive, readily obtained, and quickly erected.
HIGH-GRADE: rich or shipping ore.
INCLINED SHAFT: refers to openings inclined from the vertical to 45 degrees or less.
LEACHING: a solution-mining technique for extracting soluble ores in situations where

conventional mining methods are not economical, Heap leaching is performed where the
grade of ore is too low to pay for haulage or to be treated by conventional concentration or
by leaching in vats, It is also used for complex ores that cannot be economically treated by
conventional processes.
LEDGE: mass of rock constituting a valuable mineral deposit.
LEVEL: horizontal passages or drifts spaced at regular intervals in depth and either
numbered from the surface in regular order or designated by their actual elevation below the
top of the shaft.
LODE: several veins found close together enabling them and intervening rock to be worked
as a unit. Generally interchangeable with vein; a well-defined occurrence 01 valuable
mineral-bearing material. A lode claim is staked on veins or lodes of quartz-bearing gold or
silver and composed of twenty acres. Lode gold is that in place within solid rock where it has
been deposited.
MILL: reducing plant where ore is concentrated and/or metals recovered.
MILL-SITE: a five-acre claim of non-mineral land. May be contiguous or not to claim

producing ore for the mill. Must be used for mining and milling purposes in order to retain
title.
MINING DISTRICT: section of country designated by name, having described boundaries

within which minerals are found and worked under the rules and regulations prescribed by
miners therein.
OPEN-PIT OPERATIONS: a method of mining an ore body by stripping away the

overburden and reaching the ore from above. It requires a large area for mining, stripping,
disposal of waste rock, placement of lowgrade stockpiles or heap-leaching operations,
construction of roads, etc. A complex and costly operation.
ORE: mineral sufficient in quality to be exploited at a profit.
ORE BODY: solid and fairly continuous ore mass that may include low-grade ore and waste
plus pay ore

ORE CARS: in Western mines horizontal tramming was done basically with one-ton iron ore
cars equipped with four closely-set flanged wheels running on an eighteen or twenty-inch
gouge track. The body was so suspended that on tripping a latch lever they dumped sideways;
many, however, had center pintles, enabling the box to be swung ninety degrees and dumped
end over. One loaded car was all a man could push, but mules could pull trains of up to ten
cars linked together with short chains. In larger, busier mines the tram system included
turnouts and junctions that were directed by hand-operated track switches, and steam,
gasoline or electric engines.
PLACERS: superficial deposits, occupying ancient river beds, that have washed down from a
vein or lode, or deposits of valuable minerals found in the alluvium of active streambeds.
Placer mining involves the recovery of this gold from the sands and gravel of a streambed
and is one of the oldest forms of mining. Potentially rich spots are washed with a pan, long
tom, and sluice. Gold, particularly, is found in this situation because it is heavy and resists
corrosion. Placer claims are limited to twenty acres.
POCKET: rich spot in vein or deposit.
PORTAL: mouth of adit opening.
PROSPECTING: involves ground reconnaissance and preliminary observation. Prospectors

could rarely afford to explore their own prospects to any extent, so they tried to interest a
well-financed miring organization in carrying out further exploration.
QUARTZ MINE: area in which ore deposits are found in veins or fissures in the rocks of the
earths crust. Usually applied to lode gold mines.
RAISE: vertical or inclined opening driven upward from adit level to connect with level
above or to explore ground above for limited distance.
SHAFT: vertical or steeply inclined opening excavated from surface.
STAMP MILL: apparatus that crushes rock by descending pestles or stamps operated by
water, steam, electricity, or gasoline power.
STOPE: underground excavation from which ore has been or is being extracted. The
particular methods used are dependent on the size and shape of the ore body, overburden
conditions, etc.
open stoping--small ore bodies are mined completely out with no pillar of ore
left in place to support the walls.
room and pillar--pillars left in regular pattern while rooms are mined out. At the
end of the operation they are robbed just before that portion of the mine is
abandoned. The stope walls will then collapse.
STRIKE: to find an ore vein; a valuable discovery.
TAILINGS: refuse material resulting from the washing, concentration, or treatment of

ground ore; material too poor to be treated further. The waste from the concentration process
is disposed of as mill tailings that are directed through ditches, pipe systems, etc., to pond
disposal areas downhill from the mill. Mill tailing ponds were usually impounded behind
embankments built from the tailing material itself. In the ponds the solids separate from the
liquid and are deposited on the pond floor, while the water eventually soaks into the ground
or is drained off.

TRAMMING: removal of muck into wheelbarrows or mine cars to the surface.
TUNNELS: horizontal or nearly so underground opening from one side of mountain to

another. Sometimes wrongly used synonymous with adit or drift.
VEIN: zone or belt of mineralized rock lying within boundaries clearly separating it from
neighboring rock.
WASTE ROCK: barren or low-grade material taken from mine during exploration and
development.
WINZE: subsidiary shaft starting underground, usually connection between two levels. Work
down from an adit level, as opposed to a raise. 1
1. The above has drawn on the following sources: Inyo Independent 23 July, 20 August,
1937; Stanley W. Paher, Death Valley Ghost Towns (Las Vegas: 1973); Otis E. Young, Jr.,
Western Mining: An Informal Account of Precious-Metals Prospecting Placering Lode
Mining, and Milling on the American Frontier from Spanish Times to 1893 (Norman: Univ.
of Oklahoma Press, 1970); Otis E. Young, Jr., Black Powder and Hand Steel: Miners and
Machines on the Old Western Frontier (Norman: Univ. of Oklahoma Press, 1976); Works
Progress Administration, Death Valley: A Guide (Boston, 1939); Robert Peele and John A.
Church, eds., Mining Engineers Handbook 3d ed., 2 vols. (New York: John Wiley & Sons,
Inc., 1941); "Prospecting for gold in the United States," pamphlet of USGS, Inf-67-9,
Washington, USGPO; Engineering and Mining Journal 11 February 893; "Anatomy of a
Mine--from Prospect to Production," published by U.S. Forest Service, Intermountain
Region, as part of SEAM program; Rodman Wilson Paul, Mining Frontiers of the Far West,
1848-1880 (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1963).
deva/hrs/glossary.htm

Death Valley NP: Historic Resource Study (Bibliography)
Death Valley
A History of Mining
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Leadabrand, Russ. A Guidebook to the Mojave Desert of California. Los Angeles: Ward
Ritchie Press, 1966.

Lee, Bourke. Death Valley. New York: Macmillan, 1930.
______. Death Valley Men. New York: Macmillan, 1932.
Lee, W. Storrs, The Great California Deserts. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1962.
Lincoln, F.C. Mining Districts and Mineral Resources of Nevada. Reno: Nevada Newsletter
Publishing Company, 1923.
Lingenfelter, Richard W. The Hardrock Miners. Berkeley: University of California Press,

1974.
______. The Newspapers of Nevada: A History and Bibliography. San Francisco: John
Howell Books, 1964.
Long, Margaret. The Shadow of the Arrow. Caldwell, Idaho: Caxton Printers, 1950.
Lord, Elliott. Comstock Mining and Miners. 1883. Rpt, Berkeley: University of California
Press, 1959.
Mack, Effie Mona. Nevada: A History of the State from the Earliest Times Through the Civil
War. Glendale: Arthur H. Clark, 1936.
Manly, William Lewis. Death Valley in '49. Ann Arbor: University Microfilms, 1966.
Maxson, John H. Death Valley: Origin and Scenery. Bishop, California: Chalfant Press,
1963.
Miller, Ronald Dean. Mines of the High Desert. Glendale: La Siesta Press, 1965
Miiligan, Clarence P. Death Valley and Scotty. Los Angeles: Ward Ritchie Press, 1942.
Moffat, James R. Memoirs of an Old-Timer: A Personal Glimpse of Rhyolite Nevada 1906-

1907. Verdi: Sagebrush Press, 1969.
Moore, Boyd. Nevada Personalities. Reno: n.p., 1915.
Morris, Henry Curtis. Desert Gold and Total Prospecting. Washington, D.C.: by the author,
1955.
Mott, Leslie C. Mining Activities and Sales Opportunities in the State of Nevada. Los
Angeles: Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, Domestic Trade Reports #66 (1937), #94
(1940).
Myrick, David F. Railroads of Nevada and Eastern California. 2 vols. Berkeley: Howell-
North Books, 1963.
Nadeau, Remi. City-Makers: The Story of Southern California's First Boom 1868-1876. 4th
rev. ed. Corona del Mar, California: Trans-Anglo Books, 1965.
______, Ghost Towns and Mining Camps of California. Los Angeles: Ward Ritchie Press,
1965.
______, The Water Seekers. Santa Barbara and Salt Lake City: Peregrine Smith, 1974.
Nevada State Gazetteer and Business Directory. Vol III. Reno: R L. Polk & Company, 1915.

Nevada. State Inspector of Mines. Annual Reports. 1910-1916, in Appendix to Journals of

the Senate and Assembly. Reno: State Printing Office, 1911-1917.
Nevada. State Inspector of Mines. Nevada Mines Mills and Smelters in Operations As Of ...
(1949-1976). Reno: State Printing Office, 1950-1977.
Nevada. State License and Bullion Tax Agent. Annual Reports. 1910-1916. in Appendix to
Journals of the Senate and Assembly. Reno: State Printing Office, 1911-1917.
Nevada-The Mineral Empire. Goldfield: Souvenir of the American Mining Congress, 1909.
Nye County Nevada and the Mineral Resources of Her Fifty Mining Camps. Tonopah:
Tonopah Promotion Association, 1909.
O'Conley, Mary Ann. Upper Mojave Desert: A Living Legacy. Detroit: Harlow Press, 1969.
Paher, Stanley W. Death Valley Ghost Towns. Las Vegas: Nevada Publishers, 1973.
______. Nevada Ghost Towns and Mining Camps. Berkeley: Howell-North Books, 1970.
Palmer, T.S. Chronology of the Death Valley Region in California. Washington, D.C.: Bryon
S. Adams, 1952.
______. ed. Place Names of the Death Valley Region in California and Nevada. n.p., 1948.
Paul, Rodman W. California Gold: The Beginning of Mining in the Far West. Cambridge:
Harvard University Press, 1947.
______. Mining Frontiers of the Far West. 1848-1880 New York: Holt, Rinehart and
Winston, 1963.
Peele, Robert, and Church, John A. eds, Mining Engineers' Handbook. 3d ed. 2 vols. New
York: John Wiley & Sons, 1941.
Perkins, Edna Brush. The White Heart of Mojave: An Adventure with the Outdoors of the
Desert. New York: Boni and Liveright, 1922.
Pfleider, Eugene P., ed. Surface Mining. New York: The American Institute of Mining,
Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers, 1968 Rpt., 1972.
Pierce, R.A. Lost Mines and Buried Treasure of California. Private printing 1959.
Pipkin, George. Pete Aguereberry: Death Valley Prospector--Gold Miner. Littlerock,

California: South Antelope Valley Publishing Company, 1971.
Poole Brothers. The Mining Directory and Reference Rook of the United States Canada and
Mexico. Chicago: Poole Bros., 1898.
Powers, "Professor". Death Valley, Land of Mystery: Millions in Sight: Suggestions to

Prospectors. Los Angeles: 1919.
Putnam, George Palmer. Death Valley and its Country. New York: Duell, Sloan & Pearce,
1946.
______. Death Valley Handbook. New York: Duell, Sloan & Pearce, 1947.

Quiett, Glenn Chesney. Pay Dirt: A Panorama of American Gold-Rushes. New York: D.
Appleton-Century, 1936.
Ramage, George W., ed. The Mining Directory and Reference Book of the United States
Canada and Mexico. Chicago: Poole Bros., 1892.
Ray, C. Lorin. The Back Yard of Nevada. Bishop: Chalfant Press, 1964.
Raymond, Rossiter W. Mines and Mining of the Rocky Mountains the Inland Basin and the
Pacific Slope. New York: J.B. Ford, 1871. Rpt of 2d Annual Report of United States
Commissioner of Mining Statistics.
______. Mines Mills and Furnaces of the Pacific States and Territories. New York; J.B. Ford,
1871.
______. Mines of the West: A Report to the Secretary of the Treasury. New York: J.B. Ford,
1869.
______. Old Mines of California and Nevada. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing
Office, 1869. Rpt, Toyahvale, Texas: 1964.
______. Statistics of Mines and Mining for the Year 1869 through 1871. 4 vols. Washington,
D.C.; Government Printing Office, 1870-1872.
______. Statistics of Mines and Mining in the States and Territories West of the Rocky
Mountains. Washington, D.C.; Government Printing Office, 1872.
Rhyolite Board of Trade. Rhyolite Metropolis of Southern Nevada. Los Angeles; Home
Printing Company, n.d.
Rice, George Graham. My Adventures with Your Money. Boston: P.O. Badger, 1913.
Richie, R. L. The Directory of Nevada Mines. Reno: The Mining Press, 1940.
Rickard, Thomas A. A History of American Mining. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1932.
______. Man and Metals; A History of Mining in Relation to the Development of

Civilization. 2 vols. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1932.
______. The Romance of Mining. Toronto: Macmillan, 1945.
Thaw, Frederick, et al. Oil Lamps and Iron Ponies. Saline: El Caino Press, 1949.
Shinn, Charles H. The Story of the Mine as Illustrated by the Great Comstock Lode of
Nevada. New York: D. Appleton, 1896.
______. Mining Camp: A Study in American Frontier Government. New York: Charles
Scribners Sons, 1884.
Smith, Grant H. The History of the Comstock Lode, 1850-1920. Reno: University of Nevada
Geology and Mining Series #37, 1943.
Smith, Olga W. Gold on the Desert. Albuquerque; University of New Mexico Press, 1939.
Southern Inyo American Association of Retired Persons, Chapter 183. Saga of Inyo County.
Covina, California: Taylor Publishing Company, 1977.

Southworth, John. Death Valley in 1849: The Luck of the Gold Rush Emigrants. Burbank:
Pegleg Books, 1978.
Spears, John R. Illustrated Sketches of Death Valley and Other Borax Deserts of the Pacific
Coast. Chicago: Rand, McNally, 1892.
Steward, Julian H. Basin-Plateau Aboriginal Sociopolitical Groups. Smithsonian Institution

BAE Bulletin 120. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1938.
Storms, William H. Timbering and Mining: A Treatise on Practical American Methods. 4th
ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1909.
Stuart, E. E. Nevada's Mining Resources. Carson City: 1919.
Sutherland, Carol. Gold . . . New York: McGraw-Hill, 1959.
Todd, Arthur C. The Cornish Miner in America: The Story of Cousin Jacks and Their Jennies
and Their Contributions to the Mining History of the American West, 1830-1914. Glendale:
A.H. Clark, 1967.
United States. Annual Report of the Chief of Engineers for 1876. Washington: Government
Printing Office, 1877.
______. Director of the Mint. Report of the Director of the Mint Upon the Statistics of the
Production of the Precious Metals in the United States. Washington: Government Printing
office, 1881-1884, 1886-1891, 1894-1895, 1899, 1904, 1909.
______. Federal Trade Commission. Report on the Copper Industry. Washington:

Government Printing Office, 1947.
Wagner, Jack Russel. Gold Mines of California. Berkeley: Howell-North Books, 1970.
Warns, Melvin Owen. The Nevada "Sixteen" National Banks and Their Mining Camps.
Washington, D.C.: Society of Paper Money Collectors, 1974.
Watkins, Tom H. Gold and Silver in the West. Palo Alto: American West Publishing
Company, 1971.
Weight, Harold O. Greenwater. Twentynine Palms: Calico Press, 1969.
______. Lost Mines of Death Valley. Twentynine Palms: Calico Press, 1953.
______, and Lucile. Rhyolite The Ghost City of Golden Dreams. Twentynine Palms: Calico
Press, 1953. Rev. ed., 1970.
______. Twenty Mule Team Days in Death Valley. Twentynine Palms: Calico Press, 1955.
Wheeler, George M. Preliminary Report of Explorations in Nevada and Arizona. 42

Congress, 2d Session, Senate Executive Documents 65.
______. Report Upon United States Government Surveys West of the 100th Meridian.
Washington: Engineer Department, United States Army, 1899.
Wilson, Neill C. Silver Stampede. New York: Macmillan, 1937.

______. Treasure Express Epic Days of the Wells Fargo. New York: Macmillan, 1936.
Winther, Oscar O. Via Western Express & Stagecoach. Stanford: 1945. Rpt, Lincoln:
University of Nebraska Press, 1968.
Wolle, Muriel S. The Bonanza Trail: Ghost Towns and Mining Camps of the West.
Bloomington: University of Indiana Press, 1953.
Work Projects Administration. Federal Writer's Project. California: A Guide to the Golden
State. American Guide Series. Edited by Harry Hansen. Rev. ed. New York: Hastings House,
1967.
______. ______. Death Valley: A Guide. American Guide Series. Boston: Houghton Mifflin,
1939.
______. ______. Nevada: A Guide to the Silver State. Portland: Bindfords and Mont, 1940.
Wynn, Marcia Rittenhouse. Desert Bonanza: The Story of Early Randsburg Mojave Mining
Camp. Glendale: A.H. Clark, 1963.
Young, Otis E., Jr. Black Powder and Hand Steel: Miners and Machines on the Old Western
Frontier. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1976.
______. Western Mining: An Informal Account of Precious-Metals Prospecting Placering,

Lode Mining and Milling on the American Frontier from Spanish Times to 1893. Norman:
University of Oklahoma Press, 1970.
Zander, W. Dougler. Rhyolite and the Old Prospector's Last Will and Testament. Miami:
P.D. K., 1977.
2. National Park Service Publications
Belden, L. Burr. Death Valley Historical Report, 2 vols. Typescript. San Francisco: National
Park Service, 1959.
Brooks, Richard H.; Wilson, Richard A.; King, Joseph P.; and McMakin, Matt. A Historic
and Prehistoric Reconnaissance of Four Mining Claims in Death Valley National Monument.
Tucson: Prepared under contract for the Western Archaeological Center, National Park
Service, by the University of Las Vegas Museum of Natural History, 1977.
Death Valley National Monument. Mining Office Files. Appraisal Reports and miscellaneous
material.
Environment Assessment. Regulations for Mining and Mining Claims Located on Lands
included Within the National Park System. (36 C.F.R. Part 9) Denver: Denver Service
Center, National Park Service, 1976.
Holland, F. Ross, Jr. Recommendations for Historic Preservation and Historical Studies
Management Plan for Death Valley National Monument. Denver: Denver Service Center,
National Park Service, 1972.
Levy, Ben. Death Valley National Monument: Historical Background. Washington, D.C.:
National Park Service Division of History, 1969.

Mattes, Merrill J,, and Simmonds, Robert V. Charcoal Kilns, Wildrose Canyon, Death Valley
National Monument, California. San Francisco National Park Service Office of Archaeology
and Historic Preservation, Western Service Center, 1970.
Tweed, William, comp. Cultural Resources Survey: Death Valley National Monument. 2
vols. San Francisco: National Park Service, Western Regional Office, Division of Historic
Preservation, 1976.
Wallace, William J. Death Valley National Monument's Prehistoric Past: An Archaeological

Overview. Prepared under contract for National Park Service, 1977.
Wendel, Clarence. Special Report on Borate Resources: A Supply and Marketing Study. San
Francisco: National Park Service Mining and Minerals Division, 1978.
3. Death Valley 49ers Publications
Belden, L. Burr. Goodbye Death Valley! The Tragic 1649 Jayhawker Trek. Death Valley
'49ers Keepsake No. 5. San Bernardino: Inland Printing & Engraving Company, 1956.
______. Old Stovepipe Wells. Death Valley '49ers Keepsake No. 8. San Bernardino: Inland
Printing & Engraving Company, 1968.
De Decker, Mary. The Eichbaum Toil Road. Death Valley '49ers Keepsake No. 10. San
Cower, Harry P. 50 Years in Death Valley--Memoirs of a Borax Man. Death Valley 49ers
Keepsake No. 9. San Bernardino: Inland Printing & Engraving Company, 1969.
Hanna, Phil Townsend, et al. Death Valley Tales. Death Valley '49ers Keepsake No. 3. Palm
Desert: Desert Magazine Press, 1955.
Koenig, George. "23" Skidoo and Panamint Too! Death Valley '49ers Keepsake No. 11. San
Miller, Ron. Fifty Years Ago at Furnace Creek Inn. Death Valley '49ers Keepsake No. 17.
Pasadena: Castle Press, 1977.
4. Articles
Anderson, Helen Ashley. "Gold for the Vaults of the World." Desert Magazine 5 (May
1942), 5-7.
Barber, Harry. The Rise and Fall of a man named Smith. Desert Magazine (November 1964),
10-11.
Belden, L. Burr. "The Battle of Wingate Pass." Westways (November 1956), 8-9.
______. "Copper Camp of Greenwater Had Its Wild Days." 5 Bernardino Sun-Telegram April
3, 1955.
Casper, K.R. "The Bullfrog Bonanza, and How Recent Gold Discoveries Have Awakened
Southern Nevada and Added New Towns to the Map." Sunset Magazine 15 (August 1905),
316-26.

Caughey, John Walton. "Southwest from Salt Lake in 1849." Pacific Historical Review (June
1937), 143-64.
Coville, Frederick Vernon. "The Panamint Indians of California." American Anthropologist 5

(October 1892), 351-61.
Cross, Ernest Lyon. "Letters From a Death Valley Prospector." Ed. by Tom G. Murry. Desert
Magazine 26 (June 1963), 8-11.
Emmons, W.H. "Normal Faulting in the Bullfrog District." Science ns 26 (1907), 221-22.
Fairbanks, H. W. Mineral Deposits of Eastern California." American Geologist 17 (March

1896), 144-58.
Fairbanks (Ralph (Dad) J. "My Seventy-three Years on Southwestern Deserts." Touring

Topics 22 (June 1930), 20-26.
Ferguson, Henry. "Mining Districts of Nevada." Economic Geology 24 (March & April
1929), 115-48.
Fisk, O.J. "Ghosts of Greenwater." Westways (November 1940), n. p.
Foshag, William Frederick. "Famous Mineral Localities: Furnace Creek, Death Valley."
American Mineralogist 9 (January 1924), 8-10.
Hardy, Charles. "Monorail Transportation for Magnesium Ore in California." Engineering

and Mining Journal-Press 21 July 1923.
Harris, Frank. "Half a Century Chasing Rainbows." Touring Topics 22 (October 1930), 18-
20.
Hensher, Man. "Earle Clemens and the Rhyolite Herald: Twentieth-Century Nevada
Pioneers." Southern California Quarterly 49 (September 1967), 311-25.
Hopper, S. H. "Geologic Section from the Sierra Nevada to Death Valley, California."
Geologic Society of America, Bulletin 58 (1947), 393-432.
Johnson, B.K. "Geology of a part of the Manly Peak Quadrangle, Southern Panamint Range,
California." California University, Department of Geologic Science, Publication XXX, 45
(1957), 353-423.
Johnston, Philip. "America's Great Natural Chemical Crucible." Touring Topics 19

(September 1927), 14-17, 33-35.
______. "Cities that Passed in the Night." Touring Topics 19 (April 1927).
______. "Days--and Nights--in Old Panamint." Touring Topics 20 (December 1928), 22-25,
50-51.
______. "Skidoo Has 23'd." Westways (February 1936), n.p.
______. "To the Roof of the Panamints." Touring Topics 19 (October 1927), 20-23, 37-44.
Leadabrand, Russ, "Boom and Bust at Leadfield." Desert Magazine 20 (January 1957), 11-
12.

Leuba, Edmond. "A Frenchman in the Panamints." California Historical Society Quarterly 17
(September 1938), 208-18.
Lewis, Lucien M. "He Was In On The Bullfrog Jackpot." Desert Magazine 10 (December
1946), 20-21.
MacMurphy, F. "Geology of the Panamint Silver District, California." Economic Geology 25

(1930), 305-25.
Maguire, Don. "Death Valley." Scientific American Supplement 55 (April 1903), 22838-39.
Mannix, Frank P. "Bullfrog and Its Suburbs." Harpers Weekly 52 (April 11, 1908), 20-21.
Maxson, J. H. "Physiographic Features of the Panamint Range, California." Geological

Society of America, Bulletin 61 (1950), 99-114.
McAlester, Benjamin. "Railroad Taps Death Valley." Technical World 23 (July 1915),
49899.
Murbarger, Nell. "Ghost Town Dwellers." Desert Magazine 22 (February 1959), 4-8.
Murphy, F.M. "Ore Deposits of Panamint Range." Pan American Geologist 51 (1929), 370-
71.
Neal, Howard. "Desert Ghosts: Schwab, California." Desert Magazine 40 (November 1977),
42-43.
Nelson, E.W. "The Panamint and Saline Valley Indians." American Anthropologist 4
(October 1891), 371-72.
Noble, Levi F. "Structural Features of the Virgin Spring Area, Death Valley, California."
Geologic Society of America, Bulletin 52 (July 1941), 941-1000.
Norman, Sidney. "Furnace Was My Town." Calico Print 9 (September 1953), 8-33.
Overholt, Alma. "Death Valley's Road to Nowhere." World's Work 59 (July 1930), 4851.
"Portraits and Biographies of Prominent Engineers, Miners, and Business Men of Nevada."
Successful American 12 (August 1906).
Raymond, Rossiter W. "A Glossary of Mining and Metallurgical Terms." American Institute
of Mining Engineers, Transactions 9 (1881).
Rood, Standish. "The Lost Ledge." Whittaker's Milwaukee Monthly Magazine 4 (1872), 41-
46, 89-94.
Russell, Asa M. (Panamint Russ). "Life on the Desert." Desert Magazine 18 (April 1955), 13-
14.
______. "We Lost a Ledge of Gold!" Desert Magazine 31 (November 1968), 14-17, 34-35.
Spears, John R. Through Death Valley." California Illustrated (February 1893), 31231,
Spurr, J. E. "Genetic Relations of Western Nevada Ores." American Institute of Miring and
Metallurgical Engineers, Transactions 36 (1906), 382-83.

Stewart, Robert. "Making a Resort of Death Valley: The World's New Unique Winter
Playground." The Mentor (August 1928), 41-48.
Strong, William M. "Gold Days in the Bullfrog Hills. Ghost Town News 5 (June 1942), 3-4.
Sumner, E.L., Jr. "Golden Eagle in Death Valley." Condor 31 (May 1909), 127ff.
Tallman., Clay. "The Bullfrog District." American Mining Congress Proceeding 12 (1909),
428-37.
Thompson, N.M. "Historic Photos of the High-Riding 'Magnesium Flyer.'" Desert Magazine
26 (January 1963), 12-15.
Trego, Peggy. "Pathway to Rhyolite." Desert Magazine 23 (April 1960), 33.
U.S. Borax and Chemical Co. "100 Years of U.S. Borax," (1872-1972). Pioneer (1972), 26-
61.
Van Name, E.J. "Death Valley Trails." Overland Monthly and Out West Magazine (April
1932), 71-73, 93.
Von Blon, John L. "A 'Garden of Allah' in Death Valley." Scientific American (April 1926),
242-43.
Wallace, William J. "Archaeological Investigations in Death Valley National Monument,

1952-1957." University of California Archaeological Survey 42 (1958).
______, and Taylor, Edith S. "Archaeology of Wild Rose Canyon, Death Valley." American
Antiquity 20 (April 1955), 355-67.
______. "Death Valley Indian Use of Caves and Rockshelters." The Masterkey 52 (October-
December 1978), 125-31.
______, and Taylor, Edith S.: "The Surface Archeology of Butte Valley, Death Valley
National Monument." Contributions to California Archaeology (Los Angeles: Archeological
Research Assoc., 1956), 1-13.
Weight, Harold O. "Leadfield Died of Complications." Desert Magazine 40 (November

1977), 34-46.
______. "A Summer Visit to the Panamints." Desert Magazine 23 (July 1960).
Wheat, Carl I. "The Forty-Niners in Death Valley: A Tentative Census." Historical Society of
Southern California Quarterly (December 1939), 1-16.
______. "Pioneer Visitors to Death Valley After the Forty-Niners." California Historical
Society Quarterly 18 (Summer 1939), 3ff.
______. "Trailing the 49ers Through Death Valley." Sierra Club Bulletin 24 (June 1939).
5. Newspapers
Beatty (Nev.) Bullfrog Miner, 8 April 1905 - 24 October 1908.
Bishop Creek (Cal.) Times, 12 November 1881 - 3 June 1882

Bullfrog (Nev.) Miner (later published in Rhyolite, Hey.), 31 March 1905 -25 September
1909
Coso Mining News (Darwin, Cal.), 6 November 1875 - 10 November 1877
Greenwater (Cal.) Times, 23 October, 6 November 1907
Inyo Independent (Independence, Cal.), 11 November 1871 - July 1938-39
Inyo Register (Bishop, Cal.), 1885-1918
Los Angeles Times 12 February, 2, 23 April 1939
Panamint (Cal.) News 26 November 1874 - 21 October 1875
Rhyolite (Nov.) Daily Bulletin 23 September 1907 - 31 May 1909
Rhyolite (Nev.) Herald 5 May 1905 - 22 June 1912
Sacramento Union 1865 - 1900 (scattered issues)
San Bernardino (Cal.) Argus 10 July 1873
San Bernardino (Cal. ) Guardian 17 August, 1 November 1873
San Francisco Call, 12 July 1891, 28 May 1893
San Francisco Chronicle 8, 9, 14 October 1902; 16 October 1904 5 October 1906; 23 March
1930; 23 January, 19 February 1931
San Francisco Examiner 8 March 1916, 14 November 1926
6. Journals
American Journal of Mining (New York), March 1866 - June 1869
Death Valley Chuck-Walla (Greenwater, Cal.), 1 January - 1 June 1907
Death Valley Magazine (Rhyolite, Nev.), January-October 1908
Death Valley Prospector (Rhyolite, Nev.), November-December 1907
Engineering and Mining Journal (New York), January 1883 - December 1923
Mining & Scientific Press (San Francisco), June 1860 - 1922
Mining Journal (Phoenix; AKA Arizona Mining Journal), June 1918 - 30 April 1946
Mining World (Chicago; AKA Mining & Engineering World) January 1906 - December
1916
7. U.S. Geological Survey--Bulletins

Ball, Sydney H. "Notes on ore deposits of southwestern Nevada and eastern California."
Contributions to Economic Geology, 1905. (Bulletin No. 285.) Washington: Government
Printing Office, 1906.
______. "A geologic reconnaissance in Southwestern Nevada and eastern California."

(Bulletin No. 308.) Washington: Government Printing Office, 1907.
Campbell, Marius R. "Reconnaissance of the borax deposits of Death Valley and Mohave
desert." (Bulletin No. 200.) Washington: Government Printing Office, 1902.
Chidester, A.H.; Engel, A.E.J.; and Wright, L. A. "Talc resources of the United States."
(Bulletin No. 1167.) Washington: Government Printing Office, 1964. Contributions to
Economic Geology, 1912--Part I (Bulletin No. 540.) Washington: Government Printing
Office, 1914.
Dibblee, T.W., Jr. "Geology of the Willow Springs and Rosamond quadrangles, California."
(Bulletin No. 1089-C.) Washington: Government Printing Office, 1963.
Douglas, E. M. "Boundaries, areas, geographic centers...." (Bulletin Nos. 817, 237.)

