Carter Two: MINING

connecting Cerro Gordo and Keeler and built a 200-ton smelter just east of the town.” By
the spring of 1910, however, this company encountered financial difficulties, because it
overestimated the amount of silver still available in the Cerro Gordo mines.*

Although Cerro Gordo is known primarily for ils silver and lead production, Louis P.
Gordon discovered zinc in the Cerro Gordo properties in 1911, later purchasing the Union
Mine from the Four Metals Company. He reorganized the entire enterprise under the
Cerro Gordo Mines Company, working the mines until September 15, 1915. An electric
powerline was completed to Cerro Gordo in 1917, replacing steam for hoisting, air
compressors, and tram operation. The old and inefficient aerial tram was supplanted by a
5-1/2-mile Leschen tram which transported supplies and ore to and from the railway
terminus at Keeler. In addition to producing the highest grade zinc carbonate ores in the
country, new silver-lead ore bodies were discovered and successfully mined during the
1911-19 period. Various owners worked the mines on an intermittent basis during 1923-33.
From June 1929 to April 1933, for instance, the American Smelting and Refining Company,
after purchasing the iease rights to the properties, obtained 10,000 tons of ore worth more
than $300,000. The Cerro Gordo properties, which include the Union, Ignacio, Hart,
Sunset, Ella, Perseverance, Newtown, San Lucas, and Moming Star mines, as well as the
Newboy and Belmont Canyon approximately 1-1/4 miles east of Cerro Gordo, were
worked briefly during World War Il by Goldfields of South Africa in 1944 and by W. C.
Rigg and Associates from 1946 to 1949. Only small shipments, however, were made before
closing the mining operations. All told, the Cerro Gordo properties have produced an
estimated $17,000,000 from some 30 miles of underground workings. Total recorded silver
yield is nearly 4,400,000 ounces, and total iead production roughly 37,000 tons. Of these
totals, more than one-half of the lead and about three-fourths of the silver were produced
in the boom years from 1869 to 1876. Gald was an important smelter by-product with
about 2,000 ounces being produced. Total zinc production has been about 12,000 tons, and
copper production about 300 tons.

In 1959 the tram house and machinery were taken down for use in new mining operations
near Candalaria, Nevada. Remnants of a half dozen of the buildings and houses, including
the American Hotel, Belshaw’s residence, the ice plant, and a massive stone smokestack
for a smelter, remain at Cerro Gordo. The rebuilt Union Mine head works still contains
machinery and equipment from the boom days, and the grade of the Yellow Grade Road
may still be seen. The ruins of the Ignacio Mine can still be seen one-half mile south of
Cerro Gordo, the canyon sides above the town are still pocked with the remains of the
haif-caves and half-shacks where miners once lived, and the area near the peak is still
pitted with craters marking the caved-in portals of old mines.”

87, For the eyewitness account of a visitor to Cerro Gordo in 1908, see John A. Reid, "A Little Known Comer of
California,” Overland Monthly, LII (Second Series, No. 3, September 1908), pp. 271-75.

88. ibid., pp. 60-64,

89. ibid., pp. 64-85; Annis M. Cuppett, "Cerro Gordo,” Desert Magezine (February 1980), pp. 17-19; Lambert Florin,
California Ghost Towns (Scattle, Superior Publishing Company, 1971), pp. 24-25; DeDecker, Mines of the Eastern
Sierva, pp. 57-67; State of California, Department of Conservation, Division of Mines and Gevlogy, DMG Open-File
Report No. 88-2, pp. 59-61; and Remi Nadeau, Ghost Towns and Mining Camps of California (Los Angeles, The Ward
Ritchie Press, 1965), pp. 187-94.

54



CHAPTER THREE: RANCHING/GRAZING

purchased the Paiute rancheria at Indian Springs and made it a popular way station on
what had become the main road from Pioche to the Death Valley mining camps. After
involvement in several shooting incidents and scrapes with the law at Ash Meadows and
Ivanpah, he finally reformed, setiling down with his family at Calico in San Bernardino
County2TM

The Panamint boom attracted one other setiler to the Death Valley region — William
Jotinson, a Kentuckian in his early thirties. He started a truck garden in the canyon that
now bears his name on the west side of Death Valley some 6 miles east of Panamint City.
Moving in on the spring at the Shoshone camp of Pumaitingahi or Puaitungani, Jonson
terraced 4 to 5 acres, dug a ditch, and planted a variety of vegetables that eventually
brought him several hundred dollars a tan at the boom camp just over the crest of the
Panamint Range. In the expectation that Panamint would last, he set out some fruit trees,
but the boom was over before they could bloom. Johnson then moved across the Sierra to
the Long Tom district in the Kern River Valley, where he became involved in a bitter
mining dispute with the Yoakum brothers. As a result, he and a partner were killed in an
ambush on April 13, 1878."

At the north end of the Panamints, Ubehebe discoverer William L. Hunter started a
seasonal ranch during the early 1870s that would become known as the Hunter Mountain
Ranch. Hunter initially established the ranch, which lies within the lands added to Death
Valley National Monument in 1994, as a place where he left his pack animals to graze
while he attempted to open his copper claims.

A few ranchers also settled in the hills of the Last Chance Range at the far north end of
Death Valley during the Lida boom. The most persistent was a Nova Scotian named
Charles Murphy, who squatted at Pigeon Spring about 1873 with his aged mother on a
little ranch he called the Home Rule. Remaining long after the boom collapsed, he
supplemented his meager eamings by working small high-grade pockets in the
neighboring mines and selling whiskey to the Indians. The whiskey business soured in
1891, when several of his customers laid siege to his cabin and had to be hued away
with a rain of buckshot. Soon after that incident, the authorities arrested him in a
crackdown on the liquor trade with the Indians. Rather than risk a prison sentence,
Murphy jumped bail, abandoned his ranch and his mother, and fled the area.

During the late 1870s and 1880s, Euro-American, as well as Native American, settlers
established new ranches in Death Valley and in areas to the west. Hungry Bill moved onto
Johnson's abandoned ranch and replanted the garden. With the help of George Hansen,
generally known as “Indian George," and other relatives, he also terraced and irrigated
several more acres and set out more peach trees. At the south end of Panamint Valley,
Hungry Bill’s brother, Panamint Tom, established a ranch at Pabuna near Warm Spring
and the mouth of Hall Canyon in Panamint Valley. At the north end of Death Valley,
Jacob Staininger, who would become known as the "Hermit of Death Valley,” established a
new ranch. As a young man in his late twenties, Staminger, along with his brother, had

224, ibid., pp. 163-64.
225. ibid., p. 164.
226, ibid. p. 164.

118


Early Exploration, 1849-1870s

Panamint Desert is between twenty and thirty miles in length, and from eight to
eighteen miles wide, a desolate waste of sand, gravel, alkali flats and low mesas,
with shifting sand-hills near northern extremity. Horned rattlesnakes met with
here. Telescope Range, to the eastward from where we entered the desert,
Presented that peculiar banded structure of bright colors, known among old
Prospectors as "calico ranges."

Lyle continued:

No trees are ever seen; even on the mountains, sage brush, grease-wood, and in
some places mesquite and cactus reign supreme, defying alkali, sun and furnace
like blasts of air that often come strong from some bake-oven of an inclosed
valley. At Saratoga Springs — a fictitious name for a damnable spring, whose
only merit is that of size, being actually ten feet across the southern end... . Mr.
Nell, topographer, came near losing his life, being found, however, after two days
exposure, all senses but that of sight being gone. . . .”

Although Wheeier’s survey shed new light on the Death Vailey region, the loss of his
guides further shrouded it in mystery. Wheeler nonetheless obtained continuing,
appropriations to carry on the first extensive surveys of the West. But he had had his fill
of the Death Valley region, which he described as “one of the most desolate regions upon
the face of the earth.” He never returned, although he did send two detachments back to
the valley in the summer of 1875 as part of an expedition to survey areas in Colorado,
New Mexico, Nebraska, Utah, and Califomia. The object of this survey, as in preceding
years, was “primarily the collection of data for the construction of detailed topographic
maps, in pursuance of the systematic geographic and topographic survey of the western
mountain region.” In addition investigations were conducted in geology, paleontology,
mineralogy, zoology, and botany, and ail mines and mining camps that could be reached
were visited and examined, and mineral and thermal springs noted.”