Washington: Government Printing Office, 1930.
Gale, Hoyt S. "Salt, borax, and potash in Saline Valley, Inyo County, California." (Bulletin
No. 540.) Washington: Government Printing Office, 1914.
Hall; W.E. "Geology of the Panamint Butte quadrangle, Inyo County, California." (Bulletin
Hewett, D.F.; Callaghan, Eugene Moore, B.N.; Nolan, T.B.; Rubey, W.W.; and Schaller,
W.T. "Mineral resources of the region around Boulder Dam." (Bulletin No. 871.)
Hill, J.M. "The mining districts of the western United States." (Bulletin No. 507.)
Johnson, M.G. "Placer gold deposits of Nevada." (Bulletin No. 1356.) Washington:
Mansfield, G. R., and Boardman, Leona, "Nitrate Deposits of the United States." (Bulletin
Nobel, F.L., et al. "Nitrate deposits in the Amargosa region, southeastern California."
(Bulletin No. 724.) Washington: Government Printing Office, 1922.
Ransome, F.L. "Preliminary account of Goldfield, Bullfrog, and other mining districts in
southern Nevada." (Bulletin No. 303.) Washington: Government Printing Office, 1907.
______; Emmons, W.H.; and Garrey, G.H. "Geology and ore deposits of the Bullfrog
district, Nevada." (Bulletin No. 407.) Washington: Government Printing Office, 1910.
Spurn, J.E. "Descriptive geology of Nevada south of the fortieth parallel and adjacent
portions of California." (Bulletin No. 208.) Washington: Government Printing Office, 1903.
White, D. E. "Antimony deposits of the Wildrose Canyon area, Inyo County, California."
(Bulletin No. 922-K.) Washington: Government Printing Office, 1940.

U.S. Geological Survey--Professional Papers
Anderson, R.E.; Ekren, E.B.; and Healey, D.L. "Possible buried mineralized areas in Nye and
Esmeralda Counties, Nevada." (Paper No. 525-D.) Washington: Government Printing Office,
1965.
Cornwall, H.R., and Kleinhampl, F. J. "Geology of Bullfrog quadrangel and ore deposits
related to Bullfrog Hills caldera, Nye County, Nevada, and Inyo County, California." (Paper
No, 454-J.) Washington: Government Printing Office, 1964.
Denny, C.S. "Alluvial fans in the Death Valley region, California and Nevada." (Paper No.
466.) Washington: Government Printing Office, 1965.
Drewes, Harold. "Geology of the Funeral Peak quadrangle, California, on the east flank of
Death Valley." (Paper No. 413.) Washington: Government Printing Officer 1963.
Knopf, Adolph. "A geologic reconnaissance of the Inyo Range and the eastern slope of the
Sierra Nevada, California." (Paper No. 110.) Washington: Government Printing Office, 1918.
Koschmann, AH., and Bergendahl, M.H. "Principal gold-producing districts of the United
States." (Paper No. 610.) Washington: Government Printing Office, 1968.
Ward, F. N.; Nakagawa, H.M.; and Hunt, C.B. "Geochemical investigation of molybdenum at
Nevares Spring in Death Valley, California." Article #207 in Short papers in the geological
sciences. (Paper No. 400-B.) Washington: Government Printing Office, 1960.
U.S. Geological Survey--Water-Supply Papers
Miendenhall, W.C. "Some desert watering places in southeastern California and southwestern
Nevada." (Paper No. 224.) Washington: Government Printing Office, 1909.
Pistrang, M.A., and Kunkel, Fred. "A brief geologic and hydrologic reconnaissance of the
Furnance Creek Wash area, Death Valley National Monument, California." (Paper No. 1779-
Y.) Washington: Government Printing Office, 1964.
Thompson, David G. "Routes to desert watering places in the Mohave Desert region,
California." (Paper No. 490-B). Washington: Government Printing Office, 1921.
"The Mohave Desert region, California: a geographic, geologic, and hydrologic

reconnaissance." (Paper No. 578.) Washington: Government Printing Office, 1929.
Waring, G.A. "Springs of California." (Paper No. 338.) Washington: Government Printing
Office, 1915.
U.S Geological Survey--Others
Gale, Hoyt S. "The Lila C. borax mine at Ryan, Cal." Mineral Resources of the United States
Calendar Year 1911. Part II--Nonmetallic products. Washington: Government Printing
Office, 1912.
U. S. Geological Survey. General Geology of Death Valley California. Washington:


Yale, Charles C. "Borax." Mineral Resources of the United States for the years 1889 and
1890. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1892.
"Gold, silver, lead, and zinc; Calif., Oregon." Mineral Resources of the United States for the
year 1907. Part I--Metallic products. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1908.
8. California (State)
State Mining Bureau. Annual Reports of the State Mineralogist, 1880-1932. Sacramento:
State Printing Office, 1880-1932.
______. Bulletins, Nos. 1-122, 144, 170. Sacramento; State Printing Office, 1888-1924. San
Francisco: Div. of Mines, Dept. of Natural Resources, 1925-1942, 1948, 1956.
______. Journal of Mines and Geology. Quarterly chapters of the State mineralogist's reports,
1933-43, 1951-53, 1956-57, 1959. Sacramento: State Printing Office, 1933-43, 1951-53,
1956-57, 1959.
______. Preliminary Report No. 5. Antimony, Graphite, Nickel, Potash, Strontium, Tin.
Sacramento: State Printing Office, 1918.
______. Register of Mines and Minerals, Inyo County, California. San Francisco, 1902.
Division of Mines and Geology. Jennings, C.W. Geologic Map of California, Death Valley
sheet. Olaf P. Jenkins, ed. San Francisco, 1958.
______. Information Circular No. 34. "Notes on Current Mining Activity in California. San
Francisco, 1948.
______. Special Reports 8, 20, 42, 51, 73, 88, 95, 125. San Francisco, 1951-52, 1955, 1958,
1963, 1965, 1968, 1976.
9. Nevada (State)
Bureau of Mines and Geology. Bulletins 2, 6, 38, 40, 50, 61, 77. Carson City: State Printing
Office, 1929, 1932, 1943-44, 1950, 1963, 1972.
______. Report 26. Papke, Keith C. Guidebook: Las Vegas to Death Valley and Return.
Mackay School of Mines. Reno: University of Nevada, 1975.
10. Manuscript Materials
Boulder, Colorado. University of Colorado Library, Western History Collection. Margaret

Long Collection, #281.
Carson City, Nevada. Nevada Secretary of State. Articles of Incorporation, 1869-1978.
Death Valley, California. Death Valley National Monument Library. "Niter Lands of
California. Photo Album, property of A.W. Scott, Jr.', ca. 1910.
Mining Office Files. Mineral Reports.

Independence, California. Inyo County Courthouse. Deed Books.
______. ______. Land and Water Claims, Mill Sites. Books A-B.
______. ______. Land, Water and Mining Claims, Inyo County. Books A, B, D-1.
______. ______. Mining Locations, Books 11, 20, 23,25; Vols. 10, 12, 48.
______. ______. Office Records, Vol. 65.
______. ______. Panamint Mining District Claims (Panamint Mining Register), containing
Notices of Location. Filed July 8, 1897. Books A-F (not labelled).
______. ______. Proof of Labor Books.
______. ______. Wild Rose Mining District Notices of Location, Record Book F.
Reno, Nevada. Nevada Historical Society. Chickering, Martha A. "The Saga of an Old-Time
Prospector."
______. ______. Cook, George E. Mimeographed autobiography, 1961.
______. ______. Decker, R. Correspondence regarding Death Valley Mining Company,

1892. Mss #530.
______. ______. Geary, William Paul. Letter to Ed Steineck, May 1905.
______. ______. Granite Contact Mines Company, correspondence, 1908. Mss #833.
______. ______. Las Vegas & Tonopah Railroad Filing map, 1906. Map #1906m.
______. ______. Map of the Bullfrog Mining District, 1907. Map #1907m.
______. ______. Map of Bullfrog Mining District, Nye County, Nevada. From W.H. Shearer,
Atlas of the Goldfield Tonopah and Bullfrog Mining Districts of Nevada, 1905.
______. ______. Map of Tonopah, Goldfield & Bullfrog Mining Districts and Region
Adjacent Showing Railroads, Wagon Roads and Trails, 1905. Map #1905s.
______. ______. Moffat, Emma Louise Presser. Manuscript biography of life in early
Rhyolite. Mss #1398, NC1O9.
______. ______. New Official Map of Bullfrog Mining District. U.S. Dept. of Mineral
Surveys, 1905. Map #1905u.
______. ______. Rhyolite town plat. Department of Interior Land Office, 1908. Map #1908k.
______. University of Nevada-Reno Library. John S. Cook & Company bank ledgers, 1906-
1908. Mss#NC35.
San Francisco. National Park Service, Western Regional Office Library. Map of the Bullfrog
Mining District, Nye County, Nevada. Compliments of The Forward Development Mining
Company, ca 1907.
Tonopah, Nevada. Nye County Recorder's Office. Assessment Rolls, Nye County, 1905-
1978.

______. ______. Deed Books, Nye County, 1904-1978.
______. ______. Index to Mining Locations, 1865-1977.
______. ______. Index to Mining Locators, 1865-1977.
<<< Previous <<< Contents >>>
deva/hrs/bibliography.htm

Death Valley NP: Historic Resource Study (Endnotes)
Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION I:
Endnotes
1. Titus Fey Cronise, The Natural Wealth of California (San Francisco, 1868), cited in
Benjamin Levy, Death Valley National Monument Historical Background Study (NPS
[OAHP], 1969), p. 62.
2. Mining World 12 May 1906, p. 576.
3. Supt., DEVA NM, to Dir., WRO, 1 April 1971.
4. James R. Evans, Gary C. Taylor, and John S. Rapp, Mines and Mineral Deposits in Death
Valley National Monument, California Special Report 125 (California Division of Mines and
Geology, 1976), p. 11.
5. Supt., DEVA NM, to Dir., WRO, 1 April 1971; NPS, Environmental Assessment
Regulations for Mining and Mining Claims Located on Lands Included Within the National
Park System (36 C.F.R. Part) 9) (U.S. Dept. of the Interior [DSC], 1976), 11-4 to 11-5.
6. Denver Post 27 August 1978.
7. Evans et al., Special Report 125, p. 13.
8. The preceding chapter has drawn to some degree from the following sources: David G.
Thompson, "The Mohave Desert region, California: a geographic, geologic, and hydrologic
reconnaissance," USGS Water-Supply Paper 578 (Washington, D.C.: GPO, 1929), pp. 577-
78, hereafter cited as Water-Supply Paper 578; W. A. Chalfant, Death Valley: The Facts
(Stanford: Stanford Univ. Press, 1930), pp. 1-4, 10-12, 42-43, 62-64, 126; William Caruthers,
Loafing Along Death Valley Trails (Ontario, Ca.: Death Valley Publishing Co., 1951), p. 21;
Bourke Lee, Death Valley Men (New York: Macmillan, 1932), pp. 159-69, 196; Chuck
Gebhardt, Inside Death Valley (Menlo Park, Ca.: Nowels Publications, 1977), 2d ed., passim.
<<< Contents >>>
deva/hrs/notes1.htm
http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/deva/notes1.htm[7/26/2008 3:17:43 PM]

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION II:
Endnotes
1. W. A. Chalfant, The Story of Inyo rev. ed. (Los Angeles: Citizens Print Shop, 1933), p. 82.
2. Ibid., p. 83.
3. C. Lorin Ray, "There Was Indian Fighting To Be Done, in Inyo: 1866-1966

(Independence, Ca.: Inyo County Board of Supervisors, 1966), pp. 15, 17.
4. Charles H. Labbe, Rocky Trails of the Past (Las Vegas: C. H. Labbe, 1960), p. 121.
5. California State Mining Bureau, Journal of Mines and Geology 34 (October 1938):426.
6. Remi Nadeau, City-Makers: The Story of Southern California's First Boom 1868-76 4th
ed. rev. (Corona del Mar, Ca.: Trans-Anglo Books, 1965), p. 152.
7. Inyo Independent (Independence, Ca.), 22 December 1905.
8. Ibid., 30 August 1907.
9. Ibid., 7 June 1912.
10. Ibid., 15 May 1920, 8 March 1924.
11. Calif. St. Mng. Bur., Journal of Mines and Geology 34 (October 1938):426.
12. Inyo Independent 12 July 1873.
13. Paul B. Hubbard, Doris Bray, and George Pipkin, Ballarat 1897-1917 Facts and Folklore
(Lancaster, Ca.: P. B. & A. B. Hubbard, 1965), p. 17.
14. The Mining Journal 15 May 1941, p. 22.
15. Nadeau, City-Makers p. 112.
16. Inyo Independent 1 February 1907.
17. Skidoo News quoted in Inyo Independent 10 May 1907.
18. Inyo Independent 15 May 1920.
20. Calif. St. Mng. Bur., Journal of Mines and Geology 47 (January 1951):55.

21. Inyo Independent 26 July 1924.
22. Ibid., 24 July 1936.
<<< Contents >>>
deva/hrs/notes2.htm

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION III:
Endnotes
1. Inyo Independent, 21 September 1872.
2. Ibid., 10 May 1873.
3. Ibid. See Appendix A for a copy of the laws of the new mining district.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid., in Mining & Scientific Press, 40, no. 1 (3 January 1880). The meaning of this
designation for the district is unknown. Perhaps these men actually thought they had
discovered the fabled lost mine of that name.
7. Mining & Scientific Press, 18 March 1876, p. 181; U.S. Director of the Mint, Report of the
Director of the Mint upon the Statistics of the Production of the Precious Metals in the
United States (Washington: GPO, 1883), p. 53.
8. Engineering and Mining Journal, 12 May 1894, p. 445.
9. Mining & Scientific Press, 25 August 1894, p. 122; 16 May 1896, p. 402.
10. Inyo Register, 31 January 1895.
11. Inyo Independent, 16 April 1897.
12. Ibid., 30 July 1897.
13. Ibid., 13 August 1897. Two other later mining towns also referred to themselves, initially
at least, as "Panamint." In 1906 such a town was mentioned sixteen miles south of Ballarat,
possibly in Goler Canyon. It was called "Panamini"--whether this was a typographical error
or a variation of the name has not been determined. The townsite was said to have been laid
out by J.C. Cress and J.W. Callaway. Ibid., 23 February, 8 June 1906. In 1907 a new mining
town of "Shadow Mountain" was later renamed "Panamint"; it was located up Johnson
Canyon not far from old Panamint City.
14. Ibid., 13 August, 30 July 1897.
15. Ibid., 30 July 1897.
16. Ibid., and 13 August 1897.
17. Ibid., 30 July 1897.
http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/deva/notes3a.htm[7/26/2008 3:17:47 PM]

18. Ibid.
20. Ibid., 13 August 1897.
21. Inyo Register, 14 April 1898.
22. Inyo Independent, 17 June 1898, 27 October 1905.
23. Ibid., 16 February 1900.
24. Engineering and Mining Journal, 11 October 1902, p. 493; 1 November 1902, p. 595; 5
December 1903, p. 867.
25. Inyo Independent, 28 October 1904.
26. Ibid., 16 June, 23 June 1905.
27. Engineering and Mining Journal, 19 August 1905, p. 305.
29. Ibid., 17 November 1905.
30. Ibid., 23 February, 8 June 1906.
31. Engineering and Mining Journal, 11 August 1906, p. 271; Inyo Independent, 1 March
1907; Rhyolite (Nev.) Daily Bulletin, 17 October 1907.
32. Bullfrog Miner, 3 August 1907.
33. Inyo Independent, 24 March 1923.
34. Notice of Application to Construct Toll Road, in Inyo Independent, 26 September 1925.
35. Inyo Independent, 24 July 1936.
36. Ibid., 26 May 1939.
37. Ibid.
38. Calif. St. Mng. Bur., Journal of Mines and Geology, 47 (January 1951):78.
39. Ibid.; Supt., DEVA NM, to Dir., WRO, 1 April 1971.
41. Ibid., 16 August 1873.
42. Los Angeles Star, 13 December 1873, quoted in Inyo Independent, 20 December 1873.
43. Caruthers, Loafing Along Death Valley Trails, p. 165; Glenn C. Quiett, Pay Dirt: A
Panorama of American Gold-Rushes (New York: D. Appleton-Century Co., 1936), pp. 417-
18.

44. A Notice of Location for the Happy Valley Toll Road, "Through Happy Canyon in
Panamint Mining District, beginning at mouth of Happy Canyon and follows meandering of
main canyon from said mouth to summit of Panamint Range, East of Juno Quartz Lode."
Filed for record 5 May 1875. Panamint Mining Register (1897), Book C, p. 89, Inyo County
Courthouse, Independence, Ca.
45. Nadeau, City-Makers, p. 111.
46. Edmond Leuba, "A Frenchman in the Panamints," California Historical Society Quarterly,
17 (September 1938):212.
47. Ibid.
48. Ibid., p. 213.
49. Inyo Independent, 23 August 1907.
50. Ibid., 9 January 1926.
51. Ibid., 12 June 1936.
52. Los Angeles Times, 11 February 1969.
53. Inyo Independent, 21 June 1873.
55. Location Notice, Quartz Claim, Memo, DEVA NM mining office.
56. Articles of Incorporation for South Park Development Company, Pleasant Canyon,
Panamint Mining District, in Inyo Independent, 12 March 1897.
57. Panamint Mining Register (1897), Book B, pp. 50, 152.
58. Ibid., p. 81.
59. Ibid., pp. 111, 134.
60. Ibid., p. 113.
61. Ibid., p. 166.
62. Ibid., p. 180.
63. Ibid., p. 230.
64. Ibid., p. 276.
65. Ibid., p. 314.
66. Ibid., p. 284.
67. Ibid., Book D, p. 147.
68. Ibid., Book B, p. 170.

69. Ibid., p. 305.
70. Ibid., Book C, p. 78.
71. Ibid., p. 229.
72. Land, Water and Mining Claims, Book E, Inyo Co. Courthouse, Independence, Ca.
73. Notice of Application for U.S. Patent, Inyo Independent, 2 May 1931.
74. Mining & Scientific Press, 16 February 1884, p. 125.
75. U.S. Director of the Mint, Report of the Director of the Mint Upon the Production of the
Precious Metals in the United States During the Calendar Year 1884 (Washington: GPO,
1885), p. 104.
76. Land, Water and Mining Claims, Inyo Co., Book E.
77. Cover letter, William H. Pratt, U.S. Surveyor General's Office for the District of
California, to Mr. R. Decker, at Panamint, Inyo Co., dated San Francisco, 2 September 1892.
78. Delinquent Tax List of Inyo Co., 1911, Inyo Independent, 7 June 1912.
79. Description of Real Estate, Notice of Sale, Office of Tax Collector, Inyo County, Inyo
Independent, 16 February 1917.
80. Description of Real Estate, Notice of Sale, Office of Tax Collector, Inyo County, Inyo
Independent, 23 March 1917.
81. Miscellaneous memo on Anacanda Quartz, Grandview Quartz, 2 Mill Sites, American
Claim, Criswick Claim Groups, 11 December 1973.
82. Panamint Mining Register (1897), Book D, p. 100.
83. F. MacMurphy, "Geology of the Panamint Silver District, California," Economic

Geology, 25 (1930):317.
84. Inyo independent, 19 August 1922.
85. Ibid., 27 May 1898.
86. Ibid., 23 June 1905.
87. Ibid.
89. T.S. Palmer, ed., Place Names of the Death Valley Region in California and Nevada
(n.p., 1948), p. 30.
90. Certificate of Work, Gold Hill No. 1, filed 7 May 1875, Panamint Mining Register
(1897), Book C, p. 92; Notice of Location, Bullion Mine, ibid., p. 268.
92. Notice of Location, Taylor Mine, in Land, Water and Mining Claims, Inyo Co., Book E,

p. 579; Plat of the Claim of the Death Valley Mining Co. Upon the Taylor Quartz Mine &
Millsite, Panamint Mining District, Inyo Co., California, Mineral Survey No. 3097, June 12-
22, 1891, Inyo Co. Courthouse, Independence, Ca.
93. Taylor Mill Site and Water Notice in Land, Water and Mining Claims, Inyo Co., Book D,
p. 583; Plat of the Claim of the Death Valley Mining Co. upon the Taylor Quartz Mine &
Millsite, Panamint Mining District, Inyo County, California, Survey No. 3097, June 12-22,
1891, Inyo Co. Courthouse, Independence, Ca.; Notice of Location, Taylor Mill Site, in Land,
Water and Mining Claims, Inyo Co., Book E.
94. Notice of Location, Gold Hilt Mine, in Land, Water and Mining Claims, Inyo Co., Book
E, p. 576; Notice of Location, Gold Hill Mine, Panamint Mining Register (1897), Book C, p.
477; Plat of the Claim of Death Valley Mining Co., upon the Gold Hill Quartz Mine,
Panamint Mining District, Inyo County, California, Mineral Survey No. 3095, June 15-21,
1891, Inyo Co. Courthouse, Independence, Ca.; Certificate of Assessment Work, Gold Hill
Mine, filed 11 December 1890, Panamint Mining Register (1897), Book C, p. 492.
95. Notice of Location, Gold Hill Mill Site, in Land, Water and Mining Claims, Inyo Co.,
Book E, p. 581; Gold Hill Mill Site Location, in Land, Water and Mining Claims, Inyo Co.,
Book D.
96. Notice of Location, Death Valley Mine, Panamint Mining Register (1897), Book C, p.
201; Notice of Location, Death Valley Mine, in Land, Water and Mining Claims, Inyo Co.,
Book E, p. 580; Notice of Location, Death Valley Mine, Panamint Mining Register (1897),
Book C, p. 485; Notice of Location, Death Valley Mine, in ibid., p. 555.
97. Notice of Location Treasure Mine, in Land, Water and Mining Claims, Inyo Co., Book E,
p. 578; Plat of the Claim of the Death Valley Mining Co., Upon the Treasure Quartz Mine,
Panamint Mining District, Inyo County, California, Mineral Survey No. 3096, June 18-19,
1891, Inyo Co. Courthouse, Independence, Ca.; Certificate of Assessment Work, Treasure
Mine, filed 11 December 1890, Panamint Mining Register (1897), Book C, p. 490.
98. Notice of Location, No One Mine, in Land, Water and Mining Claims, Inyo Co., Book D;
Certificate of Assessment Work, filed 11 December 1890, Panamint Mining Register (1897),
Book C, p. 491.
99. Notice of Location, Silver Reef Mine, in Land, Water and Mining Claims, Inyo Co.,
Book D; Notice of Location, Silver Reefe Mine, Panamint Mining Register (1897), Book C,
p. 488.
100. Notice of Location, Ibex Mine, Panamint Mining Register (1897), Book C, p. 487.
101. Notice of Location, May Mine, in Land, Water and Mining Claims, Inyo County, Book
D; Notice of Location, May Mine, Panamint Mining Register (1897), Book C, p. 489.
102. Notice of Location, Breyfogle Mine, Panamint Mining Register (1897), Book C, pp.
547-48; Notice of Location of Quartz Claim, Bryfogle Quartz Mining Claim, in Land, Water
and Mining Claims, Inyo Co., Book I, pp. 133-34; Notice of Location, Breyfogle Mine,
Panamint Mining Register (1897), Book D, p. 71; A Nutmeg Mine mentioned as being in the
vicinity of Anvil Spring does not appear to have any connection with the one mentioned
here. The Butte Valley mine was not discovered until July 1896, and the directions given for
its location seem to definitely place it near the spring.
103. Notice of Location, Oro Grande Mine, Panamint Mining Register (1897), Book C, p.
549; Notice of Appropriation of Water, Oro Grande Springs, in Land, Water and Mining

Claims, Inyo Co., Book D.
104. Notice of Location, Beckerton Mine, in Land, Water and Mining Claims, Inyo Co.,
Book D.
105. Notice of Location, Georgia Mine, in Land, Water and Mining Claims, Inyo Co.
107. Articles of Incorporation of the Death Valley Mining Company, filed with Secretary of
State 13 July 1889, Record Book 67, p. 124, Office of the Secretary of State, California State
Archives, Sacramento, Ca. This charter was forfeited in December 1905 for failure to pay a
license tax for the year ending 30 June 1906; Inyo Independent, 12 September 1897.
108. Mining & Scientific Press, 31 August 1889, p. 164.
109. Inyo independent, 31 July 1896.
110. 17 September 1897.
111. Ibid.
112. Ibid., 29 December 1899; Inyo Register, 21 December 1899.
113. Inyo Independent, 16 February 1900.
114. Ibid.
115. Ibid., 27 April 1900; Inyo Register, 3 May 1900.
116. Inyo Independent, 18 May 1900.
117. Delinquent Tax-List of the County of Inyo, State of California, for the Year 1903, in
Inyo Independent, 3 June 1904.
118. Inyo Independent, 16 February 1906; The Rhyolite Herald, 20 July 1906.
119. Delinquent Tax-List of the County of Inyo, State of California, for the Year 1910, in
Inyo Register, 1 June 1911.
120. Notice of Sale, Controller's Department, State of California, in Inyo Independent, 16

February 1917.
121. Notice of Sale, Controller's Department, State of California, in Inyo Independent, 23

March 1917.
122. Calif. St. Mng. Bur., Journal of Mines and Geology, 28 (July, October 1932):369.
123. John H. Eric, "Tabulation of Copper Deposits of California," Part Three in Olaf P.
Jenkins, Copper in California, Bulletin 144 (San Francisco: Calif. Div. of Mines, Dept. of
Nat. Res., 1948), p. 244.
125. Ibid., p. 47.

126. Ibid., p. 79.
127. Memorandum, Emigrant District Ranger (Matt H. Ryan) to Chief Ranger, DEVA NM,
25 March 1960.
128. Record of on-site visit to Panamint Treasure Claim by Rich Ginkus, 25 July 1974,
DEVA NM mining office.
129. Index to Land, Water and Mining Claims, Inyo Co. Courthouse, Independence, Ca
131. Ibid., 25 September 1897, p. 294.
132. Labbe, Rocky Trails, p. 116.
133. Inyo Independent, 4 May 1889; Water Location Notice, in Land, Water and Mining
Claims, Inyo Co., Book O.
134. Engineering and Mining Journal, 17 December 1892, p. 589; Ibid., 17 February 1894, p.
158.
137. Los Angeles Mining Review, 11 March 1899.
140. Land, Water and Mining Claims, Inyo Co., Book D.
141. Ibid.
142. Land, Water and Mining Claims, Inyo Co., Book F, n.p.; Ibid., Book G, p. 367; Ibid.,
Book 1, p. 125.
143. Ibid., Inyo Co., Book G, p. 68.
144. Ibid., pp. 123-24.
147. Erwin G. Gudde, California Place Names: The Origin and Etymology of Current
Geographical Names (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1969), p.
12; Milo Page, "Unwritten History--The First Mining Locations in Inyo County Credited to
Mormon Teamsters, 1854," in Inyo Register, 2 August 1906.
149. 18 March 1899, p. 295; Inyo Independent, 21 April 1899; Mining & Scientific Press, 6
May 1899.

152. Inyo Register, 17 May 1900.
153. Engineering and Mining Journal, 7 February 1903, p. 236.
154. Inyo Independent, 1 April 1904, and 8 April 1904.
155. Ibid., 19 May 1905.
156. Inyo Register, 20 July 1905.
157. Ibid., 3 August 1905.
158. Ibid.; Inyo Register, 28 September, 5 October, 12 October 1905.
159. Engineering and Mining Journal, 27 January 1906, p. 197; Bullfrog Miner, 14 March
1908.
161. Mining Claims Listed by Common Claimant Group, DEVA NM mining office; Inyo
Independent, 17 October 1931.
162. Asa M. Russell, "We Lost a Ledge of Gold!," Desert Magazine, 31 (November 1968),
pp. 14-17, 34-35.
163. Archie Burnett, "Report on the Golden Star-Apex and Ready Cash-Sunrise Groups of
Mining Claims," 21 December 1928, p. 6, DEVA NM mining office.
164. Margaret Long, "The Woman of Death Valley," MS, 1929, Manuscripts II, in Margaret
Long Collection, #281, Western History Collection, University of Colorado Library, Boulder,
p. 82.
165. Panamint Russ (Asa M. Russell), "Life on the Desert," Desert Magazine, 18 (April
1955), pp. 13-14.
166. Ibid., p. 13.
167. Russell, "We Lost a Ledge of Gold!," pp. 14-15.
168. William J. Wallace, "Death Valley Indian Use of Caves and Rockshelters," The
Masterkey, 52 (October-December 1978), p. 130.
169. Ellen Black, "Mineral Report for the Mah Jongg No. 6 Mining Claim in Death Valley
National Monument, California," 17 April 1978, DEVA NM mining office, pp. 1-2.
170. Ruth Kirk, Exploring Death Valley, 2d ed. (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1965),
p. 61.
171. Burnett, "Report on the Golden Star-Apex and Ready Cash-Sunrise Groups of Mining
Claims," p. 10.
172. Wallace, "Use of Caves and Rockshelters," passim.

173. L. Burr Belden, Death Valley Historical Report 2 vols., typescript, (San Francisco:
National Park Service, 1959), p. X-22; Work Projects Administration of Northern California,
Federal Writer's Project, Death Valley: A Guide, American Guide Series (Boston: Houghton
Mifflin, 1939), p. 62.
174. Case File, Clinton Anderson, Mining Claims Listed by Common Claimant Group,
Abstract dated 23 February 1973, pp. 1-2; Ellen Black, "Mineral Report for the Greater View
Springs No. 1 and 'Dipper' Mining Claims and the Greater View Springs Millsite in Death
Valley National Monument, California," 17 April 1978, DEVA NM mining office.
175. The Sun-Telegram (San Bernardino, Ca.), 6 June 1976, p.B-4.
176. Ibid.
177. Daniel Cronkhite, Death Valley's Victims: A Descriptive Chronology, 1849-1977

(Morongo Valley, Ca.: Sagebrush Press, 1977), p. 28.
178. Sun-Telegram, p. B-4; Belden, Historical Report, p. X-23.
179. Russell, "We Lost a Ledge of Gold!," p. 14.
180. Case File, Clinton Anderson, Mining Claims Listed by Common Claimant Group, 23
February 1973, DEVA NM mining office, p. 2.
181. Page, "Unwritten History," in Inyo Register, 2 August 1906.
182. "Location Certificate of [Ten Spot] Mill Site, Claimant Asa M. Russell, South Park
Mining District, Inyo County, State of California," Land, Water and Mining Claims, Book C,
p. 411.
183. Notice of Location, Quartz (Lode, Gold & Silver), Vol. 42, p. 51; Notice of Location,
Quartz, Vol. 44, p. 201. In 1978 the Lucky Strike Claim, running northwest and southeast,
was owned by Steve Penner and Fred, Mike, and Tom Kuretich. Ellen Black, "Mineral
Report for the Lucky Strike Claim and Ten Spot Millsite in Death Valley National
Monument, California," 8 March 1978, DEVA NM mining office.
184. Notice of Location, Nipper Quartz Mining Claim, Vol. 44, p. 199; Notice of Location,
Nipper No. 1 Quartz Mining Claim, Vol. 44, p. 200; Notice of Location, Ready Cash Lode
Mining Claim, Vol. 58, p. 128, and Vol. 116, p. 761; Notice of Location, Big Blue Quartz
Mining Claim, Vol. 44, p. 202, and Vol. 116, p. 762; Notice of Location, Ten Spot Lode
Mining Claim, Vol. 53, p. 485.
185. Black, "Mineral Report for the Lucky Strike Claim and Ten Spot Millsite," p. 4.
186. Ibid., pp. 3, 5.
187. Memo, Park Ranger Warren H. Hill to Chief Ranger and District Ranger, DEVA NM, 8
February 1962.
188. Water Right, Willow Spring, Panamint Mining Register (1897), filed 1 September 1874,
Book B, p. 99.
189. Inyo Register, 14 April 1898; Thompson, USGS Water-Supply Paper 578, p. 190.
191. Deed to Mining Claim, Quitclaim, between Wallace Todd and James H. Barker,

recorded 16 May 1961, Official Records, Inyo Co., Vol. 146, p. 39.
192. Ralph E. Pray, President, Keystone Canyon Mining Co., Inc., to James B. Thompson,
Supt., DEVA NM, 7 December 1974; Robert T. Mitcham, Chief, Mining Division, DEVA
NM, to Linda W. Greene, Historian, TWE, DSC, 29 November 1978; Mill Site Location,
recorded 25 October 1973, Mining Locations, Inyo Co., Vol. 115, p. 372.
193. Ralph E. Pray to James B. Thompson, 30 March 1975.
194. Special Use Permit No. 14-10-4:143-377, issued 13 May 1975.
195. USDI, NPS, Case Incident Record, Filed by Robert Mitcham, 16 June 1975, DEVA NM
mining office.
196. Ralph E. Pray to Donald M. Spalding, Supt., DEVA NM, 29 November 1976.
197. Calif. St. Mng. Bur., Journal of Mines and Geology 34 (January 1938):495; Lauren A.
Wright, Talc Deposits of the Southern Death Valley-Kingston Range Region, California
Special Report 95 (San Francisco: Calif. Div. of Mines and Geology, 1968), pp. 34-35,
hereafter cited as Special Report 95.
198. Kirk, Exploring Death Valley, p. 69.
199. Gudde, California Place Names, p. 366; Hank Johnston, Death Valley Scotty: "The
Fastest Con in the West (Corona del Mar, Ca.: Trans-Anglo Books, 197T p. 59. Whatever the
genesis of the name, in 1915 the U.S. Geological Survey opted for the name "Wingate Pass."
200. Harold O. Weight, Twenty Mule Team Days in Death Valley (Twentynine Palms, Ca.:
The Calico Press, 1955), p. 7.
201. John R. Spears, Illustrated Sketches of Death Valley and Other Borax Deserts of the
Pacific Coast (Chicago: Rand, McNally, 1892), p. 106.
202. Ibid.
203. Gudde, California Place Names, p. 366.
204. Spears, Illustrated Sketches, p. 87.
205. Inyo Independent, 27 November 1936.
207. Bullfrog Miner, 26 October 1907.
208. Inyo Independent, 10 January 1908.
209. Bullfrog Miner, 11 April 1908.
210. Ibid., 16 May 1908.
211. Rhyolite Herald, 17 June 1908.
212. Bullfrog Miner, 20 June 1908; Rhyolite Herald, 24 June 1908.
213. Rhyolite Herald, 30 September 1908; Inyo Independent, 25 February 1910; Rhyolite

Herald, 19 March 1910.
214. Rhyolite Herald, 11 February 1911.
215. Thompson, USGS Water-Supply Paper 578, p. 591; David F. Myrick, Railroads of
Nevada and Eastern California, 2 vols. (Berkeley: Howell-North Books, 1963), pp. 808-9;
Inyo Independent, 29 December 1923. Thompson gives the impression that the monorail
system had been constructed by 1918, but this is about five years too early.
216. N.M. Thompson, "Historic Photos of the High-Riding 'Magnesium Flyer,'" Desert
Magazine, 26 (January 1963), p. 13. Myrick, Railroads of Nevada and Eastern California, p.
810.
217. Myrick, Railroads of Nevada and Eastern California, p. 810.
218. Harry P. Gower, 50 Years in Death Valley--Memoirs of a Borax Man, Publication No. 9
of the Death Valley '49ers (San Bernardino, Ca.: Inland Printing & Engraving Co., 1969), p.
19.
219. Inyo Independent, 29 December 1923; Charles Hardy, "Monorail Transportation for
Magnesium Ore in California," Engineering and Mining Journal-Press, 21 July 1923, p. 100;
Thompson, "Historic Photos," pp. 13-14; Myrick, Railroads of Nevada and Eastern
California, p. 811; Lee, Death Valley Men, p. 220.
221. Hardy, "Monorail Transportation," p. 100.
222. Ibid.
223. Inyo Independent, 24 March 1923; 19 July 1924.
224. Chalfant, Death Valley: The Facts, p. 112; Lee, Death Valley Men, p. 220.
225. Thompson, "Historic Photos," p. 14; Chalfant, Death Valley: The Facts, p. 112; Gower,
50 Years in Death Valley, p. 19; Myrick, Railroads of Nevada and Eastern California, pp.
811, 814.
226. Lee, Death Valley Men, p. 220; New York Sun, 3 February 1941.
227. Memo, Director, Geological Survey, to Assistant Chief of Lands, NPS; 27 April 1961,
on "Occurrence of minerals of possible potential commercial importance in certain National
parks and monuments," p. 3, DEVA NM mining office. Ward C. Smith, Mineral Resources
In and Near Death Valley National Monument (n.p., n.d. p. 26, DEVA NM mining office.
229. Ibid.; Commodity Sheet, Manganite Group, DEVA NM mining office.
230. Calif. St. Mng. Bur., Journal of Mines and Geology, 47 (January 1951):84. Data was
also found linking Roy C. Troeger with the Wingate-National Group of mining claims in
Wingate Wash about 71 miles west of the valley floor around 1942. Roy C. Troeger to
Parties occupying Campsite on Wingate-National Group of Mining Claims, 16 February
1942, DEVA NM mining office.

232. Memo, District Ranger, Emigrant, to Chief Ranger, DEVA NM, 25 March 1960.
234. Ibid.; L.S. Zentner, "Mineral Report for the DV Group of Lode Mining Claims in Death
Valley National Monument, California," 27 March 1978, DEVA NM mining office, pp. 2-3.
235. Los Angeles Evening News, 19 March 1906, quoted in Johnston, Death Valley Scotty, p.
68.
236. Los Angeles Evening News, no date, quoted in Johnston, Death Valley Scotty, p. 70.
239. Eleanor Jordan Houston, Death Valley Scotty Told Me (Louisville: The Franklin Press,
1954), pp. 72-73.
240. Johnston, Death Valley Scotty, pp. 76-77; L. Burr Belden, "The Battle of Wingate Pass,"
Westways (November 1956), p. 8.
241. Rhyolite Herald, 10 June, 30 September 1908.
242. Inyo Register, 20 June 1912.
243. Lee, Death Valley Men, p. 220.
244. Zentner, "Mineral Report for the DV Group of Lode Mining Claims," p. 1.
245. Rhyolite Herald, 19 March 1910.
246. Information on the twenty-mule teams has been taken from: Chap. II. The Twenty-Mule
Teams, in U.S. Borax and Chemical Co., "100 Years of U.S. Borax," (1872-1972), published
in Pioneer (1972), pp. 32, 40-41, 43-44; Gower, 50 Years in Death Valley, p. 12; Harry
Barber, "The Rise and Fall of a man named Smith," Desert Magazine, (November 1964), p.
11; Death Valley Natural History Association, The Borax Story: A Self-Guiding Tour of the
Harmony Borax Works (San Bernardino, Ca.: Inland Printing & Engraving Co., n.d.), n.p.
247. Wright, Special Report 95, p. 62.
248. Ibid.; Field survey conducted by writer in April 1978.
249. Evans et al., Special Report 125, p. 35; Smith, Mineral Resources, p. 4; Calif. St. Mng.
Bur., Journal of Mines and Geology, 47 (January 1951):115.
250. Calif. St. Mng. Bur., Journal of Mines and Geology, 47, January 1951):114; Lauren A.
Wright, Geology of the Superior Talc Area, Death Valley, California Special Report 20 (San
Francisco: Calif. Div. of Mines and Geology, 1952), p. 3, hereafter cited as Special Report
20.
251. Wright, Special Report 95, p. 48; Calif. St. Mng. Bur., Journal of Mines and Geology,
34 (October 1938):494; National Park Service, United States Department of the Interior,
"Environmental Review and Analysis, Big Talc Mine, Plan of Operations, Desert Minerals,
Inc., Death Valley National Monument," 2 February 1978, p. 2; Map I accompanying Memo,

Archeologist, Division of Internal Archeological Studies, to Chief, Division of Internal

Archeological Studies, concerning archeological clearance, Big Talc Plan of Operations, 9
January 1978; National Park Service, United States Department of the Interior,
"Environmental Review and Analysis, Big Talc Mine, Plan of Operations, Continental
Minerals Corporation, Death Valley National Monument," 6 June 1978, pp. III, 2; National
Park Service, United States Department of the Interior, "Environmental Review and Analysis,
Supplementation of Big Talc Mine Plan of Operations, Continental Minerals Corporation,
Death Valley National Monument," 22 December 1978, p. 3; National Park Service, United
States Department of the Interior, "Environmental Review and Analysis, Warm Springs Talc
Mine, Plan of Operations, Continental Minerals Corporation, Death Valley National
Monument," 12 September 1978, pp. 1-3.
252. John J. Kennedy, Pres., Kennedy Minerals Co., Inc., to O.A. Tomlinson, Reg. Dir.,
WRO, 2 March 1945.
253. Otis Booth, Vice-President, Sierra Talc Co., to C.C. Morris, U.S. Public Roads
Administration, 14 March 1945.
254. Doris Bray, "Talc Miners in Death Valley Ask Change in Truck Route," San Bernardino
(Ca.) Sun, 20 June 1968.
255. N PS, USDI, "Environmental Review and Analysis, Warm Springs Talc Mine," p. 3;
Donald F. Anderson, "Summary of John Mansville Operation, L. Grantham Talc Mines,
Death Valley," 17 April 1978, p. 59; NPS, USDI, "Environmental Review and Analysis, Big
Talc Mine," 2 February 1978, p. iii.
256. NPS, USDI, "Environmental Review and Analysis, Big Talc Mine," p. 4; Clarence
Wendel, Special Report on Talc Resources: A Supply and Marketing Study (San Francisco:
Mining and Minerals Division, August 1978), p. 36; NIPS, USDI, "Environmental Review
and Analysis, Supplementation of Big Talc Mine Plan of Operations,' pp. iii, 12; NPS, USDI,
"Environmental Review and Analysis, Warm Springs Talc Mine," pp. 3-4.
257. NPS, USDI, "Environmental Review and Analysis, Big Talc Mine," pp. iii, 2; Wright,
Special Report 95, p. 48.
258. Evans et al., Special Report 125, p. 38; Wright, Special Report 95, pp. 51-52; NPS,
USDI, "Environmental Review and Analysis, Big Talc Mine," pp. iii, 6.
259. Keith G. Papke, Guidebook: Las Vegas to Death Valley and Return, Nevada Bureau of
Mines and Geology Report 26 (Reno: University of Nevada, 1975), pp. 37, 39; Evans et al.,
Special Report 125, pp. 38, 43; Wright, Special Report 95, p. 52; NPS, USDI,
"Environmental Review and Analysis, Warm Springs Talc Mine," pp. iii, 4, 8.
260. Evans et al., Special Report 125, p. 41; NPS, USDI, "Environmental Review and
Analysis, Big Talc Mine," pp. iii, 4, 6-7, 10.
261. "Big Talc Mine Surface Plant and Area," Figure 6 in NPS, USDI, "Environmental
Review and Analysis, Big Talc Mine," 2 February 1978.
262. Information in this section results from field surveys made by the writer during January,
April, and May 1938.
263. NPS, USDI, "Environmental Review and Analysis, Supplementation of Big Talc Mine
Plan of Operations," p. 2; NPS, USDI, "Environmental Review and Analysis, Warm Springs
Talc. Mine," p. 2.

265. Notice of Appropriation of Water, in Land, Water and Mining Claims, Book D, Inyo
County.
266. Memo, Superintendent, Death Valley National Monument, to Regional Director, Region
Four, concerning Proposed Acquisition of Bob Thompson Indian Allotment, Warm Springs
Area, 7 January 1955, DEVA NM mining office, p. 1.
267. Ibid. If this means the mill was to be located across the driveway that enters the
allotment area off the Warm Spring Canyon road and that separates the residential and office
area from the garage and storage buildings, then this would seem to refer to the mill ruins
existing there now and would give the structure a construction date of about 1955. The date
1939, however, is scratched into one of the cement foundations on the site.
268. Figures 7 and 8 in "Environmental Review and Analysis, Big, Talc Mine," 2 February
1978.
269. Ibid., p. 7.
270. Ibid., pp. 8, 14.
271. Ibid., p. 21.
273. Land, Water and Mining Claims, Inyo Co., Book 50, pp. 471-73, Book 52, pp. 360-62,
Book 55, p. 405; USDI, General Land Office, Mineral Survey No. 6301 A and B, Field Notes
of the Survey of the Mining Claim of General Chemical Company, April 26 to May 7, 1943.
274. Inyo County Tax Assessor's Office, Independence, Ca., DEVA NM mining office.
275. A frame compressor house, measuring eighteen by eighteen feet in size, is listed as an
"improvement" on the property when it was patented in 1946. Also mentioned was a well or
the Pink Elephant Millsite Claim just north of the Warm Spring Canyon road. Mineral Survey
No. 6301 A and B, p. 13; "Red" Johnson, foreman of the Cyprus Panamint Mine, in a brief
discussion held with the writer on the Warm Spring Canyon road on 11 May 1978, stated that
compressor machinery was moved from the Gold Hill Mill Site complex for use at the Pink
Elephant Mine.
276. G. R. Radcliffe, "Mineral Appraisal of Tract 45-106, Pink Elephant Patented Claims in
Death Valley National Monument, Inyo County, California," p. 3, performed for the USDI, 5
July 1978, mimeograph copy in DEVA NM mining office.
277. Ibid., p. 5.
278. Calif. St. Mng. Bur., Journal of Mines and Geology, 34 (October 1938):482.
279. Ibid., pp. 483-84.
280. Wright, Special Report 95, p. 60; NPS, USDI, "Environmental Review and Analysis,
Panamint Mine, Application for Enlargement and Plan of Operations, Cyprus Industrial
Minerals Co., Death Valley National Monument," 14 April 1978, pp. iii, 1-4.
281. Evans et al., Special Report 125, p. 43; NPS, USDI, "Environmental Review and

Analysis, Panamint Mine," pp. iii, 3.
282. Wright, Special Report 95, p. 60.
283. NPS, USDI, "Environmental Review and Analysis, Panamint Mine," p. 3; A road
leading west from this stockpile heads up into the hills to an abandoned talc operation
referred to by the mine superintendent as the "Sunset Mine" (although he may have meant
"Sunrise"). This is located directly west about one mile from the pit workings. Remains here
consist of an adit opening and a long one-chute ore bin leading from the adit level, several
yards southeast of the entrance, down to a loading area on the road below.
284. Inyo Register, 26 February 1914; Pray was found dead at a road construction camp
between Zabriskie and Carbonite in June 1913. It was never determined whether he
committed suicide or was murdered. He had been working the mine alone up until that time.
Ibid., 12 June 1913; Palmer, Place Names, p. 15.
285. Salsberry had worked as a miner in Nevada in the late 1890s after acquiring some
education in the mining field at the Van Dernalian School of Mines in San Francisco. He was
in Tonopah by 1901, subsequently establishing a brokerage office there. He became a
prominent lumber man (Tonopah Lumber Co.), assisted in formation of the Fraction Mining
Co., and was involved in one way or another in several of the big mines in southern Nevada.
Around 1905, living in the new camp of Manhattan, he located more properties and built a
large stamp mill. He was also involved in railroads, the telephone system, and public utilities
in southern Nevada. Alfred H. Dutton, Notable Nevadans in Caricature (Reno, 1915), n.p.
His vigorous development of several copper properties in the Ubehebe District of Death
Valley will be discussed later in this report.
286. Inyo Register, 4 September 1913.
287. Ibid., 16 October, 6 November 1913.
289. Ibid.; Mining World, 7 March 1914, p. 473.
290. Inyo Register, 26 February 1914.
291. Mining World, 13 March 1915, p. 521.
293. Ibid., 26 August 1915.
294. Calif. St. Mng. Bur., Fifteenth Annual Report of the State Mineralogist for the year
Ending December 1917 (Sacramento: Calif. St. Prtg. Off., 1917):89-90.
295. Paul K. Morton, Geology of the Queen of Sheba Lead Mine, Death Valley, California
Special Report 88 (San Francisco: Calif. Div. of Mines and Geology, 1965), p. 7, hereafter
cited as Special Report 88.
296. Calif. St. Mng. Bur., Report 17 of the State Mineralogist: Mining in California During
1920 (Sacramento: Calif. St. Prtg. Off. 1921); David G. Thompson, Routes to desert watering
places in the Mohave Desert region, California, USGS Water-Supply Paper 490-B
(Washington, D.C.: GPO, 1921), pp. 197-99; Inyo Independent, 24 March 1923.

297. Deeds Filed, in Inyo Independent, 9 June 1923. The location given for the July 1-3
claims places them in the Carbonate Mine area. No "Salsbury Wells" exists in the monument
today. This possibly refers to what is now known as Salt Well, which is four miles east of the
Carbonate Mine area; An A. I. (often written A. L.) D'Arcy was president of the Victory
Divide Mining Company (home office, Reno) which later entered into a leasing arrangement
with the New Sutherland company. D'Arcy was evidently also president of the Goldfield
Deep Mines Company. Mining Journal 15 May 1926, p. 17; The R. H. Downer mentioned
was undoubtedly Roger H. Downer, later consulting engineer for the Victory Divide Mining
Company; The New Sutherland Divide Mining Company was incorporated in December
1919 with a capital stock of one thousand dollars (later increased to $150,000 and then to
$300,000). A. I. D'Arcy was appointed president, and the principal place of business was
Goldfield. John Salsberry, who maintained an office in the Mills Building in San Francisco,
was designated the duly authorized resident agent of the company in California. Articles of
Incorporation of New Sutherland Divide Mining Company, filed 13 December 1919, with the
State of Nevada Department of State, recorded in Record of Corporations, Office of the
Secretary of State., State Capitol Bldg., Carson City, Nevada, Vol. 36, p. 560; Designation of
John Salsberry as Resident Agent in the State of California for New Sutherland Divide
Mining Company, a Nevada Corporation, 13 May 1924, and Certificates of Amendment of
Articles of Incorporation of New Sutherland Divide Mining Company, January 1931 and
August 1947, on file, Office of the Secretary of State of the State of California, Sacramento.
298. Deeds Filed, in Inyo Independent, 3 November 1923. These claims were located 1,500
feet southwest of the future Queen of Sheba tunnels.
299. Engineering and Mining Journal-Press, 1 December 1923, p. 959.
300. Calif. St. Mng. Bur., Report Twenty of the State Mineralogist Concerning Mining in
California and the Activities of the State Mining Bureau (Sacramento: Calif. St. Prtg. Off.,
1924), p. ? As it turned out, however, the Queen of Sheba deposit was the less productive of
the two lodes. Morton, Special Report 88, p. 14.
302. Mining Journal, 15 August 1925, p. 34; Inyo Independent, 4 December 1926; Morton,
304. Ibid., 20, 27 March 1926; Mining Journal, 15 April 1926.
306. Ibid., 1 May 1926.
307. Ibid., 15 May 1926; Mining Journal, 15 May 1926, p. 17.
309. Mining Journal, 30 June 1926, p. 35.
310. Calif. St. Mng. Bur., Report 22 of the State Mineralogist covering Mining in California
and the Activities of the State Mining Bureau (Sacramento: Calif. St. Prtg. Off., 1927, p. 480.
311. Inyo Independent, 4 December 1926; Mining Journal, 15 December 1926, p. 37.

312. Morton, Special Report 88, p. 7.
314. T. B. Nolan, "Nonferrous-metal deposits," in D. F. Hewett et al., "Mineral resources of

the region around Boulder Dam," USGS Bulletin 871 (Washington: GPO, 1936), p. 36.
315. Inyo Independent, 20 May 1938; Calif. St. Mng. Bur., Journal of Mines and Geology, 34
(October 1938):430-31.
316. T. R. Goodwin, Supt., DEVA NM, to D. C. Wray, 20 November 1942.
318. 15 June 1945, p. 26.
320. Ibid.; Morton, Special Report 88, p. 7.
321. Morton, Special Report 88, p. 7.
322. Ibid., p. 8.
323. Alvin H. Lense, "Mineral Report for the Roy, Roy #1 through Roy #14 Lode Mining
Claims and the Roy Millsite Claim in Death Valley National Monument, California," 16
April 1976, pp. 3, 19, 21, DEVA NM mining office.
324. Field survey conducted by Linda W. Greene, Historian, TWE, DSC, 1 April 1978.
325. Smith, Mineral Resources, p. 20; Morton, Special Report 88, p. 7; Ellen Black, "Mineral
Report for the Ubehebe Lead Mine, Copper Bell Claim Group, in Death Valley National
Monument, California," May 1978, p. 2.
326. Wright, Special Report 95, pp. 36-37.
327. NPS, USDI, "Environmental Review and Analysis, Bonnie Mine, Plan of Operations,
Pfizer Inc., Death Valley National Monument," 15 August 1977, p. 1.
328. Evans et al., Special Report 125, pp. 43, 46.
329. NPS, USDI, "Environmental Review and Analysis, Bonnie Mine," pp. 2, 4.
330. Alice Hunt, Archeology of the Death Valley Salt Pan, California, University of Utah
Department of Anthropology, Anthropological Papers, no. 47 (Salt Lake City: University of
Utah Press, 1960), pp. 65, 73.
331. NPS, USDI, "Environmental Review and Analysis, Mongolian Mine, Plan of
Operations, Pfizer Inc., Death Valley National Monument," 10 March 1978, p. 1.
332. Ibid., p. 3; Evans et al., Special Report 125, p. 45.
333. NPS, USDI, "Environmental Review and Analysis, Mongolian Mine," p. iii.
334. NPS, USDI, "Environmental Review and Analysis, Mammoth Mine, Plan of Operations,
Pfizer Inc., Death Valley National Monument," 17 May 1978, pp. iii, 1, 3-4, 6-8; Evans et al.,

335. Articles of Incorporation of American-Italian Talc Company, filed 6 February 1928, in

the Office of the Secretary of State of the State of California, Book 567, p. 290, California
State Archives, Sacramento; The capital stock of the company was later reduced from 5
million dollars divided into S million shares to $250,000 divided into 25,000 shares with a par
value of $10.00 each. Certificate of Reduction of Capital Stock of American-Italian Talc
Company, 17 May 1929, California State Archives, Sacramento; Two of the talc claims
acquired by the company were the Lilly White and Lilly White No. 1, "situated about 10
miles in a westerly direction from Zabriskie." Inyo Independent, 21 May 1927.
336. Mining Journal, 15 October 1929, p. 35; Wright, Special Report 95, p. 42.
337. Certificate of Amendments of Articles of Incorporation of American-Italian Talc

Company, 10 July 1933, California State Archives, Sacramento.
338. W. M. Umbdenstock, vice-president, Death Valley Talc Company, to Col. John R.

White, Supt. National Parks, Sequoia National Park, Calif., 7 November 1933; To
compensate for the fact that less remote deposits could easily provide the commercial talc
quantities needed in the state, operators at the Death Valley Mine sought to provide a higher-
quality cosmetic product. Wright, Special Report 95, p. 42.
340. Wright, Special Report 95, pp. 40, 42.
342. Wright, Special Report 95, p. 42; Supt., DEVA NM, to Dir., WRO, 1 April 1971.
343. Field survey conducted by Linda W. Greene, Historian, TWE, DSC, 1 April 1978.
344. Julian H. Steward, Basin-Plateau Aboriginal Sociopolitical Groups Smithsonian

Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 120 (Washington, D.C.: GPO, 1938), pp.
92-93; William J. Wallace and Edith S. Taylor, "The Surface Archeology of Butte Valley,
Death Valley National Monument," in Contributions to California Archaeology (Los
Angeles: Archeological Research Assoc., 1956), p. 2.
345. "East of the Range," in Inyo Independent, 17 May 1873.
346. Lt. Birnie's Report, App. JJ (1876), Wheeler Survey, Report of the Chief of Engineers,
p. 352.
347. Frederick Vernon Coville, "The Panamint Indians of California," American

Anthropologist, 5 (October 1892):352.
348. Hunt, Archeology of the Death Valley Salt Pan, p. 15; E.W.Nelson, "The Panamint and
Saline Valley Indians," American Anthropologist, 4 (October 1891):372.
349. "Progressive Indians," in Inyo Register, 14 May 1896.
350. Ibid.
351. "News from the Southern Mines," in Inyo Independent, 13 August 1897. The
designation of Panamint Tom as "notorious" is probably a reflection of the rumor that he had
recently killed two miners in Pleasant Canyon. See ibid. He also held the reputation in the

late 1800s of being a horse thief. Gebhardt, Inside Death Valley, p. 5.
352. "News from the Southern Mines," in Inyo Independent, 13 August 1897.
353. Hubbard et al., Ballarat 1897-1917, p. 91.
354. "Trip to Panamints," in The Rhyolite Herald, 12 March 1910.
355. Homer B. Jenkins, Chief, Branch of Tribal Programs, Bureau of Indian Affairs, to Fred
W. Binnewies, Supt., DEVA NM, 18 February 1960; Dept. of the Interior, Office of Indian
Affairs, Application for enrollment with the Indians of the State of California under the Act
of May 18, 1928 (45 Stat. L. 602), Application Number 8870 by Mabel Hungry Bill; Ibid.,
Application Number 8904 by Susie Wilson.
356. Jenkins to Binnewies, 18 February 1960; Census of the Paiute, Shoshone, Monache &
Washoe Indians of Bishop Agency, 30 June 1927, taken by Ray R. Parrett, Supt.; Dept. of the
Interior, Office of Indian Affairs, Application for enrollment with the Indians of the State of
California under the Act of May 18, 1928 (45 Stat. L. 602), Application Number 8869 by
Tim Billson.
357. Jenkins to Binnewies, 18 February 1960; Susie Wilson, Application Number 8904 for
enrollment with the Indians of the State of California; 1927 Census of the Indians of Bishop
Agency.
358. Jenkins to Binnewies, 18 February 1960; Mabel Hungry Bill, Application Number 8870
for enrollment with the Indians of the State of California; 1927 Census of the Indians of
Bishop Agency.
359. Steward, Basin-Plateau Aboriginal Sociopolitical Groups, p. 93.
360. T. R. Goodwin, "Park Ranger Believes Early White History Lies Behind Sealed Lips of
Red Man Of The Desert," Inyo Independent, 29 October 1937; George Pipkin, "T. R.
Goodwin-Indians--Emigrants," Trona (Ca.) Argonaut, 23 July 1975; Dept. of the Interior,
Office of Indian Affairs, Application for enrollment with the Indians of the State of
California under the Act of May 18, 1928 (45 Stat. L. 602), Application Number 8903 by
Tom Wilson.
361. "Progressive Indians," in Inyo Register, 14 May 1896.
362. "News from the Southern Mines," in Inyo Independent, 13 August 1897.
363. "Rich Mine," in Inyo Independent, 15 June 1889; "News from the Southern Mines," in
ibid., 13 August 1897.
364. The (Las Vegas) Nevadan, 1 June 1969; Caruthers, Loafing Along Death Valley Trails,
p. 168.
365. Notice of Location, Nellie Mine, Panamint Mining Register (1897), Book D, p. 204.
366. Bullfrog Miner, 15 June, 6 July 1907.
367. Ibid., 15, 22 June, 13 July 1907.
368. Ibid., 22 June 1907.
369. Ibid.

370. Ibid.; Bullfrog Miner, 13, 20 July 1907.
371. Ibid., 6 July 1907.
372. Ibid., 20 July 1907.
373. Ibid., 22 June, 6 July 1907.
374. Ibid., 6 July 1907.
375. Ibid., 13 July 1907.
376. Ibid.
377. Ibid., 20 July 1907.
378. Ibid., 27 July 1907.
379. Ibid., 3 August 1907; Inyo Independent, 9 August 1907.
380. Bullfrog Miner, 21 September 1907; Articles of Incorporation were found for the Death
Valley Mines Company, whose principal place of business was to be in Los Angeles, and
whose three directors included Clarence and Juanita M., Eddy. The corporation was formed
to work the Death Valley Queen Nos. 1 and 2 and the Koriahnoor, all located in the
Carbonate Mining District. The company was organized in March 1912 and filed with the
California Secretary of State on 26 March 1920. Recorded in Book 372, p. 62, Office of the
Secretary of State of the State of California, Sacramento.
381. Inyo Independent, 29 November 1907. For more information on the attempts by Eddy
and others to placer mine the Death Valley sink, see the section on Amargosa Gold Placers in
Volume II. The ensuing fortunes of Eddy were not investigated by this writer, but they seem
to be clearly inferred by a comment in the Herald three years later which mentioned the
attempts at placer mining made by "James Edmonds of Iowa and the poet prospector,
Clarence E. Eddy,--(has anybody here seen or heard of Bro. Eddy of late?). . ." The Rhyolite
382. Jenkins to Binnewies, 18 February 1960.
383. Gudde, California Place Names, p. 148.
384. Fred W. Binnewies, Supt., DEVA NM, to L. Burr Belden, 1 October 1959.
385. The LCS survey crew. suggested that this might be an ore roasting furnace complex, but
no signs of charcoal or burning were found.
386. Field surveys by members of Western Regional Office, 1975, and by Linda W. Greene,
17 September 1978.
388. "Progressive Indians," in Inyo Register, 14 May 1896; "Trip to Panamints," in The
Rhyolite Herald, 12 March 1910.
389. William J. Wallace, Death Valley National Monument's Prehistoric Past: An

Archeological Overview (NPS, 1977), p. 156; Hunt, Archeology of the Death Valley Salt

Pan, pp. 174, 176.
390. Hunt, Archeology of the Death Valley Salt Pan, pp. 282, 127.
391. Mining & Scientific Press, 21 September 1889, p. 224.
392. "Panamint Country," in Inyo Independent, 16 February 1900.
393. "New Discoveries in Panamint," Inyo Register, 10 August 1905.
394. "Another Rival to Greenwater," in Inyo Independent, 8 March 1907.
395. "Kennedy's Rich Silver," in Inyo Independent, 6 September 1907.
396. "Water Applications," in Inyo independent, 26 March 1921.
397. "Deeds Filed," in Inyo Independent, 25 March, 1 April 1922.
398. Belden, Historical Report, pp. X-23 to 24; L. Burr Belden, Mines of Death Valley
(Glendale, ca.: La Siesta Press, 1966), pp. 54-55; Memo, Park Naturalist, DEVA NM, to
Supt., DEVA NM, concerning interpretive signs, 16 May 1952.
399. List of claimants and property (no date), DEVA NM mining office.
402. Belden, Mines of Death Valley, p. 54.
403. Hunt, Archeology of the Death Valley Salt Pan, p. 147.
404. Articles of Incorporation, Death Valley Wonder Mining & Milling Company, filed in
office of Territorial Auditor, Territory of Arizona, 5 March 1906, filed in Office of the
Secretary of State, State of California, 24 March 1906, in California State Archives,
Sacramento, Record Book 185, p. 301; Beatty Bullfrog Miner, 31 March 1906.
405. Rhyolite Herald, 12 October 1906; Ibid., 4 January, 22 March, 19 April 1907.
406. Ibid., 12 October 1906, 19 April 1907.
407. Rhyolite Herald, 19 April 1907; Mining World, 27 April 1907, p. 542; Inyo
Independent, 17 May 1907.
409. Articles of. Incorporation of the Trail Canyon Mining Company, filed in the Office of
the Secretary of State, State of South Dakota, on 21 November 1906, on file in Office of
Secretary of State, Pierre, South 'Dakota; Foreign Incorporations, 1903-1906, in Nevada
Secretary of State Report, 1905-1906, p. 116.
410. Rhyolite Herald, 19 April 1907.
411. Loren Briggs Chan, Sagebrush Statesman: Tasker L. Oddie of Nevada (Reno: University
of Nevada Press, 1973), pp. 28, 33-34. The other on-paper-only companies that Oddie ran
were the Greenwater Arcturus Copper Co., the Monitor Mining Co., the Silver Peak Blue Jay

Mining Co., and the Paradise Mining Co.
412. G. W. Nielsan and Fred Boyd, "A Study of the Mineral Potential of Death Valley
National Monument," Bureau of Land Management, USDI, 10 January 1964, p. 30; Calif. St.
Mng. Bur., Journal of Mines and Geology, 47 (January 1951):29, 36; Inyo Independent, 9
February 1940; R. L. Jordan to T. Raymond Goodwin, Supt., DEVA NM, 16 September
1948.
413. "New Uses Spur Tungsten Industry," Inyo Independent, 29 October 1937.
414. Smith, Mineral Resources, p. 27.
416. Memo on miscellaneous mining activity in the Furnace Creek District, no date, DEVA
NM mining office; Memo, Supt., DEVA NM, to Director, NPS, on Mining Claim Locations,
6 April 1960, DEVA NM mining office; Memo, Robert Mitcham (Death Valley mining
engineer), Presenting Historical Information on Del Norte and Skidoo, Mines, DEVA NM
mining office, 12 June 1975.
417. Thomas Hunt and James Cloninger, presumably to Supt., DEVA NM, 17 July 1971,
418. Kirk, Exploring Death Valley,, p. 68; Notes of Matt Ryan on Trail Canyon mines,
3/30/60, DEVA NM mining office; Smith, Mineral Resources, p. 23; Hunt, Archeology of the
Death Valley Salt Pan, p. 77.
<<< Contents >>>
deva/hrs/notes3a.htm

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION III: Cultural Resources Satisfaction Survey

Endnotes
1. Inyo Independent, 1 December 1916.
2. Ibid., 10 July 1920.