During the 1875 expedition, First Lieutenant Rogers Birnie, Jr., led one of the detachments
into the heart of Death Valley via Darwin Canyon and Panamint Valley, while Lieutenant
Eric Bergland led the other from the south edge of Death Valley to the Colorado River.
Birnie’s party lefi Los Angeles on June 23, reaching Granite Springs, near the southwest
base of Pilat Knob, on July 7. After ascending Owen’s and Olancha peaks the party spent
two days encamped at Olancha at the south end of Owens Lake. Skirting the foothills of
the Coso Mountains on the north by way of Arab Spring, the Birnie party went to Darwin,
which Birnie described as a flourishing mining camp that had been established earlier that
year. A topographical station was installed near the camp, and the fledgling town and
some of its principal mines were “located in position.” According to Birnie:

27. Appendix B by D. A. Lyle, pp. 80 ff.

28. Report Upon United States Geographical Surveys West of the One Hundredth Meridian, In Charge of Capt. Geo. M.
Wheeler, Vol. 1 - "Geographical Report," pp. 35 ff. In Wheeler's report on this expedition, he mentioned the
“Waucova” mining district, which occupied the northernmost portion of Saline Valley. His men did not visit the
mines, but specimens they exarnined from the mines resembled “those at Cerro Gordo.” He stated that the ore was
principally argentiferaus galena, with some "indifferent silver rock exposed in places." Wood and water were said
to be plentiful, but little development work had been done on the mines to date.

19



1. Eureka Valley Dunes — nominated to protect flora, fauna, and scenic values

2. Saline Valley — nominated to protect wildlife habitat and prehistoric and historic
cultural resources

3. Darwin Falls/Canyon — nominated to protect scenic and biotic values

4, Surprise Canyon — nominated to protect scenic quality, wildlife habitat, unique
vegetative resources, prehistoric values, and the historic mining settlement of
Panamint City

5. Greenwater Canyon — nominated to provide protection for prehistoric
occupation sites and petroglyphs

In addition The California Desert Conservation Area Plan identified other natural and cultural
sites and areas that were determined to have less significance than ACECs. These sites and
areas were designated for less restrictive regulation to protect their resource values.””

Following adoption of the CDCA plan, the Bureau of Land Management prepared
management plans for the “areas of critical environmental concern” that were designed to
protect their significant resources while providing for their recreational use and
enjoyment. On October 22, 1982, for instance, the BLM approved “A Sikes Act
Management Plan for the Saline Valley Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC)
(CA-06-ACEC-4) and the Saline Valley Marsh Wildlife Habitat Management Area
(WHMA) (CA-06-WHA-4). According to the management plan, the Saline Valley ACEC,
consisting of some 9,000 acres including the salt marsh and sand dunes in the valley, had
been identitied in The California Desert Conservation Area Plan to “provide timely, protective
management of significant wildlife habitats (sand dune, mesquite-thicket, meadow and
wetland), and prehistoric and historic cultural resources." The corresponding wildlife
habitat management area in Saline Valley, also identified in the CDCA plan, was
established “to provide further protection and enhancement of wildlife resources through
the development and implementation of a wildtife habitat management plan." This plan
was developed and implemented jointly with the California Department of Fish and Game
which had recognized the ecological importance of the Saline Valley marsh in the mid-
1970s and purchased 520 acres of private land in the area with the aid of the State Wildlife
Conservation Board.”

To protect the diverse fauna and wildlife habitat in the Saline Valley area, the
management plan closed the low-lying dunes in the center of the valley and the Saline
Range on the north edge of the valley to vehicular use and stipulated that a fence be
constructed to keep feral burros out of important wildlife habitat. Unrestricted camping
and vehicle parking in portions of the valley which contained essential habitat for a
variety of wildlife, especially in the mesquite thickets adjacent to surface water and the

279. U. S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, The California Desert Conservation Area Plan,
Appendix, Volume C, Appendix I¥, “Areas of Critical Environmental Concern,” pp. 1-72 If

280. About 1950, Paul Wopschall, a painting contractor in the Las Angeles area, purchased land around the
freshwater spring and lake adjacent to the salt lake marsh. Several cabins were constructed near the lake to
provide weekend and vacation accommodations for Wopschall and his friends. Duck hunting was a favorite
pastime of those who visited the Wopschall property. Allegedly, Wopschall also used the facilities on the site
to rehabilitate alcoholics. The spring was enclosed with culstone and mortar in November 1970. Wopschall’s
son sold the property to the State of California for use as a game refuge during the mid-1970s. Personal
communication from Alan Akin of Keeler, California, on October 19, 1996.

148


y)

,

CHAPTER THREE: RANCHING/GRAZING

extended to the Upper Beveridge Canyon mining camp. However, the ranch was not
connected to the “grid.” Two world wars lured people away from the valley to obtain
good-paying “city jobs" and to serve in the armed foreds, Thus, by the mid-1940s, the
ilies, and the/area under cultivation had

ranch had dwindled to three ér four farnil

diminished to less than 40 acres.

During the post-}¥orld War il years of late 1940s, the Hunter Canyon,
{consisting of the‘land at the mouth of Hunter Canyon through which all of the Saline
purchased by Colonel] A. E. Montieth, a mining

Valiy

Indian Ranch water flowed, wa:

rl
4

fl
|

7
t

Aaa Site Claim,

enthusiast from Los Angeles who wanted to develop the property into a vacation retreat.

Montieth built two or three cottages on lhe pri
friends, and he employed a full-time
Domestic Use Water Rights Claim fro}

retaker
i the Sta:

operty Ast use by hin and his Los Angeles
fogk after his plgce. Montieth obtained a

fi:

California for’use of Hunter Canyon

water, which legally entitled him to only 200 gillons a day. Nevertheless, he believed he

‘._ was entitled te all of the water and he enhanced the ambience of his desert paradise by
damming up the flow of water to construct some ponds and pools, thus cutting off the
water to the Indian Ranch located a mile or so down the hill. ,.-~

The Indians legally owned the bulk be the Hlnter Canyon water’by virtue of the
California State Water Rights Grandfather Clause, based on proven ownership and use

prior to 1914, but Montieth ignored their claims. The Indians, led by Johnny Hunter ‘and
his wife Sarah, turned to the Hunter family for help. Beveridge Hunter, and his son Roy,

reportedly opened Montieth’s sluice gates on several occasions, but Mohtieth and his
associates soon closed them, thus effectively cutting the ranch Off from its vital water

supply.

The situation festered for a period of time. Finally on January 26, 1952, two young Indian
boys, Phillip Hunter, the 15-year-old grandson of Johnny, and his friend, Irving Miller, age

13, took guns and walked to Montieth’s compound. Johnny Chavez, the 22-year-old
caretaker and the only person on the property, was shot by Hunter in the chest. After
Chavez retreated to a bunkhouse on the Montieth property, the boys set fire to the

building, resulting in the death of Chavez. The two teenagers were subsequently arrested,
tried, sna convicted for what thy Inyo Register called "the most heinous crime in the annals

of ha County.”

Soon after this incident, ine remaining Indians left the ranch and moved out of Saline
Vailey. The Caesar family’s 80-acre parcel was sold to Fred Rosser, an Inyo County

—

attorney who periodically purchased “distressed” properties, on September 19, 1952. By the
early 1990s Moyer owned 40 acres of this parcel. The other 80-acre parcel continues to be

owned by the descendants of the Tom Hunter Family. According to Inyo County land

274. Inyo Register, February 22, 1952, and Inyo Independent, February 22, 29, 1952. Because of their ages, the two

boys received relatively light jail sentences. Phillip, for instance, was paroled after some five years of

incarceration, and, as a condition of his parole, he was banished from Inyo County for the remainder of his

life.

142


Cover Photo: Salt Field, Saline Valley, September 1912 Courtesy Richard McCutchan Collection, Diamond Bar, California. @
Photograph supplted to authar by Thomas $. Budlong, Los Angeles.

ro) Printed on Recycled Paper


CHAPTER Two: MINING

By the summer of 1925, however, the epsom salt mining operations began to decline. The
ore being shipped to Wilmington contained 50 percent waste rock, and operation of the
monorail suffered from track warpage, cloudbursts and washouts, and poar locomotive
design. Afler hauling out and refining nearly 1,000 tons of crude salt at a cost of
approximately $20 a ton during the fall of 1927, the mining operations closed during the
winter. Some 10 years later, the single rail and timbers were removed for scrap. During
the 1940s, portions of the epsom salt deposit, as well as the monorail line, were
incorporated within the lands of the U.S. Naval Air Weapons Station at China Lake.?”