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3. Ibid., 24 March 1923.
us know what we're doing well and where we need
to do better. All results are strictly confidential.
4. Ibid., 28 March 1925; Hubbard et al., Ballarat 1897-1917 p. 89; Palmer, Place Names, p.
73.
6. James A. Hopper, "Appraisal of Thorndike Property, Death Valley Monument, Inyo

County, California," 20 August 1954, DEVA NM mining office.
8. William J. Wallace and Edith S. Taylor, "Archaeology of Wild Rose Canyon, Death
Valley," American Antiquity, 20 (April 1955): 356. A spot east of Thorndike's where a
semicircular windscreen was found is reported to have been a summer camp of Tom Wilson,
a Death Valley Shoshone. Ibid., p. 359.
10. Mining & Scientific Press, 18 March 1876, p. 181.
11. Report of the Director of the Mint, (1883), p. 53; Notice of Location, Wild Rose Spring,
Rose Spring Mining District, located 31 July 1882, recorded 8 August 1882.
12. Location Notice, Inyo Silver Mine, Rose Spring Mining District, filed for record 2
January 1882 [1883], in Land, Water and Mining Claims, Inyo Co., Book D, p. 154; Notice
of Location, Blizzard Mine, Wild Rose Mining District, recorded 24 March 1883, located by
Medbury and Hunter, in Land, Water and Mining Claims, Inyo Co., Book D, p. 315; Notice
of Location, Valley View Mine, Wild Rose Mining District, recorded 24 March 1883, located
by Medbury and, Hunter, in Land, Water and Mining Claims, Inyo Co., Book D, p. 314. A
Valley View group of six claims adjoined the Skidoo and Cocopah mines in 1907, located
and owned by A.C. Goacher and W. H. Siebert. Bullfrog Miner, 1 March 1907. Notice of
Location, Argonaut Mine, Wild Rose Mining District, recorded 24 March 1883, located by J.
Medbury and W.L. Hunter, in Land, Water and Mining Claims, Inyo Co., Book D, p. 312.
Work was still being performed on the Argonaut property in 1906 by a W. L. Skinner. Index
to Proof of Labor Books, Inyo Co., Book G, p. 190; Notice of Location, Jeanetta Mine, Wild
Rose Mining District, recorded 24 March 1883, located by J. Medburry [sic] and W.L.
Hunter, in Land, Water and Mining Claims, Inyo Co., Book D, p. 311.
13. Inyo Independent, 2 August 1884. The district is often referred to as White Rose" in this
article, while other newspaper accounts frequently allude to "White Rose Spring"; Inyo
Independent, 26 July 1884.
14. Report of the Director of the Mint (1885), p. 103.
15. Minutes of Formation of Wild Rose Mining District, in Land, Water and Mining Claims,
Inyo Co., Book E, p. 433, recorded 10 April 1888 with Inyo County recorder. See Appendix
B for full transcript of minutes.
http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/deva/notes3b.htm[7/26/2008 3:17:51 PM]

16. Rhyolite Herald, 1 September 1905, p. 8.
17. Notice of Location, Weehawken Mine, Wild Rose Mining District, located 24 January
1889 by William Harrigan and Joe Danielson, recorded 31 January 1889, in Land, Water and
Mining Claims, Inyo Co., Book D, no page; Notice of Location, Antimony Mine, Wild Rose
Mining District, located 23 January 1889 by Harrigan & Danielson, recorded 31 January
1889, in Land, Water and Mining Claims, Inyo Co., Book D, no page; Notice of Location,
Consolidation Mine, Wild Rose Mining District, located 2 January 1896 by Charles Anthony,
recorded 7 January 1896, in Land, Water and Mining Claims, Inyo Co., Book I, p. 46.
18. Handbook of Nevada Mines, 1906, published by the Goldfield News, p. 87, Nevada
Historical Society, Reno, Nevada.
19. Ibid., p. 76.
20. Inyo independent, 23 March 1906; Ibid., 16 February, 22 March 1924.
21. Ibid., 11 May 1906. In 1906 a big strike was reported on the Last Hike Claim, formerly
owned by Tom Knight and others, with assays running up to $2,000 a ton. The property was
now owned by A.V. Carpenter. In 1908 the Last Hike Claim was mentioned as being in the
Skidoo area. Rhyolite Herald, 15 June 1906, Bullfrog Miner, 21 March 1908.
22. Rhyolite Herald, 22 June 1906, p. 9; 6 July 1906, p. 7; and 20 July 1906, p. 8.
24. Ibid., 31 August 1906.
25. Rhyolite Herald, 14 September 1906.
28. Ibid., 28 December 1906, 14 August 1908.
29. Notice of Location, Combination-Goldfield and Nevada-Tonopah, Wild Rose Mining

District, in Land, Water and Mining Claims, Inyo Co., Book F, p. 243; Notice of Location,
Wild Rose Annex #1, Wild Rose Mining District, in Land, Water and Mining Claims, Inyo
Co., Book F, p. 152; Notice of Location, Oro Blanco Mine, Wild Rose Mining District, in
Land, Water and Mining Claims, Inyo Co., Book F, p. 44; Notice of Location, Taylor Mining
Claim, Wild Rose Mining District, in Land, Water and Mining Claims, Inyo Co., Book F, p.
152.
31. Inyo Independent, 24 May 1907, 28 February 1908.
32. Inyo Register, 20 August 1914; 19 October 1916.
33. Inyo Independent, 25 June 1909 (1); Ibid., 28 February 1925, 3 April 1926 (2); Ibid., 13
June 1925, 24 October 1925, 1 January 1927 (3); Ibid., 13 June 1925, 24 October 1925, 1
January 1927 (4); Ibid., 12 June 1926 (5); Ibid., 18 September 1926, 19 February 1927 (6);
Calif. St. Mng. Bur., Journal of Mines and Geology, 22 (October 1926): 482 (7); Inyo
Independent, 25 December 1926 (8); Ibid., 7 May 1927 (9); Ibid., 21 May 1927, 28 May
1927, 28 January 1928 (10); Ibid., 21 May 197 (11); Ibid., 21 May 1927, 9 July 1927 (12);
Ibid., 3 September 1927, (13); Calif. St. Mng. Bur., Journal of Mines and Geology, 34
(October 1938): 423 (14).
34. Calif. St. Mng. Bur., Journal of Mines and Geology, 36 (January 1940): 10, 23; Memo,
Superintendent, DEVA NM, to Director, WRO, on Mining Claim Locations, 6 April 1960,
pp. 3, 5; Memo, Matt Ryan to C/R, on Active Mining Claims of the Emigrant District., 1
March 1962.
35. Cronkhite, Death Valley's Victims, pp. 42-43; F. Ross Holland, Jr., Recommendations for

Historic Preservation and Historical Studies Management Plan for Death Valley National
Monument (Denver: DSC, NPS, 1972) pp. 27-28; William Tweed, comp., Cultural Resources
Survey Death Valley National Monument 2 vols. (San Francisco: NPS, Western Regional
Office, Division of Historic Preservation, 1976), 2:316-18; Labbe, Rocky Trails, p. 141;
Robert J. Murphy, Supt., DEVA NM, "Informational Statement, Wildrose Station
Concession," 1 December 1970, history files, DSC.
36. Panamint News, 9 March 1875.
37. W.A. Chalfant, excerpt from "The Story of Inyo," in Inyo Register, 8 January 1914.
38. Ibid.
39. Carl I. Wheat, "Pioneer Visitors to Death Valley After the Forty-Niners," California
Historical Society Quarterly, 18 (1939), p. 7.
40. Index to Land, Water and Mining Claims, Inyo Co., Book D, p. 30.
41. Land, Water and Mining Claims, Inyo Co., Book E, and Index to Land, Water and
Mining Claims, Inyo Co., Book D, p. 33.
42. Inyo Independent, 12 July 1884; Mining & Scientific Press, 5 April 1890, p. 232.
43. Mining & Scientific Press, 2 April 1887, p. 224.
44. Notice of Location, Antimony Mine, in Land, Water and Mining Claims, Inyo Co., Book
D; Notice of Location, Antimony Mine, Panamint Mining Register (1897), Book C, p. 463.
46. Mining & Scientific Press, 11 January 1890, p. 22.
47. Engineering and Mining Journal, 21 November 1891, p. 585; Ibid., 2 January 1892, p. 6.
48. Calif. St. Mng. Bur., Twelfth Report of the State Mineralogist (Sacramento: J.D. Young,
1894), p. 21; Inyo Register, 23 August 1894.
49. Land, Water and Mining Claims, Inyo Co., Book I, pp. 41, 42, 47; Paul H. Knowles,
"Appraisal of Mineral Interests Inherent in the Kennedy-Kuehl Property, Death Valley
National Monument, California," July 1972, DEVA NM mining office.
50. Inyo Independent, 2 March 1900; Ibid., 27 April 1900; Inyo Register, 3 May 1900; Inyo
Independent, 18 May 1900; Engineering and Mining Journal, 2 June 1900, p. 657; Inyo
Register, 2 August 1900.
51. Engineering and Mining Journal, 29 September 1900, p. 377; Inyo Independent, 12 July
1901.
52. Engineering and Mining Journal, 16 November 1901, p. 644.
53. Inyo Independent, 18 April 1902; Ibid., 26 June 1903.
54. Ibid., 13 September 1907; Inyo Register, 16 April 1908; Rhyolite Herald, 8 July 1908;
Bullfrog Miner, 19 December 1908.
55. Pacific Miner, June 1909.
56. Ibid.; Rhyolite Herald, 19 May 1909; Inyo Independent, 21 May 1909; Plat of the Claim
of George Montgomery et al known as the Antimonium Group of Mines embracing the
Monarch, Combination and Monopoly Quartz Mines in Wild Rose Mining District, Inyo
County, California, Surveyed August and September, 1906, Mineral Survey #4530, Inyo Co.
Courthouse, Independence, Ca.; Record of Patents, No. 83129, 30 June 1908, Inyo Co.
Courthouse, Independence, Ca.; Paul H. Knowles, "Appraisal of Mineral Interests Inherent in
the Monarch-Combination-Monopoly Group, Death Valley National Monument, California,"
July 1972, p. 1.

57. 24 September 1914. The Independent reported that the mine was sold in August 1914 by
A.W. Eibeshutz, Geo. A. Smith, and J.S. Stotler to L.C. Mott. 17 September 1915.
Archeologists have found two locations in Wildrose Canyon showing evidence of having
been the site of heavy machinery and possibly of vats. Courtesy of Western Archeological
Center. Two men, Walter Hoover and 'Red" Collins, set up a small mill at Wildrose Spring in
1936 that never operated. One of these ruins might be the remains of that enterprise. A
newspaper article in 1901 mentions that "the boiler and engine of the old Banner or Wild
Rose mill has been sold by Dr. G.P. Doyle to the Messrs. Nolan for use in running machinery
at the Montezuma concentrating plant." Inyo Independent, 28 June 1901. This same paper
stated in 1936 that the Steinberg Bros. had just completed a mill at Wildrose that was running
twenty-four hours a day, with a capacity of twenty tons daily. 10 April 1936.
58. Inyo Register, 26 November 1914; Ibid., 21 January 1915; Mining & Scientific Press, 30
January 1915, p. 196.
59. Inyo Register, 15 April 1915; Mining World, 15 May 1915, p. 917.
60. Inyo Independent, 17 September 1915; Inyo Register, 16 December 1915; Inyo
Independent, 8 December 1916; Engineering and Mining Journal, 3 March 1917.
61. Arthur S. Eakle, Emile Huguenin, R.P. McLaughlin, and Clarence A. Waring, Mines and
Mineral Resources of Alpine County, Inyo County, Mono County (Sacramento: Calif. St.
Prtg. Off., 1917), p. 56.
62. D.E. White, "Antimony deposits of the Wildrose Canyon area, Inyo County, California,"
USGS Bulletin No. 922-K (Washington: GPO, 1940), p. 308.
63. Calif. St. Mng. Bur., Report 17 of the State Mineralogist (1920), p. 273; Calif. St. Mng.
Bur., Report 22 of the State Mineralogist (1926), p. 462.
64. White, "Antimony deposits of the Wildrose Canyon area," p. 308; Mining Journal, 30
June 1939, p. 24 Calif. St. Mng. Bur., Journal of Mines and Geology, 34 (October 1938): 378.
65. Calif. St. Mng. Bur., Journal of Mines and Geology, 47 (January 1951): 36-37; Mark
Massie, "Appraisal of Patented Mining Claims, Boeckerman/Dresselhaus/Rink Property,
Death Valley National Monument, Inyo County, California, As of April 16, 1972," DEVA
NM mining office.
66. Calif. St. Mng. Bur., Fifteenth Annual Report of the State Mineralogist (1917), pp. 61-62.
67. Knowles, "Appraisal of Mineral Interests Inherent in the Monarch-Combination-

Monopoly Group," pp. 4, 10; White, "Antimony deposits of the Wildrose Canyon area," pp.
308, 316, 324; Knowles, "Appraisal of Mineral Interests Inherent in the Kennedy-Kuehl
Property," pp. 5, 7.
68. Engineering and Mining Journal, 3 March 1917, p. 396; Calif. St. Mng. Bur., Journal of
Mines and Geology, 47 (January 1951): 28.
69. White, "Antimony deposits of the Wildrose Canyon area," p. 325; Calif. St. Mng. Bur.,
Antimony, Graphite, Nickel, Potash, Strontium, Tin: Preliminary Report No. 5 (Sacramento:
Calif. St. Prtg. Off., 1918).
70. Wallace and Taylor, "Archaeology of Wild Rose Canyon.," p. 356.
71. Water Location, Lower Emigrant Spring, located 11 June 1904 by J.R. McCormack, in
Land and Water Claims, Mill Sites, Book A, p. 253, Inyo Co. Courthouse, Independence, Ca.
72. Belden, Mines of Death Valley, p. 54.
73. Hubbard et al., Ballarat 1897-1917, p. 88.
74. G.A. Waring, "Springs of California," USGS Water-Supply Paper 338 (Washington:
GPO, 1915), p. 341.
75. Edna Brush Perkins, The White Heart of Mojave: An Adventure with the Outdoors of the

Desert (New York: Boni and Liveright, Inc., T2), pp. 141.
76. Archeologists have found scattered historical trash in the vicinity of this flat area, and
have also located another tunnel across the road from Wildrose Spring containing evidence of
historic human occupation. According to their information this area was part of the Monday
Mining Claim, originally belonging to the Monday Mining Corporation and later owned by
the Journigan brothers in the 1930s. Courtesy of Western Archeological Center. As
mentioned earlier, Walter Hoover and a "Red" Collins set up a mill at Wildrose Spring in
1936. It never operated because the two men came into disagreement and each moved away
his share of the machinery. Whether this mill might have been located in the' vicinity of the
cave house is not known. Reportedly Hoover and his family lived for a while after the splitup
in a shack at Wildrose Spring.
77. Rhyolite Herald, 12 May 1909.
78. Notice of Location, Eureka No. 1 Claim, Record Book F, Wild Rose Mining District, pp.
348-49, Inyo Co. Courthouse, Independence, Ca.
79. Bullfrog Miner, 25 April 1908; Rhyolite Herald, 20 May 1908.
80. The Pacific Miner, August 1908.
81. Bullfrog Miner, 14 November 1908; Rhyolite Herald, 18 November 1908.
82. Bullfrog Miner, 19 December 1908.
83. Bullfrog Miner, 5 December 1908. According to the Miner of 19 December, the lessees
were asking as much as $30,000 to suspend their operations.
84. Ibid., 9 January 1909; 13 February 1909.
85. Inyo Independent, 5 March 1909; Bullfrog Miner, 20 March 1909.
86. Inyo Independent, 3 January 1920 15 July 1922.
87. Ibid., 23 August 1924.
88. 34 (October 1938): 378.
89. Memo, 6 April 1960, DEVA NM mining office; Memo, 1 March 1962, DEVA NM
mining office; Sonora (Ca.) Daily Union Democrat, 22 September 1971.
90. Panamint News, 9 March 1875.483
91. Chalfant, "The Story of Inyo," in Inyo Register, 8 January 1914.
92. Index to Proof of Labor, Inyo Co., Book G, p. 220, Inyo Co. Courthouse, Independence,
Ca.; Inyo Register, 9 April 1908; List of claimants and property, no date, DEVA NM mining
office.
93. Calif. St. Mng. Bur., Tenth Annual Report of the State Mineralogist for Year Ending Dec.
1, 1890 (Sacramento: J.D. Young, 1890), 157-210; George W. Ramage, ed., The Mining
Directory and Reference Book of the United States Canada and Mexico (Chicago: Poole
Bros., 1892), p. 180; Calif. St. Mng. Bur., Register of Mines and Minerals, Inyo County,
California (San Francisco, 1902), p. 4; Poole Brothers, The Mining Directory and Reference
Book of the United States Canada and Mexico (Chicago: Poole Bros., 1898), p. 2 10; Inyo
Register, 10 December 1914; Wining, World, 13 February 1915 Eric, "Tabulation of Copper
Deposits," in Jenkins, Copper in California, p. 240.
94. Field. survey, September 1978, by Linda W. Greene; LCS Survey by Bill Tweed and Ken
Keane, December 1975.
95. Harold O. Weight, "A Summer Visit to the Panamints," in Desert Magazine, 23, no. 7
(July 1960), p. 9.

96. Tweed, Cultural Resources Survey, p. 295.
97. Panamint News, 9 March 1875, p. 5.
98. Deeds Filed in Office of County Recorder, Inyo Independent, 26 November, 31 December
1927.
100. George Pipkin, Pete Aguereberry: Death Valley Prospector--Gold Miner (Littlerock,
Ca.: South Antelope Valley Publishing Co., 1971), p. 136.
101. Calif. St. Mng. Bur., Journal of Mines and Geology, 39 (January 1943): 59; 47 (January
1951): 56; Rhyolite Herald, 17 June 1908.
102. Memo, Matt Ryan to C/R, on Active Mining Claims of the Emigrant District, 1 March
1962.
103. Notices of Location, in Inyo County Mining Locations, Vol. 12, pp. 305-6; Vol. 48, p.
385, Inyo Co. Courthouse, Independence, Ca.
104. Pipkin, Pete Aguereberry, p. 91.
105. Decree of Settlement of Account and of Final Distribution In the Matter of the Estate of
James P. Aguereberry, Dec., 5 August 1946, in Official Records, Vol. 65, pp. 596-97, Inyo
Co. Courthouse, Independence, Ca.
106. 47 (January 1951): 46-47.
108. Pipkin, Pete Aguereberry, pp. 55-63, 70-79; Caruthers, Loafing Along Death Valley
Trails, pp. 57-58; C.B. Glasscock, Here's Death Valley (New York: Grosset & Dunlap,
1940), pp. 239-42; Hubbard et al., Ballarat, 1897-1917, pp. 66-68; Inyo Independent, 15
September 1905.
109. Rhyolite Herald, 18 August 1905. The new camp was referred to as Harrisberry, or
Harrisbury, and in this article even as Harrisonville; Inyo Register, 24 August 1905; Rhyolite
Herald, 1 September 1905.
110. Inyo Register, 14 September 1905; Inyo Independent, 15 September 1905.
111. Inyo Register, 21 September 1905.
113. Ibid.; Inyo Register, 28 September 1905.
114. Rhyolite Herald, 6 October 1905; Inyo Register, 12 October 1905.
115. Inyo Independent, 13 October 1905. According to a later account, D.E. Blake was from
Cripple Creek, and established his business in Ballarat, the first custom assay office to be
opened in that town. J.H. Wilson, a civil engineer from Denver, also opened an office in that
town. Which of the two accounts is accurate is not known. Inyo Independent, 20 October and
3 November 1905.
116. Inyo Independent, 3 November 1905, 16 February 1906; Bullfrog Miner, 30 November
1906.
117. Rhyolite Herald, 15 December 1905.
118. Ibid.
119. Rhyolite Herald, 22 December 1905; Inyo Register, 28 December 1905.

122. Bullfrog Miner, 11 May 1906.
124. Inyo Independent, 16 November 1906; Rhyolite Herald, 14 December 1906; 18 January
1907.
125. Rhyolite Herald, 11 and 18 January 1907.
126. Ibid., 18 January 1907.
127. Bullfrog Miner, 5 April 1907; Rhyolite Herald, 19 April 1907.
128. Rhyolite Herald, 19 April 1907; Bullfrog Miner, 27 July and 3 August 1907.
129. Rhyolite Herald, 19 April 1907; Bullfrog Miner, 26 October 1907.
130. Bullfrog Miner, 29 February 1908.
131. Ibid., 28 March 1908; Adams moved his enterprise to Skidoo after the Harrisburg boom
ended, and, when activity there declined, moved back to Harrisburg Flats and built a cabin on
the north rim about two miles from Aguereberry's cabin. Pipkin, Pete Aguereberry, pp. 79,
119, 121.
132. Rhyolite Herald, 18 November 1908, 6 and 20 January 1909; Bullfrog Miner, 9 January
1909.
133. Pipkin, Pete Aguereberry, pp. 81-97.
134. Rhyolite Herald, 14 July and 7 August 1909.
135. Ibid., 21 August 1909.
136. Bullfrog Miner, 11 September 1909. This article states that the mill started work with
only three small stamps instead of the projected five.
137. Inyo Register, 17 November 1910; Rhyolite Herald, 14 January 1911.
138. Rhyolite Herald, 11 February 1911.
139. Ibid., 7, 21, 28 October, 23 December 1911, 20 January 1912; Inyo Independent, 19 July
1912.
140. Inyo Register, 10 July 1913, 11 June 1914.
141. Ibid., 24 September 1914; Engineering and Mining Journal, 6 March 1915, p. 468; Calif.
St. Mng. Bur., Fifteenth Annual Report of the State Mineralogist (1917), p. 76.
142. Eakle et al., Mines and Mineral Resources, p. 75; Calif. St. Mng. Bur., Journal of Mines
and Geology, 22 (October 1926):466-67, 469; Calif. St. Mng. Bur., Journal of Mines and
Geology, 34 (October 1938):399.
143. Calif. St. Mng. Bur., Journal of Mines and Geology, 34 (January 1938):10; 34 (October
1938):391.
144. Calif. St Mng. Bur., Journal of Mines and Geology, 47 (January 1951):44.
145. Bullfrog Miner, 12 April 1907; Notices of Location, in Inyo County Mining Locations,
Vol. 12, p. 304; Vol. 12, p. 305; Book 20, p. 5; Book 20, pp. 547-48.
146. Notice of Location, Quartz Claim, Independence Mine, in Inyo County Mining
Locations, Vol. 11, pp. 115-16, and Vol. 12, p. 306; Alvin H. Lense, "Mineral Report on the
South Independence, South Independence No. 1, East Independence, Independence No. 1,

Independent, Independent No. 2, and Independent No. 3 Unpatented Mining Claims in the
Death Valley National Monument, Inyo County, California," July 1974, pp. 1, 11, 20-21;
Notices of Location, Quartz Claims, in Inyo County Mining Locations, East Independence
Mine, Vol. 10, p. 469; South Independence Mine, Vol. 25, p. 234; South Independence No. 1,
Vol. 25, pp. 234-35; Independent Mine, Vol. 10, pp. 466-67; Independent No. 2, Vol. 10, pp.
467-68; Independent No. 1, Vol. 10, p. 467; Independent No. 3, Vol. 10, p. 468; Independent
No. 4, Vol. 10, pp. 468-69; South Independent No. 3, Vol. 48, p. 385.; Decree of Settlement .
. . of the Estate of James P. Aguereberry, Dec., 5 August 1946.
147. Memo, Matt Ryan to C/R, on Active Mining Claims of the Emigrant District, 1 March
1962.
148. Pipkin, Pete Aguereberry, passim.
149. Decree of Settlement . . . of the Estate of James P. Aguereberry, Dec., 5 August 1946.
151. Calif. St. Mng. Bur., Journal of Mines and Geology, 15 (1915-16):75-76; Nolan,
"Nonferrous-metal deposits," USGS Bulletin 871, p. 37; Calif. St. Mng. Bur., Journal of
Mines and Geology, 31 (1938):391, and Journal of Mines and Geology, 53 (19 57):459.
152. Levy, Historical Background Study Historical Base Map No. 5.
153. Inyo Independent, 5 December 1874; Notice of Location, Panamint Mining Register
(1897), Book B, p. 230. More information on the Nossano brothers will be found in the
section on the Blue Bell Mine.
154. Certificate of Labor, Star of the West, in Land, Water and Mining Claims, Inyo Co.,
Book B, p. 200; Mining & Scientific Press, 24 April 1875, p. 268.
155. Inyo Independent, 11 March 1876. The mine was listed as assessable property of the
Inyo Consolidated Silver Mining Co. on the Inyo Co. Delinquent Tax-List for 1876. Ibid., 3
February 1877.
156. Levy, Historical Background Study Historical Base Map No. 5. Also see Annual Report
of the Chief of Engineers for 1876, App. JJ (Washington: GPO, 1877), p. 65.
157. Inyo Independent, 5 December 1874. Mention of this mine also appears in the
Independent, 27 February 1875, and Panamint News, 9 March 1875.
158. Panamint Mining Register (1897), Book B, p. 305.
159. Panamint News, 25 February 1875; News concerning one or the other of these two
North Star mines appears in Panamint News, 23 March 1875; Mining & Scientific Press, 5
June 1875, p. 364, and 26 June 1875, p. 413.
160. Mining & Scientific Press, 24 April 1875, p. 268.
161. Inyo Independent, 19 February 1876; 11 March 1876.
163. Coso Mining News, 29 April 1876.
164. Ibid.
165. Mining & Scientific Press, 3 June 1876, p. 357.
167. Location Notice, Mohawk Mine, in Land, Water and Mining Claims, Inyo Co., Book D,
p. 313. Another Mohawk Lode, above the Wonder Mine near Panamint City, was filed on in
1874. Panamint Mining Register (1897), Book B, pp. 50, 152. The North Star was not
referred to as the Mohawk until about 1883.

169. Ibid., 2 August 1884; Report of the Director of the Mint (1885), p. 163.
171. Location Notice, Morning Star Mine, in Land, Water and Mining Claims, Inyo Co.,
Book I, p. 44; Inyo Independent, 21 August 1903; Ibid., 22 November 1884; Report of the
Director of the Mint (1885), p. 163; Notice of Location, Valley View Mine, recorded 24
March 1883, located by Medbury and Hunter, in Land, Water and Mining Claims, Inyo Co.,
Book D, p. 314; See also "Geographical Map of Skidoo," 1907, published in George Koenig,
"23" Skidoo and Panamint Too!, Death Valley '49ers Keepsake No. 11 (San Bernardino, Ca.:
Inland Printing & Engraving Co., 1971), p. 9.
172. Notices of Location, North Star Nos. 1-6, Wild Rose Mining District, in Land, Water
and Mining Claims, Inyo Co., Book F, pp. 146-51.
173. James H. Bennett and Roy Journigan Correspondence, cited in Memo, Park Naturalist,
DEVA NM, to Supt., DEVA NM, on Interpretive Signs, 16 May 1952; Acting Assoc. Reg.
Dir., WRO, to Field Solicitor's Office, San Francisco, 2 January 1975, p. 1, DEVA NM
mining office; Inyo Independent, 7 July, 25 August, 20 October, 24 November 1923. A single
stamp remaining from one of the site's stamping operations lies alongside the Emigrant
Canyon Road below the present mill ruins. A 1908 issue of the Inyo Register notes that John
Hoppes (Hobbs?) Wilson and associates (assayers and mining engineers at Skidoo) had
acquired the water rights to Burro and Quail springs and were planning to open a custom
mill in Emigrant Canyon about one-half mile above Jack Hartigan's roadhouse at an elevation
of 4,365 feet. Water was to be piped to the ten-stamp mill via Burro Canyon. A small
electrical plant would be operated in addition to the reduction works. 23 January 1908. The
Poppy Group was located two miles west of the Skidoo camp. Bullfrog Miner, 25 January
1908.
174. Memo, Park Naturalist, DEVA NM, to Supt., DEVA NM, 16 May 1952; Land and
Water Claims, Inyo Co., Book C, p. 288; Record of Ownership of Gold Bottom Mill Site,
DEVA NM mining office; Actg. Assoc. Reg. Dir., WRO, to Field Solicitor's Office, 2
January 1975, p. 2; John R. White, Supt., DEVA NM, to the Dir., NPS, 31 December 1937.
175. Calif. St. Mng. Bur., Journal of Mines and Geology, 34 (October 1938):420-21.
176. Journigan to O'Donnell, Agreement of Sale, in Official Records, Inyo Co., recorded 31
January 1940, Book 48, p. 1, amended 18 January 1940, and recorded 31 January 1940, Book
48, p. 5, in Record of Ownership of Gold Bottom Mill Site, DEVA NM mining office; Calif.
St. Mng. Bur., Journal of Mines and Geology, 34 (October 1938):381; Ibid., 36 (January
1940):10; Actg. Assoc. Reg. Dir., WRO, to Field Solicitor's Office, 2 January 1975;
Journigans to Del Norte Mining Co., in Official Records, Inyo Co., deed recorded 6 January
1958, Vol. 130, p. 397, in Record of Ownership, DEVA NM mining office; Journal of Mines
and Geology, 47 (1951):45.
177. Quitclaim to Stivers, in Official Records, Inyo Co., recorded 6 January 1958, Vol. 130,
p. 410; Quitclaim to Troeger, in Official Records, Inyo Co., recorded 6 January 1958, Vol.
130, p. 406; Lease, in Official Records, Inyo Co., recorded 29 October 1951, Book 94, p. 157;
James B. Thompson, Supt., DEVA NM, to Reg. Dir., WRO, 20 December 1974.
178. Ridgecrest (Ca.) Times-Herald, 11 February 1954; Fred W. Binnewiess, Supt., DEVA
NM, to Reg. Dir., Region Four, 6 January 1955.
179. Quitclaim deed, in Official Records, Inyo Co., recorded 8 April 1954, Vol. 109, p. 327.
180. David E. Hinckle to Robert Mitcham, 31 January 1974.
181. Deed, in Official Records, Inyo Co., recorded 9 May. 1967, Vol. 177, p. 947.
182. Sonora (Ca.) Daily Union Democrat, 22 September 1971; Harold E. Thompson, Actg.
Supt., DEVA NM, to Larry E. Moss, Sierra Club, 8 September 1971.
183. T. R. Goodwin, Supt., DEVA NM, to Dir., WRO, 21 June 1940.

184. DEVA NM mining office; Inyo Independent, 18 March 1938.
185. Inyo Independent, 24 March 1939; 2 June 1939.
186. Ibid., 23 June 1939.
187. Mining Journal, 15 August 1940, p. 17.
188. Ibid., 30 December 1940, p. 16.
189. Ibid., 15 April 1941, p. 23.
190. Crowe to James B. Thompson, Supt., DEVA NM, 12 June 1975.
191. Rhyolite Herald, 10 August 1906.
192. Mining & Scientific Press, 19 July 1873, p. 87.
193. Notice of Location, Sunset Silver Mine, in Land, Water and Mining Claims, Inyo Co.,
Book D, p. 317.
194. 15 December 1940, p. 18.
196. Bullfrog Miner, 6 July 1907.
197. Inyo Register, 25 March 1909; Rhyolite Herald, 7 April 1909.
198. Milo Page, "Old Panamint History," in Inyo Register, 19 July 1906. Inyo Independent, 5
December 1874. Mention was found as early as 1873 of a Blue Belle Mine in the Panamint
District, but this probably refers to the property of that name situated on the east side of
Marvel Canyon near the Wyoming Mine, just south of Panamint City. The Garibaldi Mine
was not referred to as the Blue Bell until the early 1880s. Mining & Scientific Press, 19 July
1873, p. 87. Notice of Location, Blue Bell Mine, filed 2 January 1882, in Panamint Mining
Register (1897), Book C, p. 304; In 1872 the Inyo Range contained a Blue Bell (Belle) Mine
that was being worked by one or two men and occasionally reported on. Mining & Scientific
Press, 3 February 1872, p. 68; By 1899 a Blue Bell Mine was operating in Snow Canyon,
fourteen miles southeast of Darwin. Engineering and Mining Journal, 25 February 1899.
199. Inyo Independent, 2 January 1875; Panamint News, 9 March 1875.
201. Panamint News, 9 March 1875.
203. Bullfrog Miner, 26 October 1907; Mining & Scientific Press, 24 April 1875, p. 268.
204. Inyo Independent, 19 February 1876; 26 February 1876; 11 March 1876; Page, in Inyo
Register, 19 July 1906.
206. Ibid.; Coso Mining News, 29 April 1876.
207. Coso Mining News, 29 April 1876; 6 May 1876.
209. Page, in Inyo Register, 19 July 1906; Bullfrog Miner, 26 October 1907. The property
was probably abandoned around 1877, for in that year the Inyo Consolidated Silver Mining
Company appeared on the Inyo Co. Delinquent Tax-List for 1876. In addition to other
properties, they were being assessed for 1,500 feet at $2 per foot in the Garibaldi Mine. Inyo

Independent, 3 February 1877.
210. Mining & Scientific Press, 10 May 1884, p. 324.
211. Land, Water and Mining Locations, Inyo Co., Book D, p. 316.
212. Report of the Director of the Mint (1884), p. 163.
213. Mining & Scientific Press, 10 May 1884, p. 324; Inyo Independent, 26 July 1884; 2
August 1884.
215. Notice of Location, Silver Queen Mine, in Land, Water and Mining Claims, Inyo Co.,
Book E; Notice of Location, Silver Queen Mine, in ibid., Inyo Co., Book D.
216. Calif. St. Mng. Bur., Register of Mines and Minerals (1902), p. 5.
217. Engineering and Mining Journal, 25 February 1899; Inyo Register, 2 August 1906.
218. Rhyolite Herald, 3 August 1906; Bullfrog Miner, 26 October 1907.
219. Rhyolite Herald, 31 August 1906; 14 January 1911; Bullfrog Miner, 26 October 1907.
220. Memo, DEVA NM mining office, 6 April 1960; List of Claimants and Property, no date,
221. Paul H. Knowles, "Mineral Report of the Blue Bell Group, Death Valley National
Monument, Inyo County, California," 29 March 1974, p. 11, DEVA NM mining office.
222. Coso Mining News, 29 April 1876.
223. Rhyolite Herald, 4 January 1907.
224. Inyo Register, 8 June 1906; Rhyolite Herald, 29 June 1906; Inyo Independent, 24 April
1908. One of the best known mining men of the West, Montgomery had been engaged in
California and Nevada mining since 1891. He was a pioneer of Tonopah and Goldfield and
also heavily interested in the Bullfrog District, where he had located the fabulous
Montgomery-Shoshone Mine. Previous to this he had been involved in mining activities in
Washington and Idaho.
225. Bullfrog Miner, 13 July 1906; Rhyolite Herald, 6 April 1906, 27 July 1906.
226. Figures given for this pipeline are at best approximations. Little agreement could be
found on any of the figures relating either to the length of the pipeline (18 to 30 miles), the
amount of water tapped (30 to 50 miner's inches), the amount of pressure to be sustained
(350 to 800 feet per square inch), the amount of horsepower to be generated (38 to 60.h.p.),
or the final cost ($250,000 to $375,000). Bullfrog Miner, 13 July, 3 August 1906; Rhyolite
Herald, 3 August 1906, 19 April 1907; Bullfrog Miner, 26 April, 14 December 1907; Inyo
Independent, 31 January 1908; Report on Granite Contact Mines Co., 1 March 1908, MS
#833 in Nevada Historical Society, Reno; Rhyolite Herald, 13 January 1909, and Pictorial
Supplement, March 1909.
227. Bullfrog Miner, 13, 20 July 1906; Rhyolite Herald, 20 July 1906.
230. Inyo Register, 6 September 1906; Inyo Independent, 30 November 1906.
231. Rhyolite Herald, 7 September 1906; Bullfrog Miner, 5 October 1906.
233. Ibid., 21, 28 September 1906, 15 February 1907.

234. Ibid., 28 September 1906; Inyo Register, 4 October 1906.
235. Rhyolite Herald, 2 November 1906 Bullfrog Miner, 2 November 1906; Rhyolite Herald,
16 November 1906; Inyo Independent, 16, 30 November 1906, 19 April 1907.
236. Bullfrog Miner, 30 November, 7 December 1906; Inyo Independent, 21 December 1906;
Rhyolite Herald, 4 January 1907; Bullfrog Miner, 11 January 1907; Rhyolite Herald, 18
January 1907.
237. Rhyolite Herald, 18 January, 8, 15, 22 February, 22 March.
238. Bullfrog Miner, 22 February 1907; Rhyolite Herald, 15 March 1907.
239. Rhyolite Herald, 15, 22 March, 19 April 1907; Bullfrog Miner, 22 February, 12, 26
April, 17, 24 May 1907; Inyo Independent, 19 April 1907. Shorty Harris was one of the
miners residing at Emigrant Spring. An amusing story found in the Bullfrog Miner relates
that on 7 March 1907 he was instructed at gunpoint by two desperadoes who had invaded his
room in Jack Hartigan's lodging house to turn over a quitclaim deed for his interest in the
Bullfrog Miner and Bullfrog Miner No. 1 claims, located on Sheep Mountain in the Wild
Rose Mining District, under threat of "scattering his brains about the room." Shorty reported
the deed at once to authorities in Rhyolite and it is assumed that the wrong was somehow
rectified. It is one of the few instances in which Shorty seemed unable to talk himself out of a
tight situation. 15 March 1907.
240. Inyo Register, 7 March 1907; Inyo Independent, 5 April 1907.
241. Bullfrog Miner, 22 February 1907; Rhyolite Daily Bulletin, 9 October 1907; Rhyolite
Herald, 18 October 1907.
242. Reported in the Bullfrog Miner, 12 April 1907. Rhyolite Herald, 29 March 1907.
243. Inyo Independent, 19 April 1907; Rhyolite Herald, 26 April 1907.
244. Bullfrog Miner, 12, 26 April 1907; Rhyolite Herald, 19 April 1907.
247. Ibid.
248. Ibid.; Ibid., 3 May 1907.
249. Bullfrog Miner, 10 May 1907.
250. Ibid., 8 June, 7 September 1907; Inyo independent, 14, 21 June 1907; Rhyolite Herald,
22 November 1907.
251. Bullfrog Miner, 15, 22 June, 6 July, 14 September 1907; Inyo Independent, 13
September 1907.
252. Inyo Register, 17 October 1907.
253. Ibid.; Rhyolite Herald, 18 October 1907.
254. Rhyolite Herald, 25 October 1907.
255. Bullfrog Miner, 23 November 1907.
256. Rhyolite Herald, 13 December 1907.
257. Bullfrog Miner, 26 October, 14 December 1907, 25 January 1908; Rhyolite Herald, 13
December 1907, 13 January 1909; Mining & Scientific Press, 1 April 1911, p. 479.
258. Bullfrog Miner, 4 January 1908.

259. Inyo Independent, 7 February 1908; Bullfrog Miner, 28 March 1908; Inyo Register, 9
April, 25 June 1908.
260. Rhyolite Daily Bulletin, 20, 22, 23 April 1908; Inyo Register, 30 April 1908. Lovers of
the perverse may check Cronkhite, Death Valley's Victims, p. 15, for a look at the famous
photo.
261. Inyo Independent, 1 May 1908. A full account of the testimony of a few principal
witnesses to the shooting before a coroner's jury may be found here.
263. Inyo Independent, 15 May 1908; Bullfrog Miner, 23 May, 6, 20 June 1908; Rhyolite
264. Rhyolite Herald, 24 June, 29 July 1908; Mining World, 31 October 1908, p. 682.
265. Inyo Independent, 31 July, 4 September 1908; Inyo Register, 6 August 1908;
Engineering and Mining Journal, 15 August 1908, p. 345.
267. Ibid., 11 December 1908; Rhyolite Herald, 10 March 1909; Bullfrog Miner, 13 March
1909.
268. Inyo Independent, 28 August 1908; Bullfrog Miner, 19 September 1908; Rhyolite
Herald, 23 September 1908.
269. Rhyolite Herald, 14 October, 25 November 1908; Bullfrog Miner, 28 November 1908.
270. Bullfrog Miner, 28 November 1908.
271. Inyo Register, 12 November 1908; Bullfrog Miner, 14 November 1908.
272. Rhyolite Herald, 13, 20 January 1909, 8 January 1910; Inyo Independent, 5 March 1909;
Inyo Register, 18 March 1909.
273. Rhyolite Herald, March 1909 (Pictorial Supplement), 21 April, 7, 31 July 1909; Bullfrog
Miner, 24 April 1909; Inyo Register, 1 July 1909; Inyo Independent, 2 July 1909; Mining
World, 22 January 1910, p. 172.
275. Inyo Register, 28 October, 2 December 1909, 28 April, 1 December 1910; Rhyolite
Herald 1, 8 January, 28 May, 27 August, 31 December 1910.
276. Mining & Scientific Press, 20 August 1910, p. 242. It should be noted also that the
Granite Contact property of eight claims was still active at this time and being advertised for
patent. Rhyolite Herald, 14 January 1911.
277. Rhyolite Herald, 21 January, 1 April 1911.
278. Mining World, 25 May 1912, p. 1109.
279. Engineering and Mining Journal, 5 July 1913, p. 42; 13 September 1913, p. 520; 4
October 1913, p. 665; Mining World, 4 October 1913, p. 611.
280. Mining World, 7 November 1914, p. 902.
281. J. H. Cooper, "The Skidoo Gold Mines, Data Supplemental to General Report," n.d.,
n.p., DEVA NM mining office.
282. Inyo Register, 21 January 1915; Engineering and Mining Journal, 20 November 1915, p.
835.

283. Engineering and Mining Journal, 22 September 1917, p. 539, 6 October 1917, p. 621;
Inyo Register, 4 October 1917; Memo, Supt., DEVA NM, to Reg. Dir., 12 May 1952.
284. Perkins, White Heart of Mojave, pp. 160, 164. Could this have been Sam Adams who
lived at Harrisburg?
285. Inyo Independent, 9 January 1926; Calif. St. Mng. Bur., Report 22 of the State
Mineralogist (1926), p. 473; Mining Journal, 28 February 1929, p. 33. See the following
section on the Saddle Rock Mine.
286. Inyo independent, 10 April, 29 May, 10 July 1936; Memo, Robert Mitcham, "Historical
Information on Del Norte and Skidoo Mines," DEVA NM mining office; Calif. St. Mng.
Bur., Journal of Mines and Geology, 34 (October 1938):379, 394-95, 42O21; Mining Journal,
30 June 1939, p. 24; Calif. St. Mng. Bur., Journal of Mines and Geology, 47 (January
1951):43, 51.
287. Inyo Independent, 18 June, 8 October, 19 November 1937; Memo, T. R. Goodwin to

Joseph E. Taylor, 13 June 1937; Roy C. Troeger to Col. John R. White, regarding application
for permit to reconstruct Telescope Peak pipeline, 20 November 1937; John R. White,
Memorandum regarding application of Roy Troeger to reconstruct Telescope Peak-Skidoo
pipe line, Th December 1937; J. Volney Lewis, "The Application for a Permit to Re-build the
Skidoo Pipe-Line in Death Valley National Monument," 5 January 1938.
289. Journal of Mines and Geology, 36 (January 1940):10; Mining Journal, 15 August 1940,
p. 17, 30 December 1940, p. 16; Inyo Independent, 20 December 1940.
290. Troeger to Goodwin, 11 January 1952; Calif. St. Mng. Bur., Journal of Mines and
Geology, 47 (January 1951):43, 51.
291. Memo, 1 March 1962, DEVA NM mining office; Supt., DEVA NM, to Dir., WRO, on
mining activity in Death Valley, 1 April 1971; Evans et al., Special Report 125, p. 19.
292. "Field Notes of the Survey of the Mining Claim of The Skidoo Saddle Rock Mining
Company Known as the Palma," Mineral Survey No. 4669, surveyed under instructions dated
2 October 1907"; "Field Notes of the Survey of the Mining Claim of The Skidoo Saddle
Rock Mining Company Known as the Saddle Rock Consolidated Mine . . . , Mineral Survey
No. 4670, surveyed under instructions dated 2 October 1907.
293. Bullfrog Miner, 30 November 1906; Rhyolite Herald, 19 April 1907; Mining World, 11
May 1907, p. 606. Somewhat confusing is a January 1907 notice that Arthur Holliday, a
mining and newspaper man of Los Angeles, had just purchased the interests of John A.
Thompson in several claims, three of which were the Saddle Rock, Pima, and Palma.
Rhyolite Herald, 11 January 1907. It is possible that Aldrich's purchase of the property was
not actually consummated until spring of 1907.
294. Bullfrog Miner, 8 June 1907.
295. Ibid.
296. Ibid., 29 June 1907.
297. Plat of the Claim of the Skidoo Saddle Rock Mining Company Known as the Palma,
Mineral Survey No. 4669, Surveyed October 1907; Plat of the Claim of the Skidoo Saddle
Rock Mining Company Known as the Saddle Rock Consolidated Mine, Embracing the
Saddle Rock Mine, Chespeak Fraction, and the Pima and K.K. Mines, Mineral Survey No.
4670, Surveyed October 1907.
300. Ibid., 8 September 1928.

301. Ibid., 16 February 1929; Long Beach (Ca.) Press-Telegram, 31 July 1929; Mining
Journal, 30 August 1929, p. 33, and 30 December 1929, p. 33; World's Work, 49 (July 1930),
p. 51.
303. Mining Journal, 30 July 1945, p. 20.
304. Memo, 6 April 1960; Memo, 1 March 1962; Mark Massie, "Appraisal of Patented
Mining Claims, David L. Dotson Property, Death Valley National Monument, Inyo County,
California, As of April 16, 1972," p. 10.
305. Massie, "Appraisal of . . . David L. Dotson Property," p. 10.
306. Paul H. Knowles, "Appraisal of Mineral Interests Inherent in the Saddlerock-Dotson

Claims (Skidoo District), Death Valley National Monument, California," 3 July 1972, p. 8.
308. Ibid., 5 December 1874.
310. Notice of Location, Argonaut Mine, recorded 24 March 1883, located by J. Medbury and
W.L. Hunter, in Land, Water and Mining Claims, Inyo Co.., Book D, p. 312; Notice of
Location, Jeanetta Mine, recorded 24 March 1883, located by J. Medburry (sic) and W.L.
Hunter, in Land, Water and Mining Claims, Inyo Co., Book D, p. 311.
312. Palmer, Place Names, p. 53; Notice of Location, Susan B. Anthony Mine, in Land,
Water and Mining Claims, Inyo Co., Book E, n.p.; Notice of Location, Maud S. Mine, in
Land, Water and Mining Claims, Inyo Co., Book E, p. 413.
314. Location Notice, Nellie Grant Mine, located 3 January 1896, in Land, Water and Mining
Claims, Inyo Co., Book I, pp. 45-46.
315. Proof of Labor Books, Inyo Co., Book G, p. 190.
316. According to its Notice of Location filed on 24 March 1883, the Blizzard Mine was
located by Medbury and Hunter 5-1/2 miles east of Emigrant Spring on the right-hand side of
a trail leading from the Mohawk (North Star) Mine to the Blue Bell (Garibaldi) Mine, and
about eight airline miles north of Telescope Peak. In Inyo Co. Land, Water and Mining
Claims, Book D, p. 315. An 1883. location notice for an Inyo Silver Mine states it is three
miles north of Rose Spring (Emigrant Spring?) and adjoins the southeast quarter of the
Virgin Mine. In ibid., p. 154.
317. Mining & Scientific Press, 10 May 1884, p. 324.
318. p. 163.
320. Page, in Inyo Register, 19 July 1906.
321. Record Book F, Wild Rose Mining District, p. 509; Inyo Independent, 29 October 1927.
322. Inyo Independent, 10 December 1937; 22 April 1938.
323. Ibid., 5 August 1938; 7 April 1939.
324. Ibid., 29 March 1940; 9 May 1941; Calif. St. Mng. Bur., Journal of Mines and Geology,
47 (January 1951):52-53.

325. Russ Journigan to Harold E. Thompson, Actg. Supt., DEVA NM, 11 February 1974;
Evans et al., Special Report 125, pp. 17, 19; Robert Mitcham, Mining Engineer, to Supt.,
DEVA NM, 25 April 1975.
326. L.S. Zentner, "Mineral Report for the Tucki Group of Lode Mining Claims in Death
Valley National Monument, California," 14 March 1978, p. 2.
327. Rhyolite Herald, 13 and 20 January, 1909.
328. Ibid., 19 March 1910.
329. J.J. Vance, comp., "Geographical Map of Skidoo, Wild Rose Mining District, Inyo Co.
California," 1907, in Koenig, Skidoo, p. 9.
330. Chuck Gebhardt, Backpacking Death Valley (San Jose: Mastergraphics, 1975), p. 74.
331. Belden, Historical Report, p. X-13.
332. Frank A. Crampton, Deep Enough: A Working Stiff in the Western Mine Camps
(Denver: Sage Books, 1956), Preface. This date is open to question. One writer has stated
that Lemoigne died in June 1918 at eighty-two years of age (Cronkhite, Death Valley's
Victims, p. 21) while another mentions that in 1898 Lemoigne was registered in the voting
precinct at Ballarat as a miner, age fifty-six (Hubbard et al., Ballarat 1897-1917, p. 71).
Death Valley Scotty remarked that he died in June 1918 at the age of seventy-seven
(Houston, Death Valley Scotty Told Me--, p. 85).
333. Lee, Death Valley Men, p. 171; WPA, Death Valley: A Guide, p. 32; James B. Nosser,
"The Story of 'Cap' Lemoigne," in Phil Townsend Hanna et al., Death Valley Tales, Death
Valley '49ers Keepsake No. 3 (Palm Desert, Ca.: Desert Magazine Press, 1955), p. 40;
Crampton, Deep Enough, p. 257; Frank A. Crampton to Fred W. Binnewiess, Supt., DEVA
NM, 15 May 1956. One fact supporting an earlier arrival date in America for Lemoigne is a
location notice for a mine filed by him in 1880.
334. It is interesting to note here that Frank Crampton, an acquaintance and biographer of
Lemoigne, asserts that he read some of these letters from Daunet to Lemoigne requesting his
presence and stating his confidence in the young man's ability to instill new life into the
venture. Crampton also remarks that Lemoigne did not feel Daunet was the type of person to
kill himself, and always suspected he was "done in" by people interested in his borax
property. Crampton to Binnewiess, 15 May 1956.
335. Lee, Death Valley Men, pp. 171-72; Nosser, in Death Valley Tales, pp. 40, 41; Inyo
Independent, 28 August 1920.
336. John Southworth, Death Valley in 1849: The Luck of the Gold Rush Emigrants
(Burbank: Pegleg Books, 1978), p. 118; Index to Land, Water and Mining Claims, Inyo Co.,
Book D, p. 457, and Book E, pp. 17, 155-56, $35-36, and Land, Water and Mining Claims,
Book E, p. 324.
337. Mining & Scientific Press, 12 April 1890, p. 250; Inyo Independent, 5 April 1895, and 7
February 1896.
338. Crampton to Binnewiess, 24 May 1956; Crampton, Deep Enough, p. 257.
339. Southworth, Death Valley in 1849, p. 113.
340. Pete Aguereberry, p. 126.
343. Ibid., 29 December 1899, and 15 April 1904.

345. Crampton to Binnewiess, 15 May 1956.
346. Southworth, Death Valley in 1849, pp. 119-24; Crampton, Deep Enough, n.p., contains a
picture of the castle site at Garlic Spring.
347. Crampton to Binnewiess, 15 May 1956. Although Crampton insists on 1919 as

Lemoigne's death date, a variety of other writers give June 1918 as the correct one. See
Pipkin, Pete Aguereberry, p. 127, and also WPA, Death Valley: A Guide, p. 32; Cronkhite,
Death Valley's Victims, p. 21, and Lee, Death Valley Men, p. 173, provide varying versions
of this story. Southworth, Death Valley in 1849, p. 116, suggests 1917 as the date of death,
with the body not being found until two years later.
348. Gower, 50 Years in Death Valley, pp. 90-92; Southworth, Death Valley in 1849, p. 116.
349. Houston, Death Valley Scotty Told Me--, p. 85.
350. Southworth, Death Valley in 1849, p. 116; Perkins, White Heart of Mojave, p. 138.
352. Ibid., 14, 28 August, 11 September 1920; Inyo Co. Deed Book 34, p. 217; Inyo Co.
Mining Locations, Book 23, pp. 579-81.
354. Ibid., 2 October 1920, 1 December 1923.
355. Ibid., 17 May 1924.
356. Ibid., 28 June 1924, and 7 February, 4 April 1925.
357. Ibid., 20 March 1926, 22 May 1926; Mining Journal, 15 June 1926, p. 35.
358. Calif. St. Mng. Bur., Report 22 of the State Mineralogist (1926) p. 488. The Kerdell lead
Mine is the property located just southeast of the Lemoigne Mine, at about 5,800 feet
elevation. The property was relocated as the Lone Ear Claim on 10 December 1954 by Roy
Hunter. It is accessible by trail from the Lemoigne road about 1,000 feet below the mouth of
Lemoigne Canyon from the parking area. It consisted at one time of twelve unpatented claims
owned by the Gold Hill Dredging Co. and was worked on beginning in March 1949 when two
adits and some drifts were dug. No record of production exists. Wayne E. Hall and Hal G.
Stephens, Economic Geology of the Panamint Butte Quadrangle and Modoc District Inyo
County California Special Report 73 (San Francisco: Calif. Div. of Mines and Geology,
1963), p. 36, hereafter cited as Special Report 73.
359. Long, "The Woman of Death Valley," p. 63.
360. Inyo Independent, 3 September 1937; Calif. St. Mng. Bur., Journal of Mines and
Geology, 34 (October 1938):443; Jenkins, Copper in California, p. 246.
361. Hall and Stephens, Special Report 73, p. 36. See chart on that page for annual
production from the mine during period 1925 to 1953; Memo, 1 March 1962, DEVA NM
mining office; "Geology, Ore Reserves and Development Program, Lemoigne Mining
Claims, Inyo County, California," n.p., in mining office, WRO, San Francisco.
363. Tweed, Cultural Resources Survey, pp. 233-41; Richard H. Brooks, Richard A. Wilson,
Joseph P. King, Matt McMakin, A Historic and Prehistoric Reconnaissance of Four Mining
Claims in Death Valley National Monument, Prepared for NPS, WAC, by contract with
Arch. Research Center, UNLV Mus. of Nat. History, November 1977, pp. 4-5, 22-29, 40.
364. Crampton, Deep Enough, p. 257.

367. "Geology, Ore Reserves and Development Program, Lemoigne Mining Claims," n.p.;
Evans et al., Special Report 125, p. 19.
<<< Contents >>>
deva/hrs/notes3b.htm

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION III:
Endnotes
1. Southern Inyo American Association of Retired Persons, Chapter 183, Saga of Inyo
County (Covina, Ca.: Taylor Publishing Co., 1977), pp. 163-64. Chalfant, Story of Inyo p.
267.
3. Ibid., 30 March 1900.
4. Ibid.
5. Water Location, dated 26 May 1907, in Inyo Co., Land and Water Claims, Mill Sites,
Book B, p. 84; Water Location, dated 31 May 1907, in ibid.
6. The sources of these maps are unknown, having been found in a crate of papers
(presumably in the monument) labeled "Unrelated to Castle." The 1927 one is supposedly a
Lida quad topo map, edition of October 1931. See Wm. C. Bolton to Ross Holland, 23 March
1972.
7. James F. McAllister, Geology of Mineral Deposits in the Ubehebe Peak Quadrangle Inyo
County California, Special Report 42 (San Francisco: Calif. Div. of Mines and Geology,
1955), p. 7, hereafter cited as Special Report 42.
8. Levy, Historical Background Study Illustrations 2-4.
9. Beveridge Porter Hunter to Matt Ryan, 8 January 1969, cited in ibid., p. 92.
10. Levy, Historical Background Study, p. 92.
11. Lewis E. Aubury, The Copper Resources of California Bulletin No. 50 (Sacramento: St.
Prtg. Off., 1905, p. 301; Gudde, California Place Names, p. 349.
12. Inyo Independent, 17 July 1875; Mining & Scientific Press, 25 September 1875, p. 198.
13. Inyo Independent, 3 November 1875; 11 December 1875.
15. Ibid., 19 February 1897, 5 March 1897.
16. Report of the Director of the Mint (1885), p. 158; Inyo Independent, 6 August 1897.
17. Inyo independent, 20 January 1899 18 August, 1899. Extension of the Randsburg Railway
still appeared a distinct possibility at this time, especially with the arrival of the line's general
http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/deva/notes3c.htm[7/26/2008 3:17:56 PM]

manager and superintendent to examine the copper mines of the Saline Valley and determine
the advisability of extending their system further north. Ibid., 6 October 1899, 24 November
1899. Lands in Saline Valley had been located for borax at least as early as 1895 and borax
works constructed later. The copper camps in the same area were just starting to come into
their own now, four years later, spurred on by Greenwater's success, and along with the
Western Borax Co., which held interests in the area, were extremely anxious to form closer
ties with the Owens Valley and Keeler. Hence their determination to see a road built from
Independence through Mazourka Canyon to the Saline Valley deposits. Such a project would
also ameliorate somewhat the Ubehebe area's shipping problems. Ibid., 20 October, 27
October 1899.
18. Ibid., 21 July, 11 August 1899, 16 September 1904.
19. Inyo Register, 28 November 1901; Lewis E. Aubury, The Copper Resources of California
Bulletin No. 23 (Sacramento: St. Prtg. Off., 1902), p. 245; Inyo Register, 4 June 1903; Inyo
Independent, 5 January 1906.
20. Inyo Register, 4 June 1903.
21. Inyo Independent, 5 January 1906; Inyo Register, 30 November 1905.
22. Inyo Register, 2 August 1906; Death Valley Chuck-Walla, 1 April 1907.
23. Inyo Independent, 24 August 1906; Inyo Register, 13 September 1906; Bullfrog Miner, 5
October 1906; Inyo Register, 8 November 1906; Bullfrog Miner, 16 November 1906, 4
January 1907; Inyo Independent, 15 February 1907. Bonnie Claire, an important station on
the Las Vegas and Tonopah and Bullfrog-Goldfield railroads, was originally referred to as
Thorp's Wells and later for a short while as Montana Station by the Bullfrog-Goldfield
Railroad. The name never became popular, however. Myrick, Railroads of Nevada and
Eastern California. p. 539.
25. Rhyolite Herald, 12 April 1907; Bullfrog Miner, 12 April, 19 April, 8 June 1907.
26. Inyo Register, 25 April 1907. One article stated that the Ubehebe Mining District was
unique up to the fall of 1907 because there had been no instances. of claim-jumping or
location conflicts. Bullfrog Miner, 21 September 1907.
27. Bullfrog Miner, 12 April, 3 May 1907; Inyo Register, 25 April 1907. Local capitalists
involved in creation of the Ubehebe Mining Co. on 13 May 1907 were Jos. A. Small,
president (cashier, Cook Bank of Rhyolite); A. D. Whittier, vice-president (Rhyolite artist);
Hon. L. O. Ray, treasurer (millionaire Bullfrog mine owner); F.B. Anderson, secretary
(Rhyolite broker). The other directors were all Goldfield and Rhyolite men.
29. Bullfrog Miner, 29 June 1907; Myrick, Railroads of Nevada and Eastern California p.
542; Inyo Register, 22 August 1907; Inyo Independent, 23 August, 30 August 1907; Bullfrog
Miner, 14 September 1907; Inyo Register, 19 September 1907. Two articles found, obviously
referring to Saline City, mention that the townsite of "Latimer" was being laid out in "Butte
Valley." It should be noted that Illus. 5 in Levy, Historical Background Study, showing
routes followed by the Death Valley Expedition in 1891 shows Racetrack Valley as Butte
Valley, and this misconception was evidently perpetuated by some people. Inyo Register, 4
July 1907; Inyo Independent, 9 August 1907.