CURRENT STATUS OF MINING IN THE NEW LANDS

The boundaries of the lands added to Death Valley National Monument in 1994 were
drawn to exclude virtually all active mining operations and most significant mineable
mineral reserves. For instance, Title III, Section 308 of the California Desert Protection Act
provided for a boundary adjustment to exclude the Porter Mine, an active operation in the
west Panamints. Thus, the new lands generally contain only the remnants of small or
modest inactive mining sites. Title III, Section 305 of the California Desert Protection Act
of 1994 provides the basis for the withdrawal from all forms of mineral location and
development of lands added to the park. This section states:

Subject to valid existing rights, all Federal !ands within the park are hereby
withdrawn from all forms of entry, appropriations, or disposal under the public
land laws; from location, entry, and patent under the United States mining laws;
and from disposition under all laws pertaining to mineral and geothermal leasing,
and mineral materials, and all amendments thereto.

At the present time, the National Park Service computerized list of mining claims in lands
added to the park in 19% enumerates the claims by section only, meaning that in some
cases the list includes claims both inside and outside the new lands. Thus, the Park
Service does not know the precise number of new claims it has in the new lands. Further
work in mapping and "ground-truthing” of the claims on the list is necessary to develop a
comprehensive and all-inclusive list of these properties.

Currently, only two claimants have filed proposed plans for mining operations in the new
lands. One proposal has been submitted by the D & S Mining Company to resume
underground mining in the idle Rainbow Talc Mine covered by six lode claims (Death
Valley BB&J Claims) in the Saddle Peak Hills in the southeastern corner of the new lands.
The other proposal is for a small operation on the J. O. Mine wollastinite claims on the
northern flank of Hunter Mountain on the west side of the new lands.”"*

217. Lingenfelter, Death Valley & The Amargosa, pp, 399-403; Vredenburgh, Shumway, and Hartill, Desert Fever, pp.
257-58; Myrick, Railroads of Nevada and Eastern California, Vol. {, pp. 809-14; and Richard H. Jahns, “The Epsom
Salts Line — Monorail to Nowhere,” Reprint from Engineering and Science Monthly, April 1951, Published by the
California Institute of Technology, Silver Boxes, “Transportation,” Research Library, Death Valley National Park,

218. Personal interviews with Me! Essington, Death Valley National Park mining engineer and GIS coordinator,
January 29-30, 1997.

114



Mining District/Areas Relating to the New Lands

hundred yards beyond the remnants of an old mine. Cabins, many of which date from the
1960s, dot the hillsides.'”*

Darwin

As the fortunes of Panamint declined, the rise of Darwin kept the mining prospects of
Inyo County alive. Located southwest of Panamint Springs on a mesa above Darwin Wash
in the northern part of the Argus Range, Darwin, although several miles outside the lands
that were added to Death Valley National Monument in 1994, nevertheless influenced
Prospecting activities and mining operations in those lands. With more than 30 miles of
workings and underground shafts and tunnels, the Darwin district has produced more
than $29,000,000 in mineral wealth during its extended history of mining development."

As the Panamint rush subsided, some prospectors stopped short of Panamint in the old
Coso district to the west. There, late in October 1874, Raphael Cuervo, “Professor” William
D, Brown, and his brother Robert, discovered massive deposits of easily smelted silver-
lead ore that assayed as much as $700 a ton. Within six weeks of their discovery, more
than 150 men had set up the new mining camp of Darwin (named for E. Darwin French).
Soon an exodus from the declining Panamint City area began as most of the floating
prospector population started drifting back down Surprise Canyon. By December some
200 men had been drawn to the new district, and Abner B. Elder, Belshaw’s earliest
partner, was elected recorder of the New Coso Mining District. Victor Beaudry, another of
Belshaw’s partners, aided development of the new mining town, constructing the Darwin
Water Works to pipe water from springs located 7 miles south of Darwin near the old
Josephine mill at Coso to tanks north of the townsite that held 28,000 gallons.”

Major mining operations at Darwin began during the spring of 1875. Under the
management of L. L. Robinson, the New Coso Mining Company purchased the Christmas
Gift and Lucky Jim prospects in May 1875. The Cuervo Mining Company was organized

115. Stanley W. Paher, Death Valley Chost Towns (Las Vegas, Nevada, Nevada Publications, 1973), pp. 40-42; Phil
Howell, “Surprise Canyon: Surviving the Road to Panamint City,” 4WD Sport Utility (November 1993), pp. 60-65,
76-77, Stanley Demes,"Tempest in Silver,” Desert Magazine, XXX {February 1967), pp. 8-11, 35; Wolle, The Bonanza
Trail, pp. 134-41; Erwin Z. Sauke, “Greater Than the Comstock'’,” Frontier Times XXXII (No. 4, Fall 1959; New
Series No. 8), pp. 26-27, 49-51; ibid., "Panamint City," Bonanza Magnzine, | (November 1958), pp. 36-39; Gary Moure,
“Scenes Behind the Scenes in Death Valley,” Desert Magazine, XXVil (November 1964), pp. 29-32; Frank j. Berberich,
“Idyll for Outlaws,” Desert Magazine, XXVIII (Novernber 1965), pp. 8-9; Betty Shannon, "Canyon With A Surprise,”
Desert Magazine, XXXVI (April 1974), pp. 13-15; "Ruins of Old Panamint,” The Pony Express, XIX (March 1953), p.
3, and O.N. Cole, “Panamint — City of Silver,” Catifornia Geology (December 1975}, pp. 278-79.

116. Among the best sources for the historical development of the Darwin mining region are: Robert P. Palazzo,
Darwin, California (Lake Grove, Oregon, Western Places, 1996); Vredenburgh, Shumway, and Hartill, Desert Fever,
pp. 238-41, 256-57; U. S. Department of the Interior, Geological Survey, Professional Paper No. 368, Geology and
Ore Deposits of the Darwin Quadrangle, Inyo County, California, by Wayne E. Hall and £. M. MacKevett, Jr.
(Washington, Government Printing Office, 1962), pp. 1-83; Slate of California, Department of Natural Resources,
Division of Mines, Special Report No. 51, Economitc Geology of the Darwin Quadrangle, Inyo County, California, by
Wayne E. Hail and E. M. MacKevett, Jr. (Sacramento, California State Printing Office, October 1958), pp. 1-73.

117. Lingenfelter, Death Vailey & The Amargosa, p. 130; Nadeau, Ghost Towns and Mining Camps, p. 194; ibid., City
Makers, p. 112; Kelley, “Geology and Ore Deposits of the Darwin Siiver-Lead Mining District,” pp. 508, 551; Wilson,
Silver Stampede, p. 175; and Chalfant, The Story of Inyo, p. 294.

63



EPILOGUE

146

We went into the valley from the south end, over an amazing road hacked into
an old waterfall at the entrance into the valley. We had the school’s old ton-and-
a-half truck, with dual wheels on the rear. | have a picture taken at one spot on
that road where we had to take off one of the rear wheels on the right and let the
outside wheel on the left hang over the edge in order to get around a sharp turn.

We camped on the floor of the valley, just off the road on the east side, where
Jimmy Hunter had set up a semi-permanent camp (Saline Valley Indian Ranch] . .
. . Hunter Creek ran under the road then, with a fairly good flow in the spring.
Jimmy had dug out a little poo! as a reservoir since the creek often went dry in
the sumuner. And he had built a table and a small platform where he could pitch
a tent. The camp was m a mesquite grove that had once been used by one of the
native tribes for tree burials. The washes under the trees were still sprinkled with
beads, many fused by fire, blue and green glass and red and white Lewis and
Clark trading beads. . .

Jimmy was gone when we camped there on my first trip, but his spot was very
comlortable. ... And 1 remember a lot of noise from the wild burros Lhat seemed
to get active at night. One night the whole herd charged through the camp while
we slept, managing to miss trampling on us and doing little damage. On our last
day, however, the burros were standing around near our camp, and two of the
students got a notion that it would be good to have a pack burro for camping
trips. They spotted a young colt and spent most of a moming chasing burros
around the valley until a couple of them finally managed to tackle the colt and
get a rope on him. The trip home was interesting, with fifteen or twenty boys and
one recalcitrant young burro crowded in the back of the truck. The burro never
got trained as a pack animal and finally became a real nuisance bothering the
horses and cows on the [college’s) ranch. He disappeared eventually.

There was an old mine with some buildings at the foot of Hunter Canyon, and at
one time I remember an old caretaker there, but I think that was on a later trip.
The canyon was beautiful, and we climbed up into it several times, up to a fine
waterfall. ...

As l remember, the cliff [not far from the salt lake] with petroglyphs was about a

mile south of Hunter’s camp and the creek crossing, on the right west of the road.