30. Bullfrog Miner, 21 September, 5 October 1907.
31. Ibid.
32. Rhyolite Herald 11 October 1907.
34. Bullfrog Miner, 2 November, 14 December, 21 December 1907; Inyo Independent, 27

December 1907.
35. Aubury, Copper Resources of California (1908), pp. 301-10.
36. Inyo Independent, 26 June, 28 August 1908; Mining World, 11 July 1908, p. 68. As far as
can be determined, the Watterson-Smith property referred to is the Ubehebe Mine. Skidoo
was also experiencing a lack of power and water at this time, but of the two areas, the
Ubehebe promised to develop more. rapidly because of the several companies with ample
resources that were interested in her varied mineral assets of gold, silver, lead, and copper.
37. Inyo Register, 27 August, 3 September 1908; Rhyolite Herald, 9 September 1908;
Bullfrog Miner, 16 January 1909; Rhyolite Herald, 24 February 1909.
38. Inyo Register, 20 October 1915; Engineering and Mining Journal, 13 November 1915, p.
818.
39. Eakle et at., Mines and Mineral Resources, p. 125; Mining Journal, 30 January 1930, p. 8.
40. The above is based on data found in McAllister, Special Report 42, pp. 17-21.
41. McAllister, Special Report 42, pp. 17, 49; Inyo Register, 2 August 1906.
42. Inyo Register, 7 March 1907.
43. Aubury, Copper Resources of California (1902), p. 246; Bullfrog Miner, 18 January 1908;
Saga of Inyo County, pp. 130-31.
45. Inyo Register, 7 March 1907.
47. Notice of Water Location, dated 26 May 1907, in Inyo Co., Land and Water Claims, Mill
Sites, Book B, p. 84.
48. Bullfrog Miner, 15 June, 22 June 1907.
49. Ibid., 18 January 1908; Inyo Register, 12 March 1908. These figures were also reported
as 75.9% copper, 280 ozs. in silver, and $18 in gold by the Inyo Register, 2 April 1908.
50. Inyo Register, 2 April 1908; Inyo Independent, 28 August 1908.
51. Saga of Inyo County, p. 131; Inyo Register, 18 May 1916; McAllister, Special Report 42,
p. 49.
52. Wallace, Archaeological Overview, p. 59.

53. Inyo independent, 30 December 1904; Inyo Register, 12 January 1905; Inyo Independent,
20 January 1905.
54. Inyo Independent, 3 February, 24 March 1905.
55. Sydney H. Ball, "Notes on ore deposits of southwestern Nevada and eastern California,"
in Contributions to Economic Geology (1905), USGS Bulletin No. 285 (Washington: GPO,
1906), p. 73.
56. Bullfrog Miner, 11 January 1907; Rhyolite Herald, 22 January 1910.
57. Bullfrog Miner, 3 May, 14 September 1907; 3 October 1908.
58. Rhyolite Herald, 1 January, 22 January 1910.
59. Inyo Register, 6 April 1916; Eakle et al., Mines and Mineral Resources, p. 125.
60. Calif. St. Mng. Bur., Journal of Mines and Geology 37 (October 1941):574. Mining
Journal, 30 July 1945, p. 20.
62. Ibid., 7 November 1907; Inyo Independent, 27 December 1907. These claims were owned
by W.W. Watterson, M.Q. Watterson, and Eugene E. Smith. Inyo Register, 30 January 1908.
63. Herbert N. Witt, M.E., "Preliminary Report on the Ubehebe Lead Mine, Inyo County,
California," March 1949, p. 3; Bullfrog Miner, 15 February 1908.
64. Inyo Register, 2 April 1908; 9 April 1908.
65. Mining World, 11 July 1908, p. 68. The mining journals were often delayed in their
reporting of mining news, and it is assumed by the writer that this reference does not imply
the formation of another later partnership. The discrepancy in company names is by no means
unusual.
67. Special Report 42, p. 4.
68. Inyo Register, 21 October 1915; Engineering and Mining Journal, 13 November 1915, p.
818.
69. Inyo Register, 23 March 1916; Black, "Mineral Report for the Ubehebe Lead Mine," p. 1.
70. Calif. St. Mng. Bur., Fifteenth Annual Report of the State Mineralogist (1917), p. 109;
Smith, Mineral Resources, p. 24.
71. McAllister, Special Report 42, p. 47.
72. Inyo Independent, 16 October 1920, 8 January 1921.
73. Ibid., 7 October 1922; 24 November 1923; 26 January 1924; 24 January 1925.
74. Mining Journal, 15 March 1928, p. 29; Earl B. Young (Combined Metals Reduction Co.),
to E. H. Snyder, 21 May 1946; McAllister, Special Report 42, p. 4; Black, "Mineral Report

for the Ubehebe Lead Mine," p. 2.
75. Mining Journal, 30 January 1930, p. 8; Black, "Mineral Report for the Ubehebe Lead
Mine," p. 2.
76. Witt, "Preliminary Report on the Ubehebe Lead Mine," pp. 1, 3; Young to Snyder, p. 2;
Inyo Independent, 30 April 1937, 18 February 1938.
77. Inyo Independent, 20 May 1938; Mining Journal, 15 June 1938, p. 23; Calif. St. Mng.
Bur., Journal of Mines and Geology, 34 (October 1938), p. 456.
78. Young to Snyder, pp. 1-3.
80. Witt, "Preliminary Report on the Ubehebe Lead Mine," pp. 1-5.
81. Joseph J. Snyder, Pres., Ubehebe Lead Mines, Inc., to James B. Thompson, Supt., DEVA
NM, 16 October 1973.
82. Black, "Mineral Report for the Ubehebe Lead Mine," p. 2.
83. Inyo Register, 9 May 1907; Bullfrog Miner, 26 April, 29 June, 6 July 1907; Rhyolite
Herald, 18 October 1907.
84. Bullfrog Miner, 14 December, 28 December 1907.
85. Inyo Register, 12 March 1908; Bullfrog Miner, 14 March, 28 March 1908.
86. Bullfrog Miner, 13 February 1909; Inyo Independent, 19 February 1909; Bullfrog Miner,
27 February 1909; Rhyolite Herald, 3 March 1909; Engineering and Mining Journal 20
March 1909, p. 624.
88. Ibid., 4 November 1911, 6 January 1912.
89. Mining World, 9 September 1916, p. 469.
90. Inyo Register, 25 January, 15 March 1917. Notice of a water application was found filed
by Charles E. Knox of the Montana-Tonopah Co., for 20 miner's inches from Willow and
Alkali springs to be conveyed by an 8-mile-long pipeline to a quartz mine in the Ubehebe
Mining District at a cost of $2,000. Inyo Independent, 16 March 1917.
91. Eakle et al., Mines and Mineral Resources, pp. 75-77; Calif. St. Mng. Bur., Report
Twenty-two of the State Mineralogist (1926), pp. 470-71; Calif. St. Mng. Bur., Journal of
Mines and Geology 34 (October 1938):406. Herman Albert, who worked at the Lost Burro
for a short time, mentions a "nice little settlement of tents with board floors and walls all set
up and furnished ready for occupancy" in which miners of the Montana-Tonopah Co. would
live while working the mine. Odyssey of a Desert Prospector (Norman: Univ. of Oklahoma
Press, 1967), pp. 234-35. Witt, in his "Preliminary Report on the Ubehebe Lead Mine,"
(1949), states that "At the old Los Burros [sic] Mine, some twelve miles east [of the Ubehebe
Mine] is a spring which once supplied a forty ton gold mill operated many years ago by the
Tonopah Mining Co." Pp. 2-3. It would appear, therefore, that the mill did function for a
short period at least.

93. McAllister, Special Report 42, p. 44; Notices of Location, Lost Burro #1 and #2 lode
mining claims, located 3 November 1948, Vol. 59, pp. 41-42, Inyo Co. Courthouse; Notice of
Location, Gold Belt Mill Site, located 18 December 1948, Vol. C, p. 535, Inyo Co.
Courthouse.
94. Wm. C. Thompson to Supt., DEVA NM, 16 January 1978. Thompson's dates seem open
to question.
95. Wm. C. Thompson to Sen. John V. Tunney, 22 March 1975; Thompson to Supt., DEVA
NM, 16 January 1978; Thompson to The President (via Repr. Shirley N. Pettis), 19 October
1977.
98. Eakle et al., Mines and Mineral Resources p. 102; Calif. St. Mng. Bur., Report of the
State Mineralogist (1926), p. 496; C.. George Lippincott, Jr., to Bob Mitchum [sic] 11 July
1974.
100. Mining Journal, 30 November 1942, p. 24, and 15 November 1943, pp. 20-21.
101. Mining Journal, 30 March 1946, p. 22.
102. Calif. St. Mng. Bur., Journal of Mines and Geology 47 (January 1951):73-74; A.E.
Bernard (State Inspector of Mines), Nevada Mines Mills and Smelters in Operation as of
December 1, 1953 p. 10; State Inspector of Mines, Report 1953-54 p. McAllister, Special
Report 42, p. 29.
103. Donald M. Spalding, Supt., DEVA NM, to C. George Lippincott, Jr., 29 December
1977.
104. McAllister, Special Report 42, pp. 29, 31; Walter Gould, "Mineral Report for the Lead
King, Lead King No. 1, Lead King No. 3 through Lead King No. 8 Lode Mining Claims and
the Lippincott Millsite Claim in Death Valley National Monument, California," 29 March
1978, p. 1.
105. McAllister, Special Report 42, pp. 18, 29.
106. Mining Journal, 30 June 1945, p. 20.
108. A.H. Chidester, A.E.J. Engel, and L.A. Wright, "Talc resources of the United States,"
USGS Bulletin No. 1167 (Washington: GPO, 1964), Table 9, hereafter referred to as USGS
Bulletin No. 1167; Evans et al., Special Report 125, p. 43.
109. F.A. Spicker, "Mineral Report for the White Horse Talc #1, White Horse #2, White
Horse Talc #3, White Horse Talc #4 Unpatented Lode Mining Claims in Death Valley
National Monument, California," 16 June 1978, p. 1; Carl A. Stadler, "The Geology of the
Goldbelt Spring Area, Northern Panamint Range, Inyo County, California," MS thesis,
University of Oregon, 1968, cited in ibid., p. 3.

110. Stadler, "The Geology of the Goldbelt Spring Area," in F.A. Spicker, "Mineral Report
for the Gold Belt Talc No. 1, Gold Belt Talc No. 2, Gold Belt Talc No. 3 Unpatented Lode
Mining Claims and the Gold Belt Millsite in Death Valley National Monument, California,"
16 June 1978, p. 2; Chidester et al., USGS Bulletin No. 1167, Table 9.
111. Rhyolite Herald, 10 March 1909; Rhyolite Daily Bulletin, 26 May 1909.
112. Mining Journal, 30 January 1927, p. 36.
114. Mining Journal, 15 February 1927, p. 31.
115. Ibid., 15 March 1927, p. 34; Inyo Independent, 7 May 1927.
116. Inyo Independent 4 June 1927.
117. Ibid., 11 June 1927. Efforts to locate a copy of this plat in either the Inyo Co.,
California, recorder's office or in that of the Esmeralda Co., Nevada, clerk and recorder were
fruitless. The only Skookum Mining District known about in the latter state is the district by
that name in Lander Co., outside Austin.
118. Mining Journal, 30 June 1927, p. 31. This is not to be confused with the Skookum-
Bullfrog Group of claims in the Bullfrog District near Gold Center, which were active much
earlier, about 1906 to 1907.
119. Ibid., p. 32; 15 July 1927, p. 30.
120. Inyo Independent, 20 November 1926. Messrs. Logan, McNamara, Traynor, and
Maloney later became directors of Death Valley Gold Mines, Inc., the Nevada organization
incorporated in November 1926 that carried out initial explorations in the area that later was
designated the Skookum Mining District.
121. Mining Journal, 15 August 1927, p. 30.
123. Mining Journal, 30 October 1927, p. 34.
125. From MS, Hank Johnston, Death Valley Scotty: The Man and the Myth, Chapter 7, pp.
2-3, in history files, DSC.
127. Ibid., 14 April 1928.
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Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION III:
Endnotes
2. Gower, 50 Years in Death Valley, p. 124.
3. In 1933 when Death Valley became a national monument, the well site was marked by the
present iron pump and masonry curbing. Bob Eichbaum guarded the original stovepipe and
displayed it for a time at his Stovepipe Wells resort. After being lost for a short period, the
relic was relocated and displayed again at the dedication of an official state historical plaque
at the old well site on 10 November 1968 during the 19th annual Death Valley Encampment.
San Bernardino (Ca.) Sun, 8 November 1968.
6. Rhyolite Herald, 19 April 1907. According to Death Valley Scotty's reminiscences, water
and feed for pack animals and -freight teams cost 50¢ a head, and a shot of whiskey for,
thirsty drivers and prospectors cost the same. Houston, Death Valley Scotty Told Me-- p. 88.
8. Inyo Independent, 8 and 29 August 1925. Eichbaum's two-route proposal had included
plans for a toll road beginning at the south end of the valley and going north via Bennett's
Well and Furnace Creek Ranch clear up to Mesquite Spring in the north end of the valley.
This route was violently opposed by the U.S. Borax Company employees, who were frequent
users of it. Mary De Decker, The Eichbaum Toll Road Death Valley '49ers Keepsake No. 10
(San Bernardino, Ca.: Inland Printing & Engraving Co., 1970), n.p.
10. Ibid.
11. Ibid., 8 May 1926.
12. Ibid., 10 October 1925.
14. Inyo Independent 20 November 1926; "Death Valley's load to Nowhere," in World's
Work 49 (July 1930): 51.
15. Inyo Independent 27 November 1926, and 24 November 1928.
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16. Shorty Harris and John Cyty became almost regulars around the ranch, even participating
in some of the Easter sunrise services initiated later. See Inyo Independent, 7 April 1928.
17. Letter quoted in De Decker, Eichbaum Toll Road n.p.
18. Inyo Independent 26 March 1927.
19. Ibid., 9 April 1927.
20. People attracted to 'the 1928 observance were witness to the inaugural flight by women
over Death Valley. Inyo Independent, 14 April 1928. After Death Valley became a national
monument in 1933 the sunrise services continued under the sponsorship of the NPS.
21. Inyo Independent 29 October 1927.
22. Ibid., 14 December 1929.
23. Ibid., 4 January 1930.
24. John R. White, Supt., DEVA NM, to Chief Engineer Kittredge, Office of National Parks,
'Buildings & Reservations, 31 October 1933.
25. Inyo Independent 23 September 1966.
26. World's Work, 49 (July 1930):51.
28. Ron Miller, Fifty Years Ago at Furnace Creek Inn, Death Valley '49ers Keepsake No. 17
(Pasadena: The Castle Press, 1977), p. 7; Inyo Independent, 8 January 1927; Gower, 50 Years
in Death Valley, p. 115; Papke, Guidebook, p. 20; Myrick, Railroads of Nevada and Eastern
California, p. 610.
29. Miller, Fifty Years, p. 7; Gower, 50 Years in Death Valley, pp. 115-17; Inyo
30. Miller, Fifty Years, p. 9; Gower, 50 Years in Death Valley, pp. 116-17; Myrick,
Railroads of Nevada and Eastern California, p. 611; Inyo Independent, 11 December 1926, 8,
22, and 29 January 1927.
31. Miller, Fifty Years, p. 7; Inyo Independent, 8, 22 January 1927; Gower, 50 Years in
Death Valley, pp. 115-16.
32. Gower, 50 Years in Death Valley, pp. 117-19. See Fred Harvey Fact Sheet available at
the Inn and Ranch for a brief history of both structures. Some discrepancies in dates will be
noted; Inyo Independent, 26 February 1937.
33. Gower, 50 Years in Death Valley, pp. 118-19; Inyo Independent, 8 May 1936; Fred
Harvey Fact Sheet on Furnace Creek Inn and Ranch.
35. Gower, 50 Years in Death Valley, pp. 120-21; Inyo Independent, 14 November 1931.
36. Water was provided to the plant by means of an air-pipe that lay uncovered on top of the
ground, and living quarters were provided for the borax workers, skinner, and swampers. The

ranch was only needed, therefore, to supply foodstuffs. John R. Spears, "Through Death
Valley," in California Illustrated Magazine (February 1893), p. 317.
37. Ibid.
38. Crampton, Deep Enough, Preface.
39. Calif. St. Mng. Bur., Third Annual Report of the State Mineralogist for the year Ending
June 1, 1883 (Sacramento: James J. Ayers, 185, p. 32.
40. Spears, Illustrated Sketches, pp. 36-37.
43. Ibid.; Rhyolite Herald, 19 April 1907; Bullfrog Miner, 6 July 1907.
44. Steward, Basin-Plateau Aboriginal Sociopolitical Groups, pp. 91-92.
45. Cited in Hunt, Archeology of the Death Valley Salt Pan, p. 12.
46. Ibid.
47. Perkins, White Heart of Mojave, p. 120.
48. Bullfrog Miner, 9 November 1907; Inyo Register, 20 February 1908; Bullfrog Miner, 15
February 1908.
49. Bullfrog Miner, 22 February 1907.
50. Ibid. This amount of acreage is doubtful, since the irrigation ditches could never have
supplied enough water to cultivate so large an area.
51. Gower, 50 Years in Death Valley, p. 140; Inyo Independent, 13 May 1922.
52. Gower, 50 Years in Death Valley, pp. 140-41; John L. Von Blon, "A 'Garden of Atlah' in
Death Valley," in Scientific American (April 1926), pp. 242-43; Edmund C. Jaeger, ed., The
Desert in Pictures published for Palm Springs Desert Museum by Desert Magazine Press,
n.d., p. 41; Inyo Independent, 26 February 1937.
53. Gower, 50 Years in Death Valley, p. 123; Fred Harvey Fact Sheet on Furnace Creek Inn
and Ranch; C.A. Schoil, "Historical Facts in the Development of Furnace Creek Inn and
Furnace Creek Ranch," typescript in history files, DSC; Inyo Independent 11 December
1936, 23 July 1937, and 29 September 1939.
54. Gower, 50 Years in Death Valley, p. 123; Fred Harvey Fact Sheet on Furnace Creek Inn
and Ranch; Inyo Independent, 26 April, 10 May 1940.
55. San Bernardino (Ca.) Sun, April 1969.
56. Rhyolite Herald, 22 December 1905; Inyo Independent, 9 February 1906.
57. Bullfrog Miner, September 1907, in Harold Weight and Lucile Weight, Rhyolite: The
Ghost City of Golden Dreams (Twentynine Palms, Ca.: The Calico Press, 1970), p. 13.

58. Weight and Weight, Rhyolite p. 14. The exact extent of ownership of each of these
parties in. the Nevares Spring property has yet to be determined. Time did not permit
exhaustive research on this subject in the course of this study. Nevares and Beatty evidently
filed a joint water right on the spring.
60. Ibid.
61. John R. White, Supt., DEVA NM, to Dir., NPS, 25 October 1937.
63. Hunt, Archeology of the Death Valley Salt Pan, pp. 7, 163.
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Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION III:
Endnotes
1. Inyo Register, 11 November 1909.
2. Several sources have been drawn upon for this capsulized history of the borax industry in
the Death Valley region. Among them are: Marius R. Campbell, "Reconnaissance of the
borax deposits of Death Valley and Mohave desert," USGS Bulletin No. 200 (Washington:
GPO, 1902), pp. 7-8; Hoyt S. Gale, "The Lila C. borax mine at Ryan, Cal.," in Mineral
Resources of the United States Calendar Year 1911 (Washington: GPO, 1912), p. 861; Evans
et al., Special Report 125, pp. 21-22; Weight, Twenty Mule Team Days pp. 37-38; Spears,
Illustrated Sketches p. 62; Calif. St. Mng. Bur., Third Annual Report of the State Mineralogist
(1883), pp. 26-30, 36; Myrick, Railroads of Nevada and Eastern California p. 609; "100
Years of U.S. Borax, 1872-1972," in Pioneer (1972), passim.
3. "Organization and Laws of Monte Blanco Borax and Salt Mining District, Inyo Co.,
California, Furnace Creek Cannon [sic], Inyo Co., State of California, November 3rd, 1882,"
in Land, Water and Mining Claims, Inyo Co., Book D. See Appendix C for a full copy of the
by-laws.
4. By-Laws of Death Valley Borax and Salt Mining District, 25 May 1883, in Land, Water
and Mining Claims, Inyo Co., Book D, pp. 345-49. See Appendix D for a full copy of this
document.
5. Gower, 50 Years in Death Valley, pp. 35-36, 107-8; Glasscock, Here's Death Valley, pp.
270-71.
6. Rhyolite Herald 22 January 1910.
7. Inyo Independent 29 October 1921, also 17 December 1921 and 6 May 1922.
8. Evans et al., Special Report 125, p. 23; Glasscock, Here's Death Valley, pp. 271-74.
9. William Frederick Foshag, "Famous Mineral Localities: Furnace Creek, Death Valley," in
American Mineralogist 9 (January 1924): 8-10.
10. Clarence Wendel, Special Report on Borate Resource: A Supply and Marketing Study
(San Francisco: NIPS Mining and Minerals Division [Washington Office], 1978), pp. 26, 29.
11. Gower, 50 Years in Death Valley, pp. 108-9.
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deva/hrs/notes3e.htm
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Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION IV:
Endnotes
1. Russel R. Elliott, Nevada's Twentieth-Century Mining Boom: Tonopah Goldfield Ely,
(1966), pp. vii-viii, 1-2.
2. Shorty Harris, "Half a Century Chasing Rainbows," Touring Topics, October 1930, pp. 18-
3. Inyo Independent, 30 September, 21 October, 18 November, 23 December 1904; 27

January, 5 May 1905. Inyo Register, 20 October 1904; 16 March, 30 March 1095; Rhyolite
Herald, 5 May 1905.
4. Rhyolite Herald, 5 May, 2 June, 18 August 1905. Bullfrog Miner, 9 June 1905. Walter N.
Frickstad, A Century of Nevada Post Offices, (1958), pp. 4, 24. S. H. Ball, A Geologic
Reconnaissance in Southwestern Nevada and Eastern California, USGS Bulletin #308,
(1907), p. 25.
5. Bullfrog Miner, 23 March 1906. Rhyolite Herald, 27 April 1906; Mining World, 5 May
1906, p. 564. David F. Myrick, Railroads of Nevada and Eastern California Vol. II, (1963), p.
478.
6. Inyo Register, 7 Feb 1907. Bullfrog Miner, 8 February, 29 March 1907. Rhyolite Herald
Pictorial Supplement, March 1909. Rhyolite Daily Bulletin, 23 September, 16 October 1907.
Myrick, Railroads of Nevada, II, 517, 556. Harold O. Weight, Rhyolite: The Ghost of Golden
Dreams (1953), pp. 18-26.
7. Rhyolite Daily Bulletin, 19 October 1907. Bullfrog Miner, 7 December 1907. Nye County
Recorder's Office, 1907 Assessment Rolls, Nye County, Rhyolite.
8. Mining World, 4 Jan 1908, p. 41. Bullfrog Miner, 29 February, 2 May, 3 October 1908.
Rhyolite Herald, 30 December 1908; Pictorial Supplement, March 1909. Myrick, Railroads
of Nevada II, 484. Weight, Rhyolite, pp. 18, 33, 35.
9. Bullfrog Miner, 9 & 30 January, 27 February, 8 & 22 May 1909; Rhyolite Herald, 14
August 1909. Melvin Owen Warns, The Nevada "Sixteen National Banks and Their Mining
Camps (1974), p. 87. Nye County Recorder's Office, 1909 Assessment Roll, Rhyolite. Mining
World, 22 January 1910, p. 193.
10. Rhyolite Herald, 25 March 1911. Warns, Nevada's "Sixteen National Banks, p. 87. Nye
County Recorder's Office, 1910 Assessment Roll, Rhyolite; 1911 Assessment Roll, Rhyolite.
Mining World, 27 January 1912, p. 228.
11. Rhyolite Herald, 22 June 1912. Inyo Register, 30 July 1914; 7 December 1916. Nye
County Recorder's Office, 1920 Assessment Roll, Rhyolite.

12. B.F. Couch and J.A. Carpenter, "Nevada's Metal and Mineral Production, 1859-1940,"
University of Nevada Bulletin #37 (1943), pp. 111-112.
13. Rhyolite Herald Pictorial Supplement, March, 1909. Lucien M. Lewis, "He was in on the
Bullfrog Jackpot," Desert Magazine December 1946, pp. 20-21. Tom G. Murry, "Letters
From a Death Valley Prospector," Desert Magazine June 1963, pp. 8-11. Carson City Land
Office, Mineral Survey #2294.
14. Inyo Independent, 25 Nov 1904. Mining & Scientific Press, 26 November 1904, p. 362.
Engineering and Mining Journal, 23 March 1905, p. 594. Rhyolite Herald, 26 May, 23 & 30
June, 14 & 21 July 1905.
15. Frederick L. Ransome, Preliminary Account of Goldfield, Bullfrog and Other Mining
Districts in Southern Nevada USGS Bulletin 4303, (1907), pp. 41, 53.
16. Bullfrog Miner, 12 Jan, 9 & 23 March, 3 August, 28 September 1906. Mining World, 27
January 1906, p. 158. Rhyolite Herald, 9 March, 20 April, 18 May 1906.
17. Rhyolite Herald, 26 October, 14 December 1906. Bullfrog Miner, 26 October, 16 & 23
November, 7, 14 & 28 December 1906. Nye County Recorder's Office, 1906 Assessment
Roll, Rhyolite.
18. Rhyolite Herald, 4 January 1907. Bullfrog Miner, 30 November 1906, 27 July, 31 August,
14 December 1907. Nye County Recorder's Office, 1907 Assessment Roll, Rhyolite.
19. Bullfrog Miner, 2 May, 18 April, 11 July 1908. Rhyolite Daily Bulletin, 11 April 1908.
Rhyolite Herald, 3 June, 4 November 1908. F.L. Ransome, et al, Geology and Ore Deposits
of the Bullfrog District Nevada USGS Bulletin 11407 (1910), p. 122. Nye County Recorder's
Office, 1908 Assessment Rolls, Rhyolite.
20. Rhyolite Herald Pictorial Supplement, March 1909, 2 October 1909; 4 June 1910, 20 &
27 April 1912. Mining World, 27 June 1914, p. 1219. Nye County Recorder's Office, 1909-
1917 Assessment Rolls, Rhyolite. Nevada Secretary of State, Articles of Incorporation, Vol
32, p. 74. Nye County Deed Book, Vol. 22, pp. 537-66.
21. Mining Journal, 15 May 1926, p. 37; 30 July 1927, p. 30; 30 September 1940, p. 28; 20
March 1941, p. 22. Leslie C. Mott, Mining Activities and Sales Opportunities in the State of
Nevada, Los Angeles County Chamber of Commerce, Domestic Trade Report #66, (1937), p.
26. Victor E. Kral, "Mineral Resources of Nye County, Nevada," University of Nevada
Bulletin #45 (January 1951), p. 35. Nye County Recorder's Office, 1926-1978 Assessment
Rolls, Rhyolite and Beatty.
22. Murray, "Letters From a Death Valley Prospector," p. 8.
23. Nevada Secretary of State, Articles of Incorporation, 1905-1910.
24. Carson City Land Office, Plat of the Bullfrog Extension Mining Company. Nevada
Secretary of State, Articles of Incorporation, Foreign, #8-1905. Rhyolite Herald 2 June, 13
October, 17 November 1905; 1 June, 14 September, 26 October, 14 & 28 December 1906.
Bullfrog Miner, 12 January, 4 May, 1 June 1906. Nye County Recorder's Office, 1906
Assessment Roll, Rhyolite. Handbook on Nevada Mines pub. by Goldfield News (1906), p.
12.
25. Rhyolite Herald, 4 January, 22 February, 1 November 1907; 2 December 1908. Bullfrog
Miner, 29 March, 6 April, 4 May 1907. Nye County Recorder's Office, 1907 and 1908

Assessment Rolls, Rhyolite.
26. Rhyolite Herald, 9 June, 2 October, 11 & 25 December 1909; 17 December 1910; 2
September 1911. Nye County Recorder's Office, 1909-1910 Assessment Rolls, Rhyolite.
27. Rhyolite Herald, 13 October, 8 December 1905; 5 & 26 January, 2 March, 27 April, 14
September, 26 October, 16 November 1906; Pictorial Supplement, March 1909. Bullfrog
Miner, 30 March 1906. P. LaMontagne, Nevada the New Gold State: An Up-to-Date
Description of the Mining Interests of Tonopah, Goldfield, Bullfrog, Diamondfield, Goldreef,
etc., (1905), p. 47. Nye County Recorder's Office, 1906 Assessment Roll, Rhyolite.
28. Rhyolite Herald, 4 January 1907; 4 January 1908. Bullfrog Miner, 29 March, 4 May 1907.
29. Carson City Land Office, Plat of the Bullfrog Fraction, Survey #2496. Rhyolite Herald, 4
May, 16 & 23 June, 4 August 1905; 27 July, 31 August, 3 October, 2 November 1906. Nye
County Recorder's Office, Deed Books, Vol 13, p. 395.
30. Nevada Secretary of State, Articles of Incorporation, Foreign, #281r1905. Rhyolite

Herald, 17 November, 15 December 1905; 4 May 1906. Bullfrog Miner, 6 April, 4 May 1906.
Handbook on Nevada Mines, p. 10.
31. Bullfrog Miner, 18 May, 5 October 1906. Rhyolite Herald, 1 June, 27 July, 31 August, 19
October, 9 November 1906.
32. Rhyolite Herald, 4 January, 8 February 1907. Bullfrog Miner, 8 February, 22 February, 3
May 1907.
33. Nevada Secretary of State, Articles of Incorporation, Vol 6, p. 35. Rhyolite Herald, 27
October, 3 November 1905. Bullfrog Miner, 12 January 1906.
34. Rhyolite Herald, 9 February, 2 March, 7 September 1906; 4 January, 5 April 1907; 16
December 1908. Bullfrog Miner, 13 & 20 April, 1 June 1906; 29 March 1907.
35. Rhyolite Herald, 30 June 1905; 4 January, 5 April 1907. Bullfrog Miner, 25 May 1906;
11 January, 8 March 1907. Handbook of Nevada Mines p. 16. Nevada Secretary of State,
Articles of Incorporation, Vol 11, p. 285.
36. Bullfrog Miner, 5, 12, 19, & 26 October, 2 November, 21 December 1907. Rhyolite Daily
Bulletin, 25 October 1907. Rhyolite Herald, 1, & 8 November, 1907; 4 March, 7 October
1911. Nevada--The Mineral Empire Souvenier of the American Mining Congress (1909),
#57-58.
37. Carson City Land Office, Plat of the Bullfrog West Extension Mining Company, Survey
112590. Nevada Secretary of State, Articles of Incorporation, Foreign, j6-1905. Rhyolite
Herald, 13 October 1905; 22 March 1907. Bullfrog Miner, 29 March 1907.
38. Rhyolite Herald, 4 & 18 May, 28 September, 2 & 16 November, 14 December 1906.
Bullfrog Miner, 5 & 26 October, 23 & 30 November 1906.
39. Bullfrog Miner, 11 & 25 January, 22 February, 1, 8 & 15 March 1907. Rhyolite Herald,
25 January, 15 February, 8 March 1907. Nevada Secretary of State, Articles of Incorporation,
Foreign, 58-1/2-1907.
40. Rhyolite Herald, 22 & 29 March, 19 April 1907. Bullfrog Miner 29 March, 5 April, 3
May, 22 June, 7 August 1907.

41. Bullfrog Miner, 31 August, 7 September 1907; 18 January, 1 February 1908. Rhyolite
Herald, 29 November, 20 December 1907. Nye County Recorder's Office, 1907 Assessment
Roll, Rhyolite.
42. Rhyolite Daily Bulletin, 5 February, 23 & 30 March, 27 April 1908. Bullfrog Miner, 8
February, 7, 14, 21 & 28 March, 4 April, 2 May 1908. Nye County Recorder's Office, Deeds,
Vol. 19, p. 373.
43. Bullfrog Miner, 9 & 16 May, 13 June, 1 August, 5 September, 3 October 1908. Rhyolite
Herald, 5, 19 & 26 August 1908. Nye County Recorder's Office, 1907 Assessment Roll,
Rhyolite.
44. Bullfrog Miner, 3 October, 7, 14, 21 & 28 November 1908. Rhyolite Herald, 4 November
1908. Mining World, 17 October 1908, p. 621. Nye County Recorder's Office, 1908
Assessment Roll, Rhyolite. Carson City Land Office, Record of Patent, #88070.
45. Bullfrog Miner, 16 & 30 January, 7 August, 11 & 25 September 1909. Rhyolite Herald,
24 March 1909: Rhyolite Daily Bulletin, 30 March 1909. Mining World, 11 December 1909,
p. 1159. Nye County Recorder's Office, 1909 Assessment Roll, Rhyolite.
46. Rhyolite Herald, 1 January, 18 June, 5 November 1910. Nevada Secretary of State,
Articles of Incorporation, Foreign, #6-1/2-1905. Nye County Recorder's Office, 1910
Assessment Roll, Rhyolite.
47. Rhyolite Herald, 1 April, 7 October, 25 November, 9, 23 & 30 December 1911. Nye
County Recorder's Office, 1911 Assessment Roll, Rhyolite.
48. Rhyolite Herald, 13 January, 10 & 17 February, 2, 9, 23 & 30 March, 6 & 20 April, 25
May, 15 & 22 June 1912.
49. Nye County Recorder's Office, 1911-1922 Assessment Rolls, Rhyolite.
50. Nye County Recorder's Office, 1923-1978 Assessment Rolls, Rhyolite.
51. K. R. Casper, "The Bullfrog Bonanza," p. 323. Rhyolite Herald, 26 May 1905. Nevada
Secretary of State, Articles of Incorporation, Foreign, #32111905.
52. Rhyolite Herald, 26 May, 16 June, 21 July, 1 September, 13 & 27 October, 17 & 24
November 1905. Engineering and Mining Journal, 6 July 1905, p. 13.
53. Rhyolite Herald, 5, 19 & 26 January, 2 & 9 February, 2 & 30 March 1906. Bullfrog
Miner, 9, 16, 23 & 30 March 1906.
54. Rhyolite Herald, 6, 13 & 27 April, 4, 18 & 25 May, 8 June 1906. Mining World, 16 June
1906, p. 735. Bullfrog Miner, 6 & 27 April, 18 May 1906. Nye County Recorder's Office,
Deed Book, Vol. 16, p. 276.
55. Rhyolite Herald, 29 June, 6 July, 21 September, 12 October 1906. Bullfrog Miner, 11 &
20 May, 30 November 1906. Nye County Recorder's Office, 1906 Assessment Roll, Rhyolite.
56. Rhyolite Herald, 4 & 11 January, 1, 8 & 15 February 1907. Bullfrog Miner, 8 & 15
February, 29 March, 22 June, 20 July, 24 & 31 August, 7 September 1907. Mining World, 23
March 1907, p. 402.
57. Bullfrog Miner, 14 & 28 September, 26 October 1907. Mining World, 21 September

1907, p. 492. Rhyolite Herald, 8 November, 6, 13 & 20 December 1907. Rhyolite Daily
Bulletin, 25 & 30 September, 8 & 31 October, 27 November, 16 & 28 December 1907; 10
January 1908.
58. Bullfrog Miner, 11 & 18 January, 1, 22 & 29 February, 14 & 28 March, 4, 11 & 25 April
1908. Rhyolite Daily Bulletin, 4 March, 18 April 1908.
59. Rhyolite Herald, 6 & 27 May, 12 August, 2 & 30 September, 23 & 30 December 1908.
Bullfrog Miner, 21 March, 27 June, 19 September 1908. Rhyolite Daily Bulletin, 18, 24, 26
& 31 December 1908. Ransome, Geology and Ore Deposits of the Bullfrog District p. 123.
60. Rhyolite Daily Bulletin, 6 & 21 January 1909. Rhyolite Herald, 6 January, 25 December
1909; 11 June 1910; 14 January, 4 February, 8 April 1911. Bullfrog Miner, 9 January, 6 & 13
February 1909. Mining World, 3 April 1909, p. 656. Nye County Recorder's Office, 1909-
1922 Assessment Rolls, Rhyolite.
61. Nye County Recorder's Office, 1923-1978 Assessment Rolls, Rhyolite and Beatty.
62. Inyo Independent, 3 March 1905. Rhyolite Herald, 29 September 1905.
63. Rhyolite Herald, 27 October, 17 November, 1 December 1905; 5, 12, & 19 January, 30
March, 20 April 1906. Bullfrog Miner, 6, 13 & 20 April 1906.
64. Bullfrog Miner, 11, 25 May, 13 July, 7 September, 26 October, 9 & 16 November, 7 & 14
December 1906. Rhyolite Herald, 18 May, 1 June, 1 & 17 August, 2 November, 14 & 21
December 1906. Nye County Recorder's Office, 1906 Assessment Roll, Rhyolite. Nevada
Secretary of State, Articles of Incorporation, Foreign, #2071_1907.
65. Rhyolite Herald, 8 February, 15 & 29 March, 5 April 1907. Bullfrog Miner, 8, 15 & 29
March, 5 & 26 April, 10 & 24 May 1907.
66. Bullfrog Miner, 20 & 27 July, 1, 17 & 24 August, 7 & 21 September, 12 & 19 October, 2
& 23 November 1907. Rhyolite Herald, 25 October, 22 & 29 November, 6 December 1907.
Rhyolite Daily Bulletin, 9 & 22 October, 22 & 23 November, 3 & 4 December 1907.
67. Bullfrog Miner, 7, 14 & 28 December 1907; 18 & 25 January, 8 & 29 February, 28
March, 18 April, 2, 16 & 30 May, 6 June 1908. Rhyolite Herald, 13 & 27 December 1907; 29
April, 20 & 27 May, 3 June 1908. Rhyolite Daily Bulletin, 28 December 1907; 3 March 1908.
Mining World, 4 April 1908, p. 578.)
68. Bullfrog Miner, 20 June, 22 August, 12 & 19 September, 17 November, 5 & 12

December 1908; 2 January 1909. Rhyolite Herald, 24 June, 8 & 29 July, 5 & 26 August, 2, 23
& 30 September, 14 October, 11 & 25 November, 2, 23 & 30 December 1908; 13 January
1909.
69. Rhyolite Herald, 30 December 1908; 13, 20 & 27 January, 3 & 17 February, 10 & 24
March 1909. Bullfrog Miner, 2, 23 & 30 January, 13 & 27 February, 27 March, 17 & 24 April
1909. Rhyolite Daily Bulletin, 20 January, 10 March, 4 & 19 April 1909.
70. Rhyolite Herald, 21 April, 5 & 12 May, 31 July 1909. Bullfrog Miner, 24 April, 15 May,
19 June 1909. Rhyolite Daily Bulletin, 11 May 1909. Nye County Recorder's Office, 1908
Assessment Roll, Rhyolite.
71. Rhyolite Herald, 31 July, 14 & 28 August, 2 October, 1909; 2 July 1910; 21 January, 25
March, 21 October, 11 & 18 November, 9, 16 & 30 December 1911. Nye County Recorder's

Office, 1909-11 Assessment Rolls, Rhyolite; 1911 Delinquent Assessment Roll.
72. Nye County Recorder's Office, 1913-1978 Assessment Rolls, Rhyolite, Beatty. Mining
World, 27 January 1912, p. 228; 17 February 1912, p. 408. Rhyolite Herald, 18 May, 25 May,
1 June 1912. Mining Journal, 30 January 1929, p. 40; 30 September 1940, p. 28; 30 April
1941, p. 23. M.J. Brown, "Mining Activities and Sales Opportunities in the State of Nevada,"
Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, Domestic Trade Report #56 (1935), p. 8. Leslie C.
Mott, "Mining Activities and Sales Opportunities in the State of Nevada," Los Angeles
Chamber of Commerce, Domestic Trade Report 4*66, (1937), p. 29. Victor E. Kral, "Mineral
Resources of Nye County, Nevada," University of Nevada Bulletin 4#45 (1951), pp. 36-37.
73. Rhyolite Herald, 2 July 1910. B. F. Couch and J.A. Carpenter, "Nevada's Metal and
Mineral Production, 1859-1940," University of Nevada Bulletin #37 (1943), pp. 117-118.
74. Rhyolite Herald, 20 July, 17 August, 14 September, 12 & 19 October, 2, 9 & 16

November, 28 December 1906; 4 & 11 January, 15 March, 5 April 1907. Bullfrog Miner, 17,
24 & 31 August, 28 September, 2, 9 & 30 November 1906; 4 January, 15 & 29 March, 24
May, 29 June 1907. Rhyolite Daily Bulletin, 21 January 1909. Nye County Recorder's Office,
1907-1912 Assessment Rolls, Rhyolite.
75. David F. Myrick, Railroads of Nevada and Eastern California 2 vols., 1962-1963.
Myrick's volumes on Nevada's railroads are indispensable to an understanding of the
transportation system of Nevada at the turn of the century, and have been heavily relied upon
herein. Unless otherwise noted, material in this section has been drawn from Myrick's work,
especially his chapters on the Tonopah and Goldfield, the Bullfrog Goldfield, the Las Vegas
& Tonopah, and the Tonopah & Tidewater Railroads. I will take this opportunity to
acknowledge my debt to him.
76. Bullfrog Miner, 11 July 1908; 2 January, 20 February, 20 March 1909. Rhyolite Herald,
17 & ?4 March, 31 July 1909. Rhyolite Daily Bulletin, 10 March 1908. Nye County
Recorder's Office, 1907 Assessment Roll, Rhyolite.
78. Nye County Recorder's Office, 1919 Assessment Roll, Rhyolite.
79. Betty J. Tucker, "Death Valley's Titus Canyon," Desert Magazine, April 1971, pp. 26-27.
80. Rhyolite Herald, 8 & 22 December 1905; 2 February, 23 March, 18 May 1906. Bullfrog
Miner, 23 March 1906. Mining World, 19 May 1906, p. 620. Handbook on Nevada Mines p.
20.
81. Inyo Independent, 15 August 1925; 30 January, 6 February 1926. Mining Journal, 30
September 1925, p. 37; 30 December 1925, pp. 35-36; 15 January 1926, p. 24. Harold O.
Weight, "Leadfield Died of Complications,". Desert Magazine. November 1977, pp. 34, 36-
37.
82. Inyo independent, 20 February, 6 March 1926. Owens Valley Herald was quoted in Inyo
Independent of 20 February 1926; Mining Journal, 15 February 1926, p. 31; 28 February
1926, pp. 20, 37; 15 March 1926, pp. 37-38. Weight, "Leadfield Died of Complications," pp.
36-37.
83. Inyo Independent, 20 March, 1926. Mining Journal, 20 March 1926, p. 16. Weight,
"Leadfield Died of Complications," p. 37. Leadfield Chronicle, 22 March 1926, as quoted in
C. B. Glasscock, Here's Death Valley (1940), pp. 280-283.

84. Mining Journal, 15 April 1926, pp. 35-36; 30 April 1926, p. 35. Inyo Independent, 17 &
24 April, 8 May 1926. Tonopah Mining Reporter quoted in Inyo Independent, 24 April 1926.
Weight, "Leadfield Died of Complications," pp. 35, 37. Plat of Leadfield Townsite, 30 April
1926, Inyo County Court House.
85. Inyo Independent, 8 & 22 May, 7 & 27 August 1926. Mining Journal, 15 May 1926, p.
35; 30 May 1926, p. 35; 15 June 1926, p. 35; 30 June 1926, pp. 35-37; 15 July 1926, pp. 16-
17, 37; 30 July 1926, pp. 37-38; 30 August 1926, p. 35; 30 October 1926, p. 31. Weight,
"Leadfield Died of Complications," p. 39. Glasscock, Here's Death Valley, p. 284.
86. Inyo Independent, 12 February, 12 March 1927; 28 April 1928. Mining Journal, 15
February 1927, p. 31; 30 June 1927, p. 29. Memorandum, Superintendent of Death Valley
National Monument to Director, National Park Service, 6 April 1960. Weight, "Leadfield
Died of Complications," pp. 39-40.
87. "Mineral Resources of Inyo County," California Journal of Mines and Geology October
1938, p. 443. Weight, "Leadfield Died of Complications," p. 39. XXII Report, California
State Mineralogist, October 1926, p. 504.
88. Rhyolite Herald, 7 & 14 July, 13 & 27 October, 3 & 17 November, 8 & 15 December
1905. Nevada Secretary of State, Articles of Incorporation, Vol 6, p. 503. F. L. Ransome, et
al., Preliminary Account of the Goldfield Bullfrog and Other Mining Districts of Southern
Nevada p. 62.
89. Rhyolite Herald, 12 January, 2, 9, & 23 March, 6, 13 & 27 April, 4 May, 17 August, 14 &
28 September, 19 & 26 October, 2 November, 28 December 1906. Bullfrog Miner, 23 & 30
March, 25 May, 5 October, 16 & 23 November 1906.
90. Rhyolite Herald, 4 & 11 January 1907; 2 December 1908; 31 December 1910; Bullfrog
Miner, 29 March, 24 May 1907; 7 March 1908. Rhyolite Daily Bulletin, 21 January 1909.
Victor E. Kral, "Mineral Resources of Nye County, Nevada," p. 36.
91. Rhyolite Herald, 19 April 1907; 13 November 1909; 4 February 1911. Rhyolite Daily
Bulletin, 25 January 1908; 24 March 1909. Bullfrog Miner, 4 January 1907; 19 September
1908. W. C. Mendenhall, Some Desert Watering Places in Southeastern California and
Southwestern Nevada USGS Water Supply Paper #224 (1909), p. 89.
92. E. E. Stuart, Nevada's Mineral Resources (1909), p. 27. W. C. Mendenhall, Some Desert
Watering Places in Southeastern California and Southwestern Nevada, p. 89.
93. Victor E. Kral, "Mineral Resources of Nye County, Nevada," p. 36. Memorandum,
Superintendent of Death Valley National Monument to Director of the National Park Service,
6 April 1960. Nye County Recorder's Office, 1942-1952 Assessment Rolls, Beatty.
94. Victor E. Kral, "Mineral Resources of Nye County, Nevada," p. 36.
95. Nye County Recorder's Office, 1931-1947 Assessment Rolls, Beatty.
<<< Contents >>>
deva/hrs/notes4a.htm


Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION IV:
Endnotes
1. Mining World, 20 January 1906, p. 59. Mining & Scientific Press, 29 August 1908, p. 298.
2. San Bernardino Argus, 10 July 1873. San Bernardino Guardian, 16 August, 1 November
1873. Inyo Independent, 29 September 1905. Bullfrog Miner, 23 March 1906.
3. Inyo Independent, 21 April, 5 May, 29 September, 3 November, 15 December 1905.

Rhyolite Herald, 20 October, 8 & 22 December 1905. S. H. Ball, A Geologic Reconnaissance
in Southwestern Nevada and Eastern California, USGS Bulletin #308, (1907--field work
done in June-December 1905), p. 173. Map, Gold Center: The Future City of the Bullfrog
Mining District, Nevada, 1905.
4. Bullfrog Miner, 12 January, 9 & 23 March, 1 June, 13 July 1906. Rhyolite Herald, 19
January, 9 February, 13 & 20 April, 4 May, 1 & 8 June, 6 July 1906. Mining World, 7 July
1906, p. 23.
5. Bullfrog Miner, 15 February, 20 April, 14 December 1907. Rhyolite Herald, 5 April, 20

December 1907; 4 December 1909. Rhyolite Daily Bulletin, 26 December 1907.
6. Rhyolite Herald, 1, 15 & 22 January, 12 & 26 February, 30 March, 30 April, 28 May, 25

June, 30 July, 6, 13 & 20 August, 3 & 10 September, 15 October 1910.
7. Rhyolite Herald, 8 & 15 April, 2 & 20 May, 12 August, 2 September, 28 October, 11

November, 23 December 1911; 10 February, 30 March, 8 June 1912.
8. Arthur S. Eakle, et at., "Mines and Mineral Resources of Alpine County, Inyo County,
Mono County," USGS Bulletin #285, (1917), pp. 72-73. Inyo Independent, 8 April, 2
September 1922; 20 November 1926; 1 August, 21 November 1931. Mining Journal, 15
November 1928; p. 32; 15 December 1928, p. 30; 15 June 1941, p. 22; 15 November 1941, p.
20. M. J. Brown, Mining Activities in Central and Southern Nevada (1935), p. 7. California
Journal of Mines & Geology, October 1938, pp. 391-92; October 1957, pp. 461-62.
Memorandum, Superintendent Death Valley National Monument to Director National Park
Service, 6 April 1960.
9. Inyo Register, 19 May, 30 June, 4 August 1904. Inyo Independent, 20 & 27 May, 24 June,
29 July 1904; 3 March 1905.
10. Engineering & Mining Journal, 17 April 1905, p. 837. Inyo Independent, 16 June, 3
November 1905. Inyo Register, 27 Jul 1905. Rhyolite Herald, 15 & 22 September, 3
November, 15 December 1905.
11. Bullfrog Miner, 12 January, 30 March, 6 & 27 April 1906. Rhyolite Herald, 26 January,
23 February, 2 & 30 March, 6 April 1906. Inyo independent, 23 February 1906. Inyo

Register, 15 March 1906.
12. Rhyolite Herald, 27 April, 4 May, 8 & 29 June 1906. Bullfrog Miner, 4 & 11 May, 17
August 1906; 14 September 1907. Inyo Independent, 14 September 1906.
13. Rhyolite Herald, 28 September, 21 December 1906. Bullfrog Miner, 2 November, 7

December 1906.
14. Rhyolite Herald, 4 & 18 January, 8 February, 29 March, 5 & 12 April, 25 October, 1, 15
& 29 November, 6 December 1907. Bullfrog Miner, 1 February, 8 March, 5 April, 10 May, 6,
13 & 27 July, 10 & 17 August, 7, 14 & 28 September, 12 & 26 October, 16 November 1907.
Inyo independent, 10 May 1907. Mining World, 20 July 1907, p. 121. Rhyolite Daily
Bulletin, 27 September, 14 October, 12 November 1907.
15. Bullfrog Miner, 7 & 21 December 1907. Rhyolite Herald, 27 December 1907. Rhyolite
Daily Bulletin, 12 November 1907. Inyo Register, 14 November 1907.
16. Rhyolite Daily Bulletin, 9 January, 5, 15, 20 & 28 February, 20 & 31 March 1908.
Bullfrog Miner, 11 January, 8 February, 7 & 28 March 1908. Inyo Register, 13 February
1908.
17. Rhyolite Daily Bulletin, 4 & 6 April, 4 May 1908. Bullfrog Miner, 4 & 18 April, 2 & 9
May, 6, 13 & 27 June 1908. Rhyolite Herald, 29 April, 6 & 20 May, 3 & 24 June, 8 & 29
July, 5 August 1908.
18. Rhyolite Herald, 5 & 26 August, 23 September, 7 October 1908. Bullfrog Miner, 15 & 29
August, 5 September, 3 October 1908. Mining & Scientific Press, 29 August 1908, p. 298.
Engineering & Mining Journal, 5 September 1908, pp. 487-88.
19. Rhyolite Herald, 14 & 28 October, 11 & 18 November, 2 December 1908. Bullfrog
Miner, 17 & 31 October, 7 & 21 November 1908. Inyo Register, 12 & 19 November 1908.
Rhyolite Daily Bulletin, 5 December 1908. Goldfield Chronicle quoted in Rhyolite Herald of
14 October 1908.
20. Bullfrog Miner, 5 & 19 December 1908; 2 & 23 January, 6 February, 6 & 20 March 1909.
Rhyolite Herald, 16 & 30.December 1908; 6 January, 10 & 24 February, 10, 17 & 24 March
1909; Pictorial Supplement, March 199. Inyo Register 24 December 1908. Engineering &
Mining Journal, 9 January 1909, p. 120. Mining World, 30 March 1909, p. 190. Rhyolite
Daily Bulletin, 1 March 1909.
21. Rhyolite Daily Bulletin, 13 & 14 April, 22 May 1909. Rhyolite Herald, 14 & 21 April, 5,
19, & 26 May, 2 June 1909. Bullfrog Miner, 24 April, 22 May 1909.
22. Rhyolite Herald, 23 June, 7 & 31 July, 14 August, 2, 23 & 30 October, 13, 20 & 27
November, 18 & 25 December 1909; 8 January, 12 & 26 February 1910. Bullfrog Miner, 12
& 19 June, 10 & 31 July, 14 August, 4 & 17 September 1909.
23. Rhyolite Herald, 5 February, 5 March, 9 & 23 April, 7 May, 4 & 11 June, 23 July, 10
September, 1 & 29 October, 17 December 1910. Inyo Register, 11 August, 20 October 1910.
Mining World, 21 January 1911, p. 152.
24. Rhyolite Herald, 15 April, 13 & 20 May, 3 & 24 June, 1, 8 & 15 July, 5 & 12 August, 2,
16 & 30 September, 21 & 28 October, 11 November 1911; 6 January 1912. Inyo Register, 25
May, 28 September 1911; 8 February 1912. Mining World, 27 January 1912, p. 207.
California Journal of Mines & Geology, October 1938, pp. 402-03.

25. Rhyolite Herald, 27 January, 10 & 24 February, 9, 16 & 23 March, 6, 13 & 27 April, 18 &
25 May, 1, 8 & 22 June 1912. Happily, the Rhyolite Herald did not survive to see the closure
of the Keane Wonder Mine, for the Herald had itself closed on June 22, 1912. Mining World,
24 February 1912, p. 471. Inyo Register, 25 April, 22 August 1912.
26. Inyo Register, 5 June 1913 1 & 29 January, 19 February, 4 June 1914; 25 November
1915. Mining World, 12 July 1913, p. 74; 2 January 1915, p. 34; 13 November 1915, p. 786;
27 November 1915; p. 868; 18 December 1915, p. 990; 5 February 1916, p. 296; 29 July
1916, p. 205. 15th Report of the California State Mineralogist, December 1917, p. 79.
California Journal of Mines & Geology, October 1938, pp. 402-03.
27. Edna Perkins, White Heart of the Mojave, p. 101. 22d Report of the California State
Mineralogist, October 1926, p. 470. Mining Journal, 30 August 1930, p. 36; 30 April 1940, p.
20; 30 September 1940, p. 22; 15 June 1941, p. 22; 30 March 1942, p. 21. M. J. Brown,
Mining Activities in Central and Southern Nevada, p. 8. Coen correspondence, June 1935 to
November 1937, Death Valley National Monument, Mining Office Files. T. B. Nolan,
"Nonferrous-metal Deposits," USGS Bulletin #871 (1936), p. 36. Inyo independent, 18 March
1938; 17 May 1940; 20 June, 25 July 1941. California Journal of Mines & Geology, October
1938, pp. 402-03; July-October 1957, p. 481. Desert Magazine, May 1942, pp. 5-7.
Memorandum, Superintendent of Death Valley National Monument to Director, National
Park Service, 6 April 1960. David Jones, "Appraisal of Mineral Interest Inherent in the Keane
Wonder Patented Mining Property," National Park Service, April 1971.
28. Inyo Independent, 5 February, 1 April, 3, 17 & 24 June, 8 July 1904. Inyo Register, 30
June, 4 August 1904.
29. Rhyolite Herald, 22 September, 3, 17 & 24 November, 1 & 22 December 1905. Inyo
Independent, 3 November 1905. Inyo Register, 23 November 1905.
30. Rhyolite Herald, 5 & 12 January, 21 September, 19 October, 14 & 31 December 1906.
Bullfrog Miner, 30 March, 6 April, 9 November, 7 & 14 December 1906. Inyo Independent,
15 June 1906.
31. Rhyolite Herald, 4, 11 & 18 January, 1 February, 1 March, 5 April, 29 November 1907.
Bullfrog Miner, 11 January, 8 February, 13 July, 23 November 1907. Mining World, 20 April
1907, p. 518. Nye County Recorder's Office, 1907 Assessment Roll, Rhyolite.
32. Rhyolite Daily Bulletin, 14 February, 23 April, 1 May 1908. Inyo Independent, 17 April
1908. Bullfrog Miner, 18 April, 19 September, 19 October 1908. Rhyolite Herald, 19 August
1908.
33. Bullfrog Miner, 16 January, 14 & 28 August 1909. Rhyolite Daily Bulletin, 20 January
1909. Rhyolite Herald, 24 February, 17 March, 9 June, 30 October 1909; Pictorial
Supplement, March 1909.
34. Rhyolite Herald, 1 January, 26 February, 30 April, 4 June 1910; 29 April, 20 May, 26
August, 9 September, 21 October 1911; 27 January 1912. Inyo Independent, 18 February, 1
July 1910; 7 June 1912. Inyo Register, 10 May, 16 June 1910. Engineering & Mining
Journal, 18 June 1910, p. 1292. Mining World, 24 February 1912, p. 471.
35. Coen Correspondence, 1935-37, Death Valley National Monument, Mining Office files.
Inyo Independent, 8 March 1940. Mining Journal, 15 March 1940, p. 20. California Journal
of Mines & Geology, July-October 1952, p. 454. R. L. Richie, The Directory of Nevada
Mines (1940), p. 15.

36. Rhyolite Herald, 25 November, 2 December 1908; 7 & 21 April, 20 & 27 November, 25
December 1909. Bullfrog Miner, 28 November, 26 December 1908. Rhyolite Daily Bulletin,
23 December 1908; 5 March, 5 April, 18 May 1909. Inyo Independent, 27 November, 4, 18 &
25 December 1908; 26 March, 9 April, 14 May, 25 June, 19 November 1909; 18 February, 1
April 1910. Inyo Register, 8 April 1909; 24 & 31 March 1910. "The People of the State of
California vs. John Cyty," copy of appeal, November 12, 1909, District Court of Appeal,
Second Appellate District, State of California.
37. Rhyolite Herald, 4 February, 11 March, 1, 15 & 22 April, 12 August, 16 September, 14

October, 25 November 1911. Mining & Scientific Press, 1 April 1911, p. 475.
38. Edna Perkins, White Heart of the Mojave, pp. 104-05. Inyo Independent, 27 November,
11 December 1926. Nye County Recorder's Office, 1921-1944 Assessment Rolls, Rhyolite,
Beatty.
39. Inyo independent, 18 August, 29 September 1905. Rhyolite Herald, 13 October 1905.
Bullfrog Miner, 18 January 1908.
40. Rhyolite Herald, 11 August 1905; 26 January, 9 February, 2 March, 3 August 1906; 4 &
25 January, 8 & 29 March, 12 April, 11 October 1907; 30 September, 30 December 1908; 24
March, 14 April, 28 August 1909; 26 February, 30 April, 20 August, 2 December 1910; 4
May, 28 October 1911. Bullfrog Miner, 16 & 23 March, 6, 13 & 27 April, 7 September 1906;
29 March, 15 June, 20 July, 21 December 1907; 21 March, 2 April, 26 December 1908; 20
February, 13 March, 10 July 1909. Rhyolite Daily Bulletin, 26 September 1907. Nevada
Secretary of State, Articles of Incorporation, Vol. 8, pp. 248, 513. Handbook on Nevada
Mines p. 21.
41. Inyo Independent, 29 July 1904. Rhyolite Herald, 8 December 1905; 5 & 26 January, 16
& 30 March, 13 April, 11 May 1906. Bullfrog Miner, 12 January, 9, 16, 23 & 30 March, 6,
13, 20 & 27 April, 4 & 11 May, 3 August, 7 September 1906.
42. Rhyolite Herald, 4 January, 27 December 1907; 11 November 1908; 18 January 1910; 27
January 1912. Bullfrog Miner, 1 February, 8 March, 14 & 28 December 1907; 19 October
1908. Rhyolite Daily Bulletin, 22 January 1908.
43. Rhyolite Herald, 22 November 1907; 10 June, 15 & 29 July, 19 & 26 August, 9, 16 & 30
September, 14 & 21 October, 18 & 25 November 1908. Rhyolite Daily Bulletin, 8 & 24
February 1908. Bullfrog Miner, 14, 21 & 28 March, 4, 11 & 18 April, 2, 16, & 30 May, 6 &
13 June, 1 & 15 August, 3 & 10 October, 7, 14, 21 & 28 November 1908.
44. Bullfrog Miner, 5 & 26 December 1908; 2 & 9 January, 20 & 27 March, 17 April, 8 May,
31 July 1909. Rhyolite Herald, 2, 9 & 16 December 1908; 6, 13 & 27 January, 3 & 31 March,
7 & 28 April, 5, 12 & 19 May, 16 October 1909; 19 February, 1 & 29 October 1910. Rhyolite
Daily Bulletin, 11 & 26 December 1908; 8 April 1909.
45. Bullfrog Miner, 19 September, 26 December 1908.
46. Rhyolite Herald, 15 December 1905; 19 January 1906; 17 March, 19 May, 9 June, 7
August 1909; 7 & 28 May, 11 & 25 June, 27 August, 10 September 15, October 1910; 29
April, 24 June 1911; 10 February, 4 May 1912. Bullfrog Miner, 27 April 1906.
47. Memorandum for File, Robert Mitchum, Death Valley National Monument, Mining
Office, 10 June 1975.
48. Inyo Independent, 2 February 1878. Bullfrog Miner, 23 February, 16 & 23 March, 20

April, 28 September 1906. Rhyolite Herald, 23 March, 20 April, 21 September 1906; 31