The writing was visible from the road, many of the common figures for men and
deer and water, some of them weathered but many of them sharp and clear. I
temember that the cliff was intact after we had moved to Reno and spent a
spring vacation in the valley with Ray and Alma Pflug about 1946. But when a
group of us were there in the spring of 1947, the cliff had been dynamited and
only broken remnants of the petroglyphs were scattered around. We picked up a
few of the less damaged pieces, and a couple of them eventually appeared in the
center of Laird’s fireplace in his new house.

During that trip I also remember that we saw our first tourist activity in the
valley. A scheol bus loaded with students from a junior college stopped at the
cteek and obviously considered being friendly. But we were a fairly disreputable



CHAPTER TWO: MINING

Mining operations in the surrounding canyons were not sufficient to sustain the town of
Ballarat, and it is likely that Ballarat would not have lasted more than a decade if it had
not been for the discovery of gold at Skidoo in 1906. Ballarat became the major business
supplier for the boom town of Skidoo, as well as for nearby Harrisburg, in subsequent
years.

The Montgomery brothers led the development of the district around Ballarat with large
payrolls and steady bullion production. By the fail of 1898 they had extracted about 2,500
tons of ore, tuming the surface croppings of the World Beater into an "immense quarry”
and producing more than $50,000 in bullion. They also opened the lode at depth, blocking
out fully 16,000 tons of ore.

Because of its proven production and large reserves, the Montgomery brothers determined
to sell the World Beater, and in the spring of 1899, the South Park Development Company
sold the property to Los Angeles investors. At the same time, the brothers sold the mill
tailings separately to Pridham, Dineen, and Quinn, who styled themselves the P.D.Q.
Cyanide Company, established the Death Valley country’s first cyaniding plant at the
tailings, and recovered around $20,000 of gold from them within several months.

The new owners of the World Beater were James P. Flint, a young Los Angeles
entrepreneur who had dabbled successfully in oil promotion; his father, Rev. Frederick W.
Flint; and Tracey N. Stebbins, a practical miner who became superintendent. Stebbins
immediately moved the mill 6 miles up the canyon to the mine, remodeled it, and began
operation in July 1899, running on the richer portions of the rock that the Montgomerys
had blocked out. Even though the mill recovered barely $15 a ton, Stebbins managed to
tum out several thousand dollars’ worth of bullion every month until early 1900.

By September 1898 Ratcliff had opened the ore body of the Never Give Up enough te sell
it for $30,000 to several Michigan investors, led by the brothers Albert J. and William W.
Godsmark, who had built up prosperous grocery and creamery businesses on Battle
Creek. They formed a closed corporation, the Ratcliff Consolidated Gold Mines, Ltd., with
an experienced mining man, Robert F. Harrison, as superintendent. Harrison commenced
work that winter, erecting a ten-stamp mill just below the mine and running a 4,200-foot
aerial tramway to carry the ore and a 10,000-foot pipeline to provide the necessary water
supply. The first stamps dropped in February 1899, but there were problems. The
stationary cable tram kept breaking down, and the mill barely recovered half of the value
of the ore. Overhauling the operation, Harrison installed a new double-traveling cable
tramway, enlarged the mill to 20 stamps, and added a 50-ton cyanide tank to work the
tailings, thus doubling both the capacity and the efficiency of the plant. Harrison started
the mill again in January 1900, turning out $15,000 a month in gold to make the Ratcliff
the most prominent mine in the Panamints.

Further up the canyon near what is known as the Stone Corral (near the boundary of
Death Valley National Park), two more mills began operation. James Fenimore Cooper, a
seasoned miner with a borrowed name, found a little high-grade deposit that he converted
into a model of pay-as-you-go mining. He worked the first ore in a hand mortar until he
had saved enough to purchase a two-stamp mil! during the fall of 1897. With this small
mill, he eventually accumulated sufficient funds to buy a four-stamp mull, which he sold

74


Early Exploration, 1849-1870s

Provisions were running out and the alkali was beginning to take its toll, however, so a
party of four men and several camels was detached to go to Coso or Owens Lake for
supplies, while the main party would move northeast to the boundary and thence over the
White Mountains to Mono Lake where the supply party would rejoin them. The supply
party crossed the Panamints and Panamint Valley. Near the mouth of Hall Canyon on the
east side of the valley, two local Indians — a middle-aged woman going to the lake to
obtain salt to take back to her village up the canyon, and a young man with a bow and
some arrows — met them and displayed astonishment at the strange beasts stalking along
with the party. Determining that they would not be able to find ample provisions at either
Coso or Owens Lake, the supply party then turned northwest, ascending the Argus Range
through "Darwin‘s Canyon," where a surveyor’s mark was found. A General Land Office
map was discovered to show the area to be fully townshipped and sectionalized. The
party expressed contempt for the clearly fraudulent character of many of the desert
“surveys” which they noted and would later make public. Crossing north of the Cosos, the
party stopped briefly to visit nearby mines before pushing on past Owens Lake to a camp
of miners, where the sight of the camels caused a stampede of every mule in the outfit.
Thence they moved south of Little Lake and on to Walker Pass, reaching Visalia, where
they learned in May that the expedition had been disbanded.”

The reconnaissance proved to be a failure. The survey patty had completed only about
one-third of the boundary between California and Nevada toward its destination at Lake
Tahoe. The boundary dispute between the two states was finally settled in February 1865,
when the Nevada legislature officially recognized the original California boundary. Three
months later, James Lawson and William McBride surveyed the line down into the
northern tip of Death Vailey. But it was not until 1872 that Allexey W. von Schmidt
returned to the Death Valley country to run the first complete survey of the boundary line
from Lake Tahoe to the Colorado River.

During this survey, ven Schmidt's party approached Death Valley along a ridge in the
Last Chance Range. Although he was left breathless by a blast of superheated air blowing
up from the valley, von Schmidt found "the view from this point" to be “terrifically
grand,” Impressed by the worthlessness of the land, he recorded that nut pines were the
“principal means of subsistence of the few poor miserable Indians that still remain in this
section of the Country, and whom we occasionally met with." Reflecting on the mining
possibilities of the region, he remarked:

The Hilis and mountains in the southern portion of the line are to a great extent
mineral bearing but the lack of mining facilities, water, fuel and means of
transportation, make it impossible to work any ores assaying less than six or eight
hundred dollars per ton. Several mining camps and districts have been started
and abandoned as failures.”

11. Wheat, Pioneer Visitors to Death Valley, pp. 11-15, and U- S, Department of the Interior, National Park Service,
Death Valley National Monument Historical Background Study, pp. 55-58.

12. Quoted in U. $. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Death Valley National Montment Historical
Background Study, pp. 83-84, and Lingenfelter, Dewth Valley & The Amargosa, pp. 66-89.



List of Repositories Consulted
LIST OF REPOSITORIES CONSULTED BUT WHERE RESEARCH WAS NOT CONDUCTED

Matarango Museum, Ridgecrest, California.
San Bernardino County Museum, Redlands, California.

U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, Barstow Resource Area Office,
Barstow, California.

U.S, Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, California Desert District Office,
Riverside.

193



Historical Overview of Ranching

Man of the Desert," took over the ranch as a base for his all-consuming quest for the
Gunsigh: .lver and Breyfogle’s gold. By the end of the 1870s most of the remaining
springs and seeps along the Amargosa had been homesteaded. Among the newcomers
were Aaron Winters and his wife, Rosie, who would gain brief fame and fortune with
their borax discoveries in Death Valley. Ash Meadows Charlie also expanded his ranch
east of Longstreet Spring.” .

Farther east, Charles Bennett and his family moved next to Tecopa’s rancheria at Pahrump
Spring in 1875, starting what would become the largest ranch in the entire Death Valley
and Amargosa region. Seven years later, Bennett sold the ranch to Aaron Winters, who
had made a considerable sum from the recent saie of his Death Valley borax claims.
Mormon Chatlie’s pioneer ranch to the east was taken over by the Jordan brothers in 1876
and sold to Joseph Yount and his family early the following year. The Younts, who were
wintering a herd of cattle at Ash Meadows en route from eastern Oregon to Arizona,
suddenly decided to stay when a Paiute renegade, Horseshutem, shot all their draft horses
near the springs that now bears his name. With their son-in-law, Harsha White, the

Younts spent most of their lives on that ranch, known as the Manse, before selling it in
19102”

With the decline of the Ivanpah and Tecopa mines in the early 1880s, about half the
ranchers on the Amargosa were forced to move on for lack of a market. However, several
new settlers arrived in the area to try their luck. Among them was John Howell, the first
black settler in the region, who took up a ranch in Oasis Valley in 1895, and Ah Foo, who
farmed for a few years on Willow Creek, at what has since been known as the China
Ranch* °

The most notable of the later settlers, however, were Montillion Murray Beatty, a former
Gold Mountain miner and Amargosa borax worker in his late fifties, and Andrew Jackson
Longstreet, a hot-blooded Kentuckian who had rustled cattle and operated a saloon in the
Mormon settlements on the Muddy River near the Utah line. Beatty took over the original
Lander ranch in the spring of 1896 and made his ranch a welcome home to passing,
travelers. After the Bullfrog mining rush started in the early 1900s, he sold his ranch for
$10,000, gave his name to the town, started a new ranch at Cow Creek in Death Valley,
and dabbled in mines until his death in 1908. Longstreet settled in Oasis Valley in 1889,
but after a few years he moved to a ranch in Ash Meadows near Lhe spring that now
bears his name. After involvement in several scrapes with area settlers he left the
Amargosa around the tum of the century.”

Virtually all the Amargosa ranchers held 160-acre homestead claims, but they were
usually able to irrigate only a fraction of that, while their stock ranged free for miles

236, Lingenfelter, Death Valley & The Amargosa, p. 167, and Spears, illustrated Sketches, pp. 58-62.

237. Lingenfelter, Devih Valicy & The Amargosa, pp. 167-68; Spears, Hlustrated Sketches, pp. 60, 84-86; and U. S.
Department of the Interior, Geological Survey, Water Supply Paper No. 224, pp. 91-92.

238. Lingenfelter, Death Valley & The Amargasa, p. 168; U. S. Department of the Interior, Geological Survey,
Water Supply Paper No. 224, pp. 40-41; and Warren, Knack, and von Till Warren, A Cultural Resource Overview

For The Amiargosa-Mojave Basin Planning Units, pp. 227-28.
239, Lingenfelter, Deuth Valley & The Amargosa, p. 168, and Glasscock, Gold in Them Hills, pp. 212-16.

123


Euro-American RanchingAGrazing Sites
@ GRAZING ALLOTMENTS IN THE NEW LANDS

Portions of four gtazing allotments are included in lands added to Death Valley National
Monument in 1994. These include:

ALLOTMENT NAME OWNER ACREAGE IN PARK .
Hunter Mountain Roy and John Hunter, Olancha, 88,66
California
Last Chance Lida Ranch, Lida, Nevada 49,000 (Approximate)

Lacey-Cactus-McCloud Busch Properties, St. Louis, Missouri 340 (Approximate)
{Managed by Cabin Bar Ranch,
Olancha, California)

Eureka Valley Inyo-Mono Farms, Bishop, California _1,100 (Approximate}

EURO-AMERICAN RANCHING/GRAZING SITES IN THE NEW LANDS
Hunter Grazing Allotment

William Lyle Hunter, born in Augusta County, Virginia, on August 24,1842, arrived in the
Death Valley region during the 1860s after having served as a member of Mosby's
Rangers in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. The rangers were an irregular
body of Confederate troops commanded by Colonel John S. Mosby that operated south of

e@ the Potomac River behind Union lines, conducting sudden attacks on Union outposts, that
were followed, when pursued, by quick dispersion. Taking a ship to San Francisco, Hunter
arrived at the thriving mining camp of Cerro Gordo in 1868. Soon he began operation of a
large train of pack mules, transporting ore from the mines to nearby smelters and carrying
supplies to the camp. Reportedly, he acquired purebred mules from the Tagus Ranch in
San Joaquin Valley for his pack animals. In addition to his packing business he joined
with other prospectors in reconnoitering the surrounding region, apparently locating a
lead mine in the Ubehebe area. Northeast of Wildrose, he and John L. Porter discovered
two enormous copper ledges, the Piute and Cohee, and on July 8 1875, they organized the
Ubehebe Mining District. During the same period, Hunter started a seasonal ranch at the
north end of the Panamints in the lush green hills and pifion forested area south of the
Ubehebe district where a variety of springs provided plentiful water (military maps show
a ranch in the Hunter Mountain area as early as 1875). Hunter left his pack animals to
graze on the bunch grass on the slopes of what would become known as Hunter
Mountain while he tried to develop his uew copper claims. This seasonal ranch/grazing
area would become known as the Hunter Mountain Ranch, and the Hunter family has
been the principal user of the area for grazing purposes to the present time.

After playing a leading role in establishment of the Ubehebe Mining District, Hunter
continued to prospect in the Death Valley region. After selling his aforementioned lead
mine to Belshaw of Cerro Gordo fame, Hunter prospected to the northwest, and in 1877
discovered the Big Horn Mine, consisting of eight claims and one millsite located between
Hunter and Beveridge cauyons. On December 7 of that year, the Beveridge Mining
District, which included the eastern slopes of the Inyo Mountains north of the Cerro

e@ Gorde Mining District, was organized at Big Horn Spring in Hunter Canyon, midway

129


Government Publications/Dacuments

California State Mining Bureau. Bulletin No. 24. The Satine Deposits of California, by Gilbert E. Bailey.
Sacramento, State Printing Office, 1902.

. Chapter of Report XX of the State Mineralogist Covering Mining in California, Vol. 20, July
1924. Sacramento, State Printing Office, 1924.

. Chapter of Report XXII of the State Mineralogist, 1926, Vol. 22, January 1926. Sacramento,
State Printing Office, 1926.

. Chapter of Report XXVHI of the State Mineralogist Covering Activities of the Division of Mines
including the Geologic Branch, Vol. 28, October 1932. Sacramento, State Printing Office, 1933.

. Eighth Annual Report of the State Mineralogist. Sacramento, State Printing Office, 1888.

. Register of Mines and Minerals, Inyo County, California, San Francisco, 1902.

. Report of the State Mineralogist, Volume IX, 1889. Sacramento, State Printing Office, 1889.
__.. Report of the State Mineralogist, Vol. XiH, 1895-96. Sacramenty, State Printing Office, 1896.

. Report XV of the State Mineralogist, Mines and Mineral Resources of Portions
of California, Sacramento, State Printing Office, 1919,

- Report XVII of the State Mineralogist, Mining in California During 1920. Sacramento, State
Printing Office, 1921.

. Seventeenth Report of the State Mineralogist. Sacramento, State Printing Office, 1920.

. Tenth Annual Repori of the State Mineralogist. Sacramento, State Printing Office, 1890.

. Third Report of the State Mineralogist. Sacramento, 1883.

. Twelfth Report of the State Mineralogist (Second Biennial), Two Years Ending September 15,
1894. Sacramento, State Printing Office, 1894.

Cloudman, H. £., E. Huguenin, and F }. H. Merrill. “San Bernardino County,” in California State
Mining Bureau, Report XV of the State Mineralogist, Mines arid Mineral Resources of Portions of
California. Sacramento, State Printing Office, 1919, pp. 775-899.

“Current Mining Activity in Southern California.” California Journal of Mines and Geology, XXXVI
(January 1940), pp. 10, 12-15, 20-28.

"Executive Report of Lieutenant R. Birnie, Jr, Thirteenth United States Infantry, On the Operations
of Party No. 2, California Section, Field-Season of 1875," in Annual Report of the Secretary of
War, 1876, Report of Chief of Engineers, Appendix JJ, pp. 350-58.

Gale, Hoyt S. “Sait, Borax, and Potash in Saline Valley, Inyo County, California,” in U. S.
Department of the Interior, Geological Survey, Bulletin No. 540, Contributions to Economic
Geology (Short Papers and Preliminary Reports}, 1912, Part [, Metals and Nonmentals Except Fuels,
by David White. Washington, Goverment Printing Office, 1914.

Goodwin, J. Grant. “Lead and Zine in California.” California Journal of Mines and Geology, LIN] Quly-
October 1957}, pp. 353-758.

185


Photographs

Photo 20: Boiler near Tram Loading Area, Saline Valley Satt Tram, ca. 1930s~40s, Photographer
~— L. Fox. Accession DEVA No. 2096, File No. 2507, Museum Collection, Death Valley National
Park. -

Phote 21: Tram Tower and Bucket near Bunkhouse and Office area, Saline Valley Salt Tram,
ca. 19308-Hs, Photographer — L. Fox. Accession DEVA No. 2096, File No. 2506, Museum
Collection, Death Valley National Park.

173


Mining District/Areas Relating to the New Lands

War Relocation Center in Owens Valley during World War II, was not worked between
1920 and 1944, In the latter year, however, it produced 3,000 ounces of silver and 50,000
pounds of lead. After World War I, however, the slag and mine dumps, as well as the
values that the original owners could not extract, were recovered. Total estimated
production for the Minnietta from 1895 to 1955 was approximately $600,000. The Modoc
dumps, amounting to some 40,000 tons of ore carrying 6 to 10 percent lead and 10 to 15
ounces of silver per ton, were also worked after the war.