March, 21 April, 9 October 1909; 15 October 1910; 15 April 1911; 3 February 1912. Inyo
Register, 24 May 1906. S. H. Ball, A Geologic Reconnaissance in Southwestern Nevada and
Eastern California, p. 174. Coen Correspondence, Death Valley National Monument, Mining
Office Files, 1935-1937.
49. Inyo Independent, 31 March, 20 October 1905. Bullfrog Miner, 8 February 1907.
Rhyolite Herald, 6 October, 7 November 1905; 22 February 1907.
50. Bullfrog Miner, 12 January, 23 March, 13 & 20 April,30 November, 21 December 1906.
Rhyolite Herald 5 January, 23 February, 13 April, 29 June, 19 October, 9 & 16 November,21
December 1906. Inyo independent, 3 August 1906. Nevada Secretary of State, Articles of
Incorporation, Vol. 9, p. 412.
51. Rhyolite Herald, 4, 18 & 25 January, 1, 15 & 22 February, 8, 15 & 22 March, 5 & 26
April, 18 October, 8 & 15 November, 6 & 20 December 1907. Bullfrog Miner, 4 January, 1,
8, 15 & 22 February, 1 & 8 March, 5, 12 & 19 April, 3, 10, 17 & 24 May, 8 June, 6 & 20
July, 3, 24 & 31 August, 14 September, 5 & 12 October, 28 December 1907. Inyo
Independent, 24 May 1907. University of Nevada, Reno, Manuscripts Collection #NC35,
Account Book of John S. Cook Bank.
52. Bullfrog Miner, 4, 11, 18 & 25 January, 1, 11 & 29 February, 7 March, 18 April, 8 & 15
August, 3 October 1908. Rhyolite Herald, 10 June, 2 September, 4 November, 2 & 9
December 1908. Inyo Independent, 8 May 1908. Rhyolite Daily Bulletin, 10 December 1908.
Death Valley Magazine, January 1908.
53. Bullfrog Miner, 6 February, 1 May, 14 August, 11 September 1909. Rhyolite Herald, 13
January, 26 May, 4 September, 6 November 1909; 26 February, 10 September 1910; 28
January, 25 February, 2 December 1911; 6 & 13 January, 27 April 1912. Inyo Independent, 8
May 1909, 7 June 1912. Inyo Register, 2 June, 11 August, 8 September, 20 October 1910; 28
September 1911; 7 June 1912. Mining Journal, 30 June 1940, p. 41. Mining World, 11
January 1913, p. 74. California Journal of Mines & Geology, October 1938, p. 395. Index to
Proof of Labor, Inyo County Recorder's Office, Lee Jumbo Mining Company, 17 June 1909.
54. Bullfrog Miner, 30 November 1906; 4 January, 1 & 15 February, 1 & 8 March, 3 May
1907. Rhyolite Herald, 4, 11 & 25 January, 1, 8 & 15 February, 1 & 22 March, 5 & 19 April
1907. Death Valley Chuck-Walla, 1 June 1907. Plat of Lee Townsite, 5 March 1907.
55. Bullfrog Miner, 19 April, 3 & 17 May, 15 & 29 June, 20 & 27 July, 3, 10, & 17 August
1907. Rhyolite Herald, 26 April 1907. Inyo Independent, 26 April, 10 May, 28 June, 2
August 1907.
56. Bullfrog Miner, 21 & 28 September, 12 & 26 October, 16 November 1907. Rhyolite
Herald, 11 & 18 October, 20 & 27 December 1907. Pacific Miner, November 1907, pp. 14-
15.
57. Inyo Register, 20 October 1910; 1 June, 28 September 1911. Rhyolite Herald, 10 Jun, 11
& 25 November, 2 December 1908; 28 January 1911; 13 January 1912.
58. Inyo Independent, 2 March 1906. Bullfrog Miner, 23 February, 23 March 1906; 8 & 15
February, 1 & 15 March 1907. Rhyolite Herald, 23 February 1906; 1, 8, 22 & 29 March 1907.
Nevada Secretary of State, Articles of Incorporation, Foreign: #2001/2-1907.
59. University of Nevada, Reno, Manuscripts Collection #NC-35, Account book of John S.
Cook bank. Inyo Independent, 2 August 1907. Daily Bulletin, 26 October 1907. Rhyolite

Herald, 5 & 12 April, 22 November, 6 December 1907. Bullfrog Miner, 5 April, 3, 10, 17 &
24 May, 8, 15 & 22 June, 6, 20 & 27 July, 3 & 17 August, 7, 14, & 21 September, 5 & 18
October, 16 November, 21 December 1907.
60. Rhyolite Daily Bulletin, 28 December 1908. Engineering & Mining Journal, 25 January
1908, p. 230. Mining World, 1 February 1908, p. 231. Inyo Independent, 31 May, 1908.
Bullfrog Miner, 18 January, 13 June, 5 December 1908. Rhyolite Herald, 29 April, 10 June, 9
December 1908.
61. Bullfrog Miner, 9 January, 6 February, 10 & 24 April, 14 August 1909. Rhyolite Herald,
3 February 1909.
62. Rhyolite Herald, 19 February, 5 & 19 March, 23 April, 14 & 21 May, 18 June, 2 July, 13
August, 10 September, 15 October, 26 November, 17 December 1910; 11 March, 2 December
1911; 6 January 1912. "Appraisal of Mineral Interests Inherent in the Hayseed-Stateline
Group at Lee Camp, California," Paul H. Knowles, National Park Service, San Francisco,
June 23, 1972. Death Valley National Monument, Mining Office files.
63. Rhyolite Herald, 26 May, 14 July, 11 August, 3 November, 22 December 1905; 12

January 1906. Bullfrog Miner, 12 January 1906; 1 March 1907.
64. Rhyolite Herald, 2 February, 2 March, 20 April, 8 June, 31 August, 28 September, 19

October, 9 November 1906. Bullfrog Miner, 6 April, 17 August 1906.
65. Rhyolite Herald, 4 & 18 January, 1, 8, 15 & 22 February, 15 March, 5, 12 & 26 April, 6 &
13 December 1907. Bullfrog Miner, 8 & 22 February, 1 & 8 March, 5 & 12 April, 17 May, 29
June, 3 & 31 August, 21 September, 5 & 12 October 1907. Rhyolite Daily Bulletin, 24
September 1907. Inyo Register, 12 September 1907.
66. Harpers Weekly Advertiser, 11 April 1908, p. 35. Bullfrog Miner, 28 March, 11 July, 7
November 1908; 24 April, 14 August, 4 & 11 September 1909. Rhyolite Herald, 10 June, 1
26 August 1908; 7 April, 20 November 1909; 1 January 1910; 27 January 1912.
67. Inyo Independent, 8 September, 13 October 1928; 6 August 1937; 18 March 1938, 10
February 1939, 9 August 1940. California Journal of Mines & Geology, October 1938, pp.
399-401; January 1940, p. 24. Memorandum, Death Valley National Monument
Superintendent to Director, National Park Service, April 1960. "Appraisal of Mineral
Interests Inherent in the Inyo Mines Claim Group," National Park Service, January 1975.
68. Rhyolite Herald, 28 December 1906; 11 & 18 January, 22 February, 5 & 26 April 1907.
Bullfrog Miner, 28 December 1906; 4, 11 & 25 January, 1 & 22 February, 1, 8, 15 & 29
March, 12 April 1907. Nevada Secretary of State, Articles of Incorporation, Vol 10, p. 397.
Death Valley Chuck-Walla, 15 March, 1 June 1907. University of Nevada Reno, Manuscripts
Collection #NC35, Account Book of John S. Cook bank.
69. Rhyolite Herald, 22 March, 26 April 1907. Bullfrog Miner, 3 May 1907. Inyo
<<< Contents >>>
deva/hrs/notes4b.htm

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION IV:
Endnotes
1. Inyo Independent, 5 & 19 May, 9 June, 8 September 1905; Bullfrog Miner, 2 November
1906.
2. Inyo Independent, 9 June, B September, 15 December 1905; 31 May 1906. Rhyolite

Herald, 23 June 1905; 16 March, 4 May, 23 June 1906. Bullfrog Miner, 9 & 30 March, 4
May, 1 June, 1 & 13 July 1906. Inyo Register, 31 May, 12 July 1906. Engineering & Mining
Journal, 2 June 1906, p. 1068. Mining World, 17 March 1906, p. 365,
3. Bullfrog Miner, 13, 20 & 27 July, 3, 10, 17, 24 & 31 August 1906. Rhyolite Herald, 20 &
27 July, 3, 10, 17 & 31 August 1906. Inyo Independent, 3, 10, 24 & 31 August 1906. Inyo
Register, 16 August 1906. Greenwater Times, 23 October 1906. Engineering & Mining
Journal, 18 August 1906, p. 319. Nevada Secretary of State, Articles of Incorporation, Vol 9,
pp. 199, 245, 270. Inyo County Courthouse, Plat of Greenwater, 13 August 1906.
4. Inyo Register, 6 & 20 September 1906. Bullfrog Miner, 7, 21 & 28 September 1906.
Rhyolite Herald, 14, 21 & 28 September 1906. Inyo Independent, 14 & 21 September 1906.
Mining World, 5 September 1906, p. 359. Engineering & Mining Journal, 22 September
1906, p. 559. Nevada Secretary of State, Articles of Incorporation, Vol 9, pp. 219, 322, 358.
5. Death Valley Chuck-Walla, 1 January 1907. Bullfrog Miner, 5 & 26 October, 2, 9, 16 & 23
November, 7, 14, 2 & 28 December 1906. Rhyolite Herald, 12, 19 & 26 October, 2
November, 14 December 1906. Inyo independent, 12 & 26 October, 30 November, 21
December 1906. Inyo Register, 15 November, 20 & 27 December 1906. Greenwater Times,
23 October, 6 November 1906. Engineering & Mining Journal, 27 October 1906, p. 787; 24
November 1906, p. 989; 15 December 1906, pp. 1105-6; 22 December 1906, p. 1187. Beatty
Bullfrog Miner, 8 December 1906. Mining World, 15 December 1906, pp. 719-21. University
of Nevada, Reno, Manuscripts Coll. #NC35, Account of Pittsburgh-Greenwater Mining
Company with John S. Cookbank of Rhyolite. California Secretary of State, Articles of
Incorporation, Vol 197, p. 156. Nevada Secretary of State, Articles of Incorporation, Vol 9,
pp. 435, 587, 634, 697; Vol 10, pp. 7, 10, 54, 81, 97, 103, 290; Articles of Incorporation,
Foreign: #103r1906, 170-1/2-1906, 3161/2-1906.
6. Rhyolite Herald, 28 December 1906; 4 January, 8 February 1907. Death Valley Chuck-
Walla, 1 & 15 January, 1 & 15 February 1907. Inyo Independent, 4 & 18 January 1907.
Bullfrog Miner, 11 & 25 January, 8, 15 & 22 February 1907. Engineering & Mining Journal,
12 January 1907, pp. 77-82, 107; 26 January 1907, p. 205; 2 February 1907, p. 304; 16
February 1907, p. 349. Mining World, 26 January 1907, pp. 138, 144. Inyo Register, 31
January 1907. Nevada Secretary of State, Articles of Incorporation, Vol 10, p. 429. Inyo
County Courthouse, Plat of New Greenwater, 11 January 1907. C. G. Glasscock, Gold in
Them Hills, (1932), p. 269. Greenwater Times and Greenwater Miner quoted in Inyo
Register, 31 January 1907. Goldfield Gossip quoted in Death Valley Chuck-Walla, 15

February 1907.
7. Rhyolite Herald, 1 March 1907. Bullfrog Miner, 8 & 29 March, 19 & 28 April 1907. Death
Valley Chuck-Walla 1 & 15 March, 1 & 15 April 1907. Inyo Register, 15 March 1907. Inyo
Independent, 22 March 1907.
8. Bullfrog Miner, 1, 7 & 24 May, 8 & 29 June, 13 July, 2 & 23 November 1907. Rhyolite
Herald, 13 December 1907. Death Valley Chuck-Walla, 15 May, 1 June 1907. Inyo
Independent, 7 & 28 June, 13 September 1907. Inyo Register, 4 July, 17 & 24 October 1907.
Engineering & Mining Journal, 15 June 1907, p. 116; 19 October 1907, pp. 727, 754; 23
November 1907, p. 992. University of Nevada, Reno, Manuscript Collection #NC35, Account
of Greenwater Lumber Yard with John S. Cook Bank of Rhyolite. Greenwater Times and
Greenwater Miner quoted in Bullfrog Miner, 8 & 15 June 1907. Las Vegas Age quoted in
Myrick, Railroads of Nevada II, 603.
9. Bullfrog Miner, 25 January, 7 March, 4 April, 6, 13 & 27 June, 8, 15 & 29 August, 3

October 1908. Rhyolite Herald 27 May, 10 & 17 June, 29 July, 9 & 30 December 1908.
Rhyolite Daily Bulletin, 19 & 24 February 1908. Inyo Register, 18 June 1908. Inyo
Independent, 12 June 1908. Mining & Scientific Press, 29 August 1908, p. 298. Engineering
& Mining Journal, 11 July 1908, p. 101. California State Mining Bureau, Bulletin #50,
September 1908, pp. 299-324.
10. Rhyolite Daily Bulletin, 8 January, 15 & 18 February 1909. Bullfrog Miner, 6 & 20
February, 10 April, 11 September 1909. Rhyolite Herald, 1 & 17 March, 11 September 1909,
Inyo Register, 4 November 1909.
11. Mining World, 22 January 1910, p. 172. Inyo Register, 2 June 1910. Rhyolite Herald, 25
June 1910. Arthur Eakle, Mines and Mineral Resources of Alpine County, Inyo County
Mono County, pp. 66-69. T. B. Nolan, "Nonferrous-Metal Deposits," p. 37. C.
12. Rhyolite Herald, 23 June 1905; 16 March, 20-27 July, 3 August, 7-14 September, 12
October 1908. Bullfrog Miner, 9 March, 13 April, 18 May, 1 June, 1327 July, 17 August, 28
September, 2 November, 1906. Beatty Bullfrog Miner, 8 December 1906. Greenwater Times,
23 October, 8 November 1906. Inyo Register, 12 July, 11 October, 15 November 1906. Inyo
Independent, 5 May, 9 June 1905; 31 August, 19 October, 21 December 1906. Mining World,
17 March 1906, p. 305; 15 September 1906, p. 359; 15 December 1906, pp. 719-21.
Engineering & Mining Journal, 2 June 1906, p. 1068.
13. Death Valley Chuck-Walla, 1 + 15 January, 15 February, 1 + 15 March, 1 + 15 April, 1 +

15 May, 1 June 1907. Rhyolite Herald, 4 January, 8 November, 13 December 1907. Bullfrog
Miner, 11 January, 19 April, 31 May, 10 + 28 October, 9 November 1907. Inyo Register, 24
October 1907. Rhyolite Daily Bulletin, 4 November 1907. Engineering & Mining Journal, 12
January 1907, pp. 77-82; 21 December 1907, p. 1189. Mining World, 21 December 1907, pp.
1087-88.
14. Mining World, 31 October 1908, p. 683. Bullfrog Miner, 25 January, 7 March, 4 + 25
April, 9 May, 6 + 13 June, 11 July, 8 + 15 August, 3 October 1908. Rhyolite Herald, 27 May,
29 July, 4 November 1908; 17 March, 19 May 1909. Inyo Register, 10 June 1910.
15. Rhyolite Herald, 4 May, 17 August, 28 September, 12 October, 28 December 1906.

Bullfrog Miner, 30 March, 13 July, 10, 17 + 24 August, 7, 21 + 28 September, 5 + 26
October 1906, Inyo independent, 10 August, 21 September, 12, 19 + 26 October, 2 November
1906. Inyo Register, 12 July, 23 August, 13 September, 11 October 1906. Greenwater Times,
6 November 1906. Engineering & Mining Journal, 25 August 1906, p. 371; 15 December
1906, p. 1138. Mining World, 15 September 1906, p. 359; 15 December 1906, pp. 719-21.

16. Death Valley Chuck-Walla, 1+15 January, 15 February, 1 + 15 March, 15 April, 15 May
1907, Rhyolite Herald, 4 January, 1 March, 13 December 1907. Bullfrog Miner, 8 March, 19
+ 26 April, 31 May, 22 June, 13 July, 2 + 9 November 1907. Inyo Independent, 8 February
1907. Inyo Register, 24 October 1907. Rhyolite Daily Bulletin, 4 November 1907.
Engineering & Mining Journal, 12 January 1907, pp. 77-82; 11 May 1907, p. 925; 27 July
1907, p. 182. California State Mining Bureau, Bulletin #50, September 1908, pp. 299-324.
17. Bullfrog Miner, 11 + 25 January, 7 March, 4 + 25 April, 9 May, 6 + 20 June, 11 July, 8 +

15 August 1908. Rhyolite Herald, 27 May, 10 + 17 June, 29 July, 12 August, 9 + 30
December 1908. Rhyolite Daily Bulletin, 24 December 1908. Inyo Register, 5 March, 18 June
1908. Engineering & Mining Journal, 11 July 1908, p. 101. Mining World, 31 October 1908,
p. 683.
18. Rhyolite Daily Bulletin, 4 + 18 January, 15 February, 1 + 15 March, 12 April, 3 May

1909. Bullfrog Miner, 6 + 20 February, 10 April, 15 May, 11 September 1909. Rhyolite
Herald, 3 + 10 March, 12 + 26 May, 24 July, 11 + 18 September, 13 November 1909; 8 + 15
January 1910. Inyo Independent, 9 April 1909. Inyo Register, 21 October, 4 November 1909;
2 June 1910. Mining World, 30 January 1909, p. 190. Fort the further adventures of the
Greenwater Death Valley Copper Mines & Smelting Company and its subsidiary companies
after the abandonment of the Greenwater District, see the following: Rhyolite Herald, 12
November 1910; 7 January 1911; 24 February 1912. Mining World, 21 October 1911, p. 812;
9 November 1912, pp. 858-9; 21 August 1915, p. 304.
19. Bullfrog Miner, 16 November 1906; 26 April 1907. Inyo Independent, 21 December
1906. Death Valley Chuck-Walla, 1 January, 15 February, 1 + 15 March, 1 + 15 April, 1 May
1907.
20. Death Valley Chuck-Walla, 15 February, 1 March, 15 April, May 1907.
21. Rhyolite Herald, 17 August, 21 & 28 September, 19 October, 16 November 1906.

Bullfrog Miner, 24 & 31 August, 21 & 28 September, 5 October, 2, 9, 16, 23 & 30
November, 7, 21 & 28 December 1906. Greenwater Times, 23 October, 6 November 1906.
Inyo Independent, 2 November 1906. Mining World, 15 December 1906, pp. 719-21. Nevada
Secretary of State, Articles of Incorporation, Vol 9, pp. 435, 676, 697.
22. Death Valley Chuck-Walla 15 February, 1 & 15 March, 1 & 15 April, 1 May, 1 June
1907. Bullfrog Miner, 15 February, 1, 8 & 29 March, 10, 17, 24 & 31 May, 8 & 15 June
1907. Inyo Independent, 10 May 1907. Inyo County Courthouse, Plat of Willow Creek
townsite, 7 May 1907.
23. Bullfrog Miner, 22 June, 6, 13, 20 & 27 July, 10 & 17 August, 28 September, 5, 19 & 26
October, 2, 9, 16 & 23 November, 21 & 28 December 1907. Rhyolite Herald, 18 October, 22
November, 6 & 27 December 1907; Rhyolite Daily Bulletin, 12, 16 & 30 October, 7 & 30
November, 4 & 24 December 1907. Inyo Register, 25 July 1907. Inyo Independent, 2 & 16
August, 11 October 1907. Nevada Secretary of State, Articles of Incorporation, Vol 13, pp.
77, 503; Vol 14, p. 627. Inyo County Court House, Plat of Gold Valley townsite, 4 August
1907.
24. Bullfrog Miner, 4, 11 & 25 January, 29 February, 21 & 28 March, 4 & 18 April, 9 & 30
May, 6 & 13 June 1908; 9 January 1909. Rhyolite Herald, 8 July, 9 December 1908; 1
January 1910. Rhyolite Daily Bulletin, 7 & 21 January, 24 February, 26 March 1908; 4
January 1909. Inyo Register, 6 February 1908. Inyo Independent, 14 February, 20 March, 3
April 1908.

25. Mining & Scientific Press, 8 May 1886, p. 310; 12 June 1886, p. 396. Mining World, 10
November 1906, p. 582; 15 December 1906, p. 720. Greenwater Times, 23 October 1906.
Death Valley Chuck-Walla, 1 June 1907. Rhyolite Daily Bulletin, 25 September 1907. Inyo
Independent, 3 July 1908. Rhyolite Herald, 8 & 22 December 1905; 22 November 1907; 29
April, 17 June 1908. Bullfrog Miner, 7 September, 23 November, 7 December 1906; 1
February, 1 March, 10 May, 8, 15 & 29 June, 5 October, 16 November, 14 December 1907;
21 March, 2 May, 20 June 1908.
26. Greenwater Times, 23 October 1906. Mining, World, 10 November 1906, p. 582; 15
December 1906, p. 720. Inyo Independent, 21 December 1906, Engineering & Mining
Journal, 22 December 1906, p. 1187. Rhyolite Herald, 22 May 1908.
27. Engineering & Mining Journal, 26 August 1908, p. 371; 13 February 1909, p. 380.
Mining World, 10 November 1906, p. 582, Greenwater Times, 23 October 1906. Rhyolite
Herald, 1 February, 18 October, 8 November, 27 December 1907; 29 April, 9 & 30,
December 1908; 11 January, 17 February, 18 September 1909; 22 April 1911. Bullfrog
Miner, 6 July, 19 October, 2 November 1907; 9 May 1908; 16 January, 22 May 1909.
Rhyolite Daily Bulletin, 16 & 30 October 1907; 15 February 1909. Inyo Register, 14
February, 6 March 1908. Inyo Register, 8 February 1912. Memorandum, Superintendent
Death Valley National Monument to Director National Park Service, 6 April 1960.
28. Inyo Independent, 2 November 1909; 12 November 1921; 5 November 1937; 31 May
1940. Inyo Register, 27 January 1912; 14 January, 29 July, 26 August 1915. Mining Journal,
15 August 1938, p. 21. California State Mineralogist, XV Report (1917), pp. 78-79; XXII
Report (October 1926), p. 469. California Journal of Mines & Geology October 1938, p. 383;
January 1940, p. 22; January 1951, p. 39; July-October 1959, p. 475. T. B. Nolan,
"Nonferrous-Metal Deposits," p. 40. Glasscock, Here's Death Valley, pp. 252-52. Letter,
Golden Treasure Mines, Inc., to Bureau of Public Roads, State of California, 15 May 1935,
Death Valley National Monument, Mining Office Files.
29. Mining & Scientific Press, 18 January 1896, p. 50 16 May 1896, p. 402. Inyo Register, 28
November 1895, 2 January, 27 February, 7 May 1896; 4 February, 6 May 1897; 2 June 1910;
1 June 1911; 29 July 1913. Inyo Independent, 31 July, 2 October 1896; 26 February 1897; 14
October 1898; 12 July 1901; 10 June 1904; 28 November 1925. Mining World, 18 September
1909, p. 614; 18 March 1916, p. 580. Death Valley Chuck-Walla, 1 May 1907. Engineering
& Mining Journal, 6 February 1897, p. 14. Rhyolite Daily Bulletin, 16 October 1907.
Bullfrog Miner, 22 May 1909. Rhyolite Herald, 4 & 18 September, 16 October 1909. Mining
Journal, 15 November 1941, p. 22. California State Mineralogist, XXII Report, 1926.
California Journal Mines & Geology, October 1938, p. 393; January 1951, p. 40. R. J.
Fairbanks, "My Seventy-three Years on Southwestern Deserts," Touring Topics (June 1930),
pp. 20-26. W. C. Mendenhall, Some Desert Watering Places in Southeastern California and
Southwestern Nevada, USGS Water Supply Paper #224 (1909), p. 39. David G. Thompson,
Routes to Desert Watering Places in the Mohave Desert Region California, USGS Water
Supply Paper #490-B (1921), pp. 197-99.
30. Thompson, Desert Watering Places, pp. 197-99. Margaret Long, "The Woman of Death
Valley," mss, Colorado University Manuscripts Collection, #281-(8). T. S. Palmer, ed., Place
Names of the Death Valley Region in California and Nevada (1948), p. 12.
<<< Contents >>>

deva/hrs/notes4c.htm

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION IV:
Endnotes
1. Inyo Independent, 9 December 1882; 2 June 1883; 26 September 1885. Enginnering and
Mining Journal, 27 January 1883, p. 47; 21 April 1883, p. 226; Mining & Scientific Press, 22
March 1884, p. 212; 10 May 1884, p. 324. Report of the Director of the Mint . . . Year of
1883, p. 166. Report of the Director of the Mint . . . Year of 1884, p. 104. Ninth Annual
Report California State Mining Bureau, (1889), pp. 238-39. John R. Spears, Illustrated
Sketches of Death Valley . . . (1892), p. 160.
2. Index to Proof of Labor, Inyo County Courthouse, Arcturus/Ibex mine. Bullfrog Miner, 16
November 1906; 11 January, 5 & 19 April, 22 June, 31 August 1907. Rhyolite Herald, 18
January 1907, Death Valley Chuck-Walla, 1 May 1907, Inyo Register, 5 September 1907,
Inyo Independent, 13 September 1907.
3. Rhyolite Daily Bulletin, 11 October 1907; Bullfrog Miner, 19 October, 16 November, 28

December 1907; 4 January, 8 & 22 February, 14, 21 & 28 March, 25 April, 30 May, 13 June
1908. Rhyolite Herald 15 & 22 November, 27 December 1907; 3 June 1908.
4. Bullfrog Miner, 22 May 1909, Rhyolite Herald, 26 January, 2 June, 18 September, 27

November 1909; 19 February, 9 April, 26 November 1910; 28 January, 2 December 1911.
5. Engineering and Mining Journal, 20 September 1902, p. 386; Rhyolite Herald; 12 January
1906; Bullfrog Miner, 12 January 1906; Death Valley Chuck-Walla, 1 May 1907.
6. Rhyolite Herald, 19 January, 2 February, 12 October, 16 November 1906; 18 January, 8

February, 5 April 1907; 23 September 1908; 28 August 1909; 7 January 1911; Bullfrog
Miner, 15 March, 5 April 1907; 7 March 1908; 2 May, 28 August 1909.
7. Inyo Register, 29 July, 26 August 1915. Inyo Independent, 24 March 1916; California State
Mineralogist, Fifteenth Report (1917), pp. 85, 96-97; Seventeenth Report (1921), p. 287.
8. Inyo Register, 29 July 1915. Inyo Independent, 25 September 1920; 21 January 1922; 22
March 1924.
9. Lauren A. Wright, Talc Deposits of the Southern Death Valley-Kingston Range Region
California Special Report #95, California Division of Mines and Geology, (1968), pp. 52-60.
10. Rhyolite Herald, 5 April 1907. Bullfrog Miner, 5 April 1907.
11. Inyo Register, 21 March 1907; Bullfrog Miner, 29 June 1907. Quote from Death Valley
Magazine, February 1908.
12. Bullfrog Miner, 23 & 30 November, 28 December 1907; 25 January, 15, 22 & 29
February 1908; Inyo Register, 5 March, 16 April 1908.

13. Ward C. Smith, Mineral Resources in and Near Death Valley National Monument,
(1959?), Manuscript Report, Death Valley National Monument mining files. Letter, Mineral
Production Company to National Park Service, 30 March 1959, Death Valley National
Monument mining files. California Mining Journal, February 1960, p. 16.
14. L. F. Noble, et al, "Nitrate Deposits in the Amargosa Region, Southeastern California,"
USGS Bulletin #724, (1922), p. 11. Inyo Independent, 7 & 14 February, 1896.
15. San Francisco Chronicle, 8 October 1902, p. 3; 9 October 1902, p. 6; 14 October 1902, p.
1, Inyo Register, 9 October, 27 November 1902.
16. Inyo Register, 7 December 1905; 19 April 1906; Bullfrog Miner, 15 June, 6 July 1907;
Greenwater Times and Greenwater Miner, quoted in Bullfrog Miner of 15 June 1907. Inyo
Independent, 11 March 1910. Noble, Nitrate Deposits," pp. 12-13.
17. Noble, "Nitrate Deposits," pp. 9, 14-15, 50, 59.
18. Lauren A. Wright, J2 of the Superior Talc Area, Death Valley California Special Report
#20, California Division of Mines and Geology, (1952), pp. 1-2, 5-7, 16-22. Lauren A.
Wright, Talc Deposits of the Southern Death Valley-Kingston Range Region California
Special Report #95, California Division of Mines and Geology, (1968), pp. 27, 63-67, 70-73,
78.
19. Harold O. Weight, Twenty-Mule Team Days in Death Valley (1955).
20. Rhyolite Herald, 8 Dec 1905; 22 Nov 1907; David G. Thompson, Routes to Desert
Watering Places in the Mojave Region California USGS Water Supply Paper #490-B, (1921),
pp. 97-99.
21. See above, Saratoga talc mines section; Benjamin Levy, "Death Valley Historic
Background National Park Service, (1969), pp. 157-78.
22. D. A. Hufford, Death Valley Swamper Ike's Tradition Lore, (1902), p. 18. Levy, Death
Valley, pp. 157-58. A, W. Scott, Jr., "Niter Lands of California," photograph album, Death
Valley National Monument Library.
<<< Contents >>>
deva/hrs/notes4d.htm

Death Valley
A History of Mining
SECTION V:
Endnotes
1. George Von der Lippe, Supt., DEVA NM, to Director, Western Archeological Center, 9
November 1979.
<<< Contents >>>
deva/hrs/notes5.htm

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Death Valley NP: Historic Resource Study (Table of Contents)

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS — Volume I (Parts 1 and 2)

I. INTRODUCTION TO DEATH VALLEY NATIONAL MONUMENT

A. Summary of Mining Activity

1. Land of Varied Attractions

C. A Note on Historical and Archeological Resources of Death

1. Limited Scope of Present Study

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II. EARLY MINING DISTRICTS IN THE OWENS AND PANAMINT

A. Coso, Russ, Telescope Peak, and Argus Mining Districts

1. Darwin French Expedition

B. Lone Pine Mining District

1. Rise and Fall of Cerro Gordo

C. Panamint Mining District

D. New Coso Mining District

E. Lookout and Modoc Mining Districts

1. Short Existence of Lookout

III. INVENTORY OF HISTORICAL RESOURCES: THE WEST SIDE

A. Southern Panamints and West Side Road

1. Panamint Mining District

a) Formation and Establishment of Boundaries

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2. Gold Hill Mining District

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(2) Panamint Treasure Mine

3. Butte Valley Mining District

4. Anvil Spring Canyon

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(3) Twenty-Mule-Team Borax Route

7. Warm Spring Canyon Talc Mines

a) Growth of Talc Mining in the Region

8. Warm Spring Camp (Gold Hill Mill Site)

9. Pink Elephant Fluorite Claim

10. Other Mineral Deposits in Warm Spring Canyon

11. Montgomery (Panamint) Mine

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12. Carbonate (Carbonite) and Queen of Sheba Mines

13. Galena Canyon Talc Mines

14. Hungry Bill's Ranch

a) History of Indian Ranching In and Near Death

15. Hanaupah Canyon Mines

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16. Trail Canyon Mines

B. Emigrant Wash and Wildrose Canyon

2. Wild Rose Mining District

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(b) Present Status

III. INVENTORY OF HISTORICAL RESOURCES: THE WEST SIDE

B. Emigrant Wash and Wildrose Canyon (continued)

2. Wild Rose Mining District (continued)

(5) Christmas (Gift) Mine

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(c) Evaluation and Recommendations

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(b) Present Status

2. Ubehebe Mining District

a) Copper Veins Attract Attention

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(c) Evaluation and Recommendations

3. Skookum Mining District

a) Death Valley Gold Mining Company Working

D. The Valley Floor

1. Presenting Death Valley to the World