During the 1890s, the Argus Gold Mining Company developed and operated its St.
George Mine, located just south of the Minnietta. Farther to the south, the Sterling Silver
Mine was develaped by the Sterling Mining Company in 1918. Ore from the Sterling
averaged 30 percent lead and 19 ounces of silver per ton. The Lead (Hughes) Mine,
located to the north of the Minnietta, was operated from 1924 to 1927, with some 600 feet
of underground workings. It averaged one ounce of gold and 11 ounces of silver per ton,
and its lead content was 30 percent.’*

During the 1930s, the Great Depression resulted in devaluation of the American dollar,
thus triggering renewed interest in prospecting for gold, a mineral traditionally strong
during depression periods. One of the gold mining operations in Inyo County was the
Litlle Mack Mine that was operated during 1930-37 by Otto Siedentopf, a mining
prospector from Trona, California. Notable because it was a small one- or two-man
operation and because it was the only mine producing gold as the primary metal in the
Lookout district, the mine was located in isolated Thompson Canyon, some 400 feet east
of the Minnietia Mine. A 250-foot tunnel was bored to develop a four-foot-wide vein of
quartz, averaging $15 to $20 in gold per ton. Total production amounted to some £15,000.
Ore was transported by an aerial tram some 325 feet to a 20-ton ore bin. From there it was
next crushed by one 800-pound gasoline-engine powered stamp, and the gold was
recovered with an amalgamation plate. A Rix air compressor powered the mine’s
drills.

The aggregate production of the Lookout mines during World War II amounted to 4,000
ounces of silver, 160,000 pounds of lead, and 20,000 pounds of zinc. Nearly one-third of
the lead and one-fourth of the Lookout district’s silver mined during the war came from
the Defense Mine. All of the zinc produced by the district came from the Big Four Mine
(known also as the War Eagle), a lead-silver-zinc mine located approximately 7 miles
northeast of Panamint Springs and southwest of Panamint Butte within the boundaries of
the lands added to Death Valley National Monument in 1994. Although discovered as
early as 1907, it was never more than a prospect until William Reid restaked three claims
in 1940, Development work began in 1942, and 333 tons of ore were extracted during
1944-45. Leased from 1946 to 1952 by various miners, the mine produced nearly 137 tons

132. Murphy, Wildrose Charcoal Kilns, pp. 14-16; Hubbard, Bray, and Pipkin, Ballarat, 1897-1917, pp. 7-11; W. B.
Tucker and R, J. Sampson, "Mineral Resources of Inyo County, California,” California journal of Mines and Geology,
XXXLY (October 1938), pp. 418, 446-47, 456; State of California, Department of Natural Resources, Division of
Mines and Geology, Special Report No. 73, pp. 24-35; and Norman and Stewart, "Mines and Mineral Resources
of Inyo County, California,” p. 187.

133. Tucker and Sampson, “Mineral Resources of Inyo County, California,” p. 405, and State of California,
Department of Natural Resources, Division of Mines and Geology, Special Report No. 73, p. 37.

69


CHAPTER ONE: EXPLORATION, 1649-19305

end of Death Valley at Saratoga Spring. As seen from the spring, he noted that "the rocks
in the Owls Head peak resemble lake sediments with intercalated sheets of dark lava,"
although the "distance is too great to determine this with certainty.” On his way to Resting
Spring in the Amargosa Valley, he noted the geological formations in the Panamints and
the Funerals. After reviewing the geology of the Pahrump Valley in Nevada he crossed
the Funerals to Furnace Creek and then went on to Mesquite Flat in the northern portion
of Death Valley. Crossing the Panamint Range in the vicinity of Wildrose Canyon, he
noted that near the mouth of the canyon “alkaline lake beds” occurred that had a
"thickness of 130 feet and an altitude above the bottom of the valley of about 1,000 feet.”
These “were visible at only one point, presumably being generally covered by immense
deposits of water-laid gravel several hundred feet in thickness.” A similar deposit of
gravel "500 feet in height” occurred in the Panamint Valley at Ballarat, rising “toward the
east, and at the base of Telescope Mountain reached an altitude of 1,000 feet above the
valley floor.” From this point, "wave-cut terraces" extended south along the flank of the
mountain for a distance of several miles." In the valley near Panamint Springs he noted
that there was a small salt field “similar in appearance to that already described.” Here he
observed that the salt field was said to excel that of Death Valley, but no tests were made
and the report can not be verified.” He next traveled to Owens Valley, returning to San
Bernardino via Red Rock Canyon.

During the winter of 1901-02, Gilbert E. Bailey, a geologist with the California State
Mining Bureau, began a more extensive survey of all saline deposits in the state. His
report included a study of the historical development of borax production and
manufacturing and a description of known borate and saline depesits, as well as niter
deposits, by county.

Of the borate deposits that Bailey visited and described, a number were located in the
Death Valley region. These included Bennett's Well, Confidence near Ashford Mill,
Furnace Creek, Monte Blanco on the south side of Furnace Creek at the north end of the
Funeral Range, Resting Spring in the Amargosa Valley, Saline Valley, Salt Wells Valley,
Tecopa, Salt Springs on the south fork of the Amargosa River, Ow] Springs, the Saratoga
Beds that occupied the flats around Saratoga Spring at the foot of the Funeral Range near
the south end of Death Valley, and the Upper and Lower Canyon Beds where the
Amargosa River crossed the southern boundary of Inyo County.

The report also listed desert springs reported or possibly containing borates and a short
teview of processes of manufacture of refined borax. According to Bailey, many of the
springs were “saline, and a few are so strongly impregnated with borax or other minerals
as to make their waters unfit to drink." The fist of springs in the Death Valley region,
which did not include those located at well-known mining camps and selilements,
included Cold Springs and Hat Springs in Saline Valley, several near Brown Mountain
west of the Owlshead Mountains, Ow] Springs in the latter mountain range, and a number
in Death and Panamint valleys.

Among the significant salt deposits in the Death Valley region listed by Bailey were those
located at or near Bennel’s Well, Confidence Beds, Furnace Creek, Saline Valley, Sait

38. U.S, Department of the Interior, Geological Survey, Bulletin No. 200, Reconnaissance of the Borax Deposits of Death
Valley and Mohave Desert, by Marius R. Campbell (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1902), pp. 7-22.

26


CHAPTER TWO: MINING

While construction of the Saline Valley road was underway, Russell, in December 1925,
established a new company — the Sierra Salt Company with offices in Las Vegas, Nevada
~ to resume operation of the salt works, hiring White Smith as his assistant manager and
technical advisor.” Russell served as vice-president and general manager of the new
firm, while Frank A. Stevens, a prominent attorney of the Las Vegas law firm Stevens &
Henderson, served as president. According to a company pamphlet printed in June 1926,
the firm was capitalized at $750,000. The company’s operations consisted of 640 acres of
salt lands and 40 acres of semi-agricultural land, the latter acreage containing the spring
which provided all the water required for the operation of the salt fields. The 640 acres of
salt !ands were owned by virtue of "Placer Salt Mining Claims," subject to patent from the
U.S. Government, and were under a 50-year lease. The 40-acre, semi-agricultural land was
owned in fee and leased for 15 years with an option to purchase at a nominal figure at
any time during the lease period. The salt was hauled out of the valley to the railroad at
Keeler on the east shore of Owens Lake by six-cylinder, 10-ton trucks via the recently
completed Saline Valley road, C. W. Hayes, contractor for harvesting and hauling the salt
which was to be marketed under the "Sun Brand Salt” label, delivered the first shipment
to the City Market in Bishop on June 16, 1926, During the summer of 1926, a contract for
erection of a milling plant in the Central Manufacturing District of Los Angeles was
signed, a preliminary deposit was made on the contract, and ground was broken for the
plant’s foundations.’*

In 1929 Russell purchased the tramway from U.S. Steel. After overhauling the long-idied
tram Russell resumed its operation in December, and it began transporting some 60 to 100
tons of salt per day. The Sierra Salt Company modilied the operation of the salt fields by
installing crystallizing ponds near the tramway terminal in the salt marsh, the outlines of
which may still be seen. Brine was prepared by dissolving the crust in fresh water as in
the earlier operation. Despite this promising beginning, by 1930, financial difficulties,
complicated by plunging prices for salt during the Depression and continuing tramway
maintenance problems, forced Russell to close the salt works, and the operation went into
receivership in 1935.

Nearly 20 years latet, in 1954, three men — D. O. Morrison, J. J. McKenna, and Tony
Pinheiro of Bakersfield — leased the salt works and tramway from T. K. Temple of Los
Angeles. Levees were reconstructed, some salt was recrystallized in place, and
approximately 2,000 tons of salt were harvested and stockpiled on the northwest side of
the salt fields. Development work revealed that 2 4-foot layer of thenardite lay beneath the
ooze of the salt fields. Despite these efforts to revive the salt operations, the men were
forced to terminate their work wilhin less than a year. Total production of the salt tield
operations is estimated to be approximately 30,000 tons.’

172. According to an article in the Inyo Independent on March 28, 1925, White Smith announced that he and Russell,
then general manager of Minerals Products, Inc., of Los Angeles, had organized a syndicate of Los Angeles and
Bishop businessmen to take over the salt works in Saline Valley, as well as acquire extensive copper, lead, and
tale properties in the "contiguous mountains.”

173, “Saline Valley Salt Deposit, Inyo County, California, Owned by Sierra Salt Company, A Nevada Corporation,"
June 1, 1926, “Saline Valley/Salt Company-Salt Tram,” Subject History Files, Eastem California Museum,
Independence. Also see lnyo Independent, June 26, 1926.

174, DeDacker, White Smith's Fabulous Sait Tram, pp. 22-24, and State of California, Department of Natural
Resources, Division of Mines, Bulletin No. 175, pp. 25, 76, 118.

98



Scientific Expeditions: 1890s-1930s

with a rope and flash light, they found the hole to be "4 feet 9 inches deep and 4 feet in
diaineter." The hole, in turn, opened into a cave “11 feet long, 5-1/2 feet deep with a 50
inch ceiling.” North of this knoll, they found another “circle situated similarly atop a low
knoll," that was "a natural crevice between rocks about 3 x 4 feet in size and 30 inches
high, with plenty of chips lying about.” They decided that this cave “may have afforded
the inhabitants better protection from the wind than the one higher up.” All told, they
found about ten caves, many of which possessed artifacts, projectile points, and metates as
well as pottery and basketry fragments. The diary noted:

... Everything looked so good that we spent three days in the immediate
vicinity, locating Caves, Rock Circles, and Artifacts. Excitement ran high as there
was one thril] after another, especially when on Tuesday night Mark Kerr came
into camp after scouting around alone all day and reported finding a Cave with
Basketry in it. From viewing the site we noticed that a large chunk had broken
off the crumbling, overhanging cliff and tumbled into the wash below, so we
decided to remove all we could before the site was completely ruined.

The last day was spent hiking “two miles farther up the canyon which brought to light a
site of about 125 stone monuments in about an acre of ground." An “old Indian trail" had
been “beaten into the hard desert pavement” several "hundred feet [to the] north." After
photographing the monuments the men hiked back to Upper Warm Spring, taking “a
round about way” that “disclosed three rock circles located on the top of the two highest
knolls north-west of camp.”

After three days at Upper Warm Spring, the men retumed to the Hunter Canyon site to
complete their work. On their way down the wash, they stopped “at the two warm
springs we called ‘Middle Warm Springs” to photograph "a group of obsidian knives and
chips in a 12 inch radius." For more than a day, they scouted the area, recording and
photographing petroglyphs, pictographs, caves, rock circles, and artifacts, some of which
were collected.

The following afternoon, the men started out “of the valley so as to get through the
canyon before dark." The diary noted:

It was easy enough going in, but with our heavy load it was low and second gear
work al] the way to the summit. Several stops were made to cool the motors; one
to repeir the transmission of Kerr’s car. Darkness overtook us when we were but

a few miles from Darwin... .

After spending the night in Darwin the men traveled to Wildrose Canyon. After spending
a night in the deserted mining town of Skidoo they pressed on to Emigrant Canyon where
they recorded and photographed caves. Back at Darwin, they interviewed a man who
operated a restaurant and rented cabins to desert travelers during the winter months. In
summer the man prowled the surrounding country. He told them of an unnamed canyon
about 17 miles from Darwin in the Cosos that contained many petroglyphs, but since the
Toad to the canyon was in very poor condition, the men went to Olancha from where they



EMLOGUE

airstrips — “one airstrip and one strip which is strictly for Maules and Supercubs.” The @
“half-hour flight from Big Pine," was “a nice alternative to the bone-jarting road trip.” The
article stated:

The ambiance of the lower spring is, to say the least, unique. Sometimes
downright loony! There is a community area which has a large soaking pool lined
with smooth glacial stones and concrete, a dishwashing area with hot running
water, a shower, a library, a large table for the great pot-luck meals that happen
from time to time, a fire pit complete with benches for the wild songfest parties.
It is set among the palms and other trees and has all the charm of a desert oasis,
with a bonus of HOT water... .

The source of the spring is up the hill about a hundred feet and is reminiscent of
some of the geothermal phenomena of Yellowstone Park. It surfaces as two deep
interconnected caves full of hot and very clear water. The source is sacred — no
dipping. Water is piped from there to the various pools, etc. Just to the east of the
source is the "Sunrise Pool” which provides a little more privacy than the main
pool. It too is concrete and glacial stone. (It actually gives a better view of
sunsets... .)

The whole area around the lower springs is lush with trees and other vegetation

and actually provides good privacy for campsites. Adding to the charm is the

“little house,” a tuholer with one pink seat and one blue . . . and the greatest

collection of cartoons and graffiti around! @

The middle spring at Saline is about a twenty-minute walk up the road. There are
three pools here, all concrete and rock lined, ranging in temperature from about
105 [degrees] to around 85 [degrees]. The cooler ones are warmer in summer. The
"Wizard Pool” is the warmest and is a masterpiece of workmanship, complete
with a nice stone deck around it and two masonry benches. Built in 1978, it is a
true work of art. The atmosphere here is a bit more laid back and most of the
folks who are not regulars {or residents) seem to prefer this area to all the
comparative "wild-and-crazy" of the lower springs. . . -

Further up the road is the "Upper Upper Pool.” The road deteriorates beyond the
middle spring and one has the choice between a vehicle-beating, bone-jarring 20
minute ride or a nice hour’s walk. ... The UUP is a tad more primitive with
grass around it and a bottom which can run from sandy to squishy. But it is
generally long on privacy. The view of the valley is restricted somewhat but the
mountains more than make up for it... 7”

As a result of the increasing concern of springs’ users that federal land management
agencies, such as the Bureau of Land Management and the National Park Service, would
regulate activities at the Warm Springs, the users have formed two organizations to

296. Roger Phillips, ed., The Hot Springs Gazette, Issue No. 15 (Helena, Montana, Silvertip Publishing Company,
1990), pp. & 16, Also see Jayson Loam and Marjorie Gersh, Hot Springs and Hot Pools of the Southwest (n. p.,

1994), pp. 136-37, and Neil Ratzlaff, “Saline Valley Hot Springs Trip, March 4-6," The Survivor (Spring 1994),

pp. 25-26.

158


Mining District/Areas Relating to the New Lands

Although new mining companies continued to be established, the Panamint mines were
still not developed in depth by late 1874. Nevertheless, companies that were heavily
financed purchased and opened up mines with little regard as to which were better
situated on the veins, everyone apparently hoping that wealth to one would be wealth for
all. In October, for instance, the Surprise Valley Mill and Water Company began stripping
out the richest ore from the surface croppings of the Emma Mine for shipment to the
Atlantic coast and then to Wales for final smelting via a shipping line in which Park was a
director. The shipments were made to bring some immediate return on their investment,
appease British imvestors who had paid so much for the Emma Mine that it was unable to
pay back more than a fraction of the cost, and help foster a continuing European market
for their mining stock. The shipping ore averaged $300 a ton, and despite the great
distance it was shipped, it paid back more than $200 of that in profit. More than $150,000
of ore was shipped abroad, thus bringing further publicity to the mines and paying back
most, if nat all, of the cash spent in purchasing the mines.

The winter of 1874-75 was Panamint’s most successful season. In December 1874 Jones,
Stewart, and Park merged the majority of their mining interests to form the Wonder
Consolidated and Wyoming Consolidated companies with a combined capital of
$12,000,000. The consolidated companies controlled 3 running miles of the richest lodes in
Panamint. Money from the sale of the stock of these companies was to provide funds for
construction of mills and roads to process the ore from the mines and to make the
Panamint properties more accessible for mining, but the mills would belong to the
Surprise Valley Mill and Water Company.

With these developments, Panamint City quickly became a bustling mining town. In
November 1874 Thomas S. Harris began publication of the Panamint News, the town’s
newspaper. Two stage lines opened service to Panamint in November 1874, and Louis
Felsenthal opened the Bank of Panamint for business. Fifty structures soon lined either
side of Surprise Canyon, and mules and burros provided transportation in town, the only
vehicle being a meat market wagon that doubled as a hearse and parade platform. The
Oriental Saloon was billed as "the finest on the coast outside of San Francisco."

By January 1875 more than 1,500 persons inhabited Panamint City, which had become the
largest town in a 100-mile radius. Some 600 claims covering a combined area of some 20
square miles had been filed, and lots on Main Street were selling for as much as $3,000.
Since the boom town was built on a hill, the main street stretched 1,000 feet from top to
bottom. One of the most prominent businessmen of the town was George Zobelein, later
to become the founder of the Los Angeles Brewing Company, who bought a $400 lot and
opened up a general store." In April two San Francisco-based corporations, the Sunrise
Silver Mining Company and the Panamint Mining and Concentration Works, offered
mining stock worth $11,000,000. The former sought to work the district's only pocket of
free-milling ore at its Sunrise Mine at the head of Surprise Canyon, and it constructed a
five-stamp mill that summer that produced as much as $900 in bullion per day. By the

104, ibid., pp. 36-38, and Nadeau, Ghost Towns and Mining Camps, p. 199.
105. “Panamint District," Mining and Scientific Press, XXX (January 9, 1875), p. 2.

106. “Prospectus of the Panamint Mining and Concentration Works," San Francisco, 1875, in Matr Ryan Collection,
Research Library, Death Valley National Park.

59



| | oy |
| 7

\ | , Native American Ranching Sites
i

Valley. The Indians used "the water for irrigation" and produced ‘garden veletables the ®
year round.” “Watermelons ripen about the beginning of April, arid these and other
produce are packed on ponies up and over the mountains to Certo Gordo mining camp,

near the summit of the Inyo range.'”” ' |

‘ \
During the summer months, most of the people living on the Saline Valley Indian’ Ranch,
as well as their animals, moved to their traditional Hunter Mountain encampment area.
Only an intermittent or token presence was maintained «at the ranch. In the fail, after the
summer heat had abated, the people retumed to the valley. The remains of their layover
corral may still be seen in lower Grapevine Canyon. In later years ‘they made use of the
Hunter family corral located in Upper Grapevine Canyon.

jl \
The organization of the ranch was centered around the extended Tom Hunter and Caesar

families. Originally, Tom and Caesar, as family heads, functioned essentially as dual

“chiefs” of the enclave, although they had no official status nor formal role. Upon the

death of Tom Hunter, his son Johnny assumed the ranch leadership role, Caesar’s heirs

and the succession within his family are unknown. Family members of former residents of

the ranch remember that during the 1930s Johnny purchased a Town Car, hired a

chauffeur, and took Sunday afternoon drives on the Saline Valley road. Earlier in 1892,

Caesar gained notoriety when he and several residents of the ranch captured an Indian

who had fled to Saline Valley after killing five whites at Kernville. Caesar, Beveridge

Hunter, and a man named McDonough took the fugitive to Independence and turned him

over to the authorities for arraignment. As a result, Caesar became a celebrity and was

invited to San Francisco to attend an awards banquet in his honor, but the large monetary x.
reward that he expected never materialized.””

During the 20th century, the Saline Valley Indian Ranch slowly dectined. Euro-American
diseases, such as tuberculosis, influenza, and venereal disease, took their toll. The
construction and pavement of California State Highway 190 during the late 1920s that
extended from Lone Pine/Olancha to Panamint Valley and on to Death Valley and the
east essentially cut Saline Valley from the mainstream transportation arteries in the area.
Mining activities declined, and the salt tram ceased operation in 1930, thus eliminating
mining-related jobs. The spurt in the area’s mining activities during the Depression years
of the 1930s consisted primarily of small operations or individuals seeking their "pot-of-
gold" during, difficult ecouoraic times, and did not create jobs for local people. The nearest |..." “~-
public school was in Darwin, some 50 miles distant. The valley chiidren were boarded in .
Darwin in order to obtain formal education, thus causing disruption to the close-knit
Indian families. As a result, a number of families moved to Darwin and other
comumunities.

Other factors relating to the demise of the Saline Valley Indian Ranch were more subtle.
The valley had no modem amenities because of its isolation. During operation of the salt
tram, electricity and phone service were available in the valley, and the telephone line

272. Mulholland, Inyo County: Hs Lands, Water, Soit Climate, Mines, Scenery, and Other Resources, pp. 28-29.

4
273. (Draft) Transcribed Oral Interview of Silas Ness by Richard Potashin, March 26, 1991, ECM OH 64, and ia
(Draft) Transcribed Oral Interview of Silas Ness by Richard Potashin, October 13, 1992, ECM OH 225, Eastern

California Museum, Independence.

141


Scientific Expeditions: 1890s-2930s

Some 10 miles northeast of this well were two groups of springs known as “Cold Springs.”
The springs of one group yielded hot water, while those of the other provided cold water.

The “hot springs” were located "farther south than the cold.” The water from both springs

was “of good quality,” and there was "a sufficient quantity, if developed and conserved, to
irrigate several acres.”

Willow Springs were located "away from the main roads and trails, in Darwin Canyon,
about 4 miles northeast of Darwin post-office, at an elevation of 3,600 feet.” The water
produced by the springs was "said to be exceilent,” but their “exact location" could "best be
ascertained by inquiring at the post-office."

Owl Springs, located about 2 miles north of the pass between the Owlshead Mountains
and the Avawatz Mountains, were about 18 miles southwest of Saratoga Spring by road.
The springs at the foot of the Owlshead Mountains were easily found, because they were
“at the foot of a monument of stones about 3 feet high, placed to mark the comers of
mineral claims, and the area round about them" was ‘littered by the debris of many
camps." The springs were “about 6 feet deep, and the water. . . not too saline for comfort."
A short distance to the west was a “trench about 25 feet long and 10 feet deep at the
deeper end.” The water from the trench was "in larger amount and of better quality than
that of the original springs.” Water could be had “almost anywhere around this point, for
a distance of at least 300 feet north and south, by digging shallow wells."

The road northeastward to Saratoga Spring was "sometimes obscured by washouts.” Death
Valley was "in plain sight, however, and if, after following the wash for about 10 miles,
the traveler” could "not find the road, he should keep to the right-hand side of it until he
finds a road running directly east.” This road crossed a “ow spur of the mountains” and
was the "best route to Saratoga Springs.”

Journalists

A few truth seekers other than scientists also arrived in the Death Valley region during
the late 19th century, and wrote some of the best works concerning the area. Journalist
John Randolph Spears came in the winter of 1891 to gather facts for the first book on the
valley, his classic Ihustrated Sketches of Death Valley and Other Borax Deserts of the Pacific
Coast. In the publication Spears reported a bonanza of entertaining facts and colorful
stories associated with the scenic and historic highlights of the region, but he also
perpetuated some old fantasies and even started some new yams.

While compiling data for his book, Spears visited some areas that lie in the lands added to
Death Valley National Monument in 1994. Although mentioning the borax works in Saline
Valley, he did not travel to that area, However, he did visit Panamint City which had
become a moribund ghost town. Spears corunented that during the mining rush to
Panamint nearly two decades before the road to the town had been "thronged with an
eager, reckless crowd,” many traveling "afoot with wheel-barrows, or harnessed to buck-

42, U.S. Department of the Interior, Geological Survey, Water Supply Paper No. 224, Some Desert Watering Places
in Southeastern California and Southwestern Nevada, by Walter C. Mendenhall (Washington, Government Printing
Office, 1909), pp. 26-27, 31-33, 37, 45-46.

29



CHAPTER TWO: MINING

hope there was some hidden bonanza below. But that was a more expensive gamble than
Myers, already strapped for cash, wanted to take.

Accordingly, Myers, in 1925, sold the tunnel idea and a one-half interest in the Panamint
mines to Edward G. Lewis, a crusading con artist who had gathered a following of some
9,000 people who had given him not only their hard-earned savings but their unfaltering
faith as well. Lewis was opening a reconstruction fund to drill some wildcat oil wells in
Maricopa, the proceeds with which he reportedly would resurrect his utopian dream city
of Atascadero in western California. The "Lewis Tunnel” was started at the foot of the
south wall of Surprise Canyon in June 1925 to tap the Wyoming vein at a distance of 1,500
feet or more and at a depth of roughly 1,000 feet below its once-rich surface croppings.
The tunnel was extended more than 2,000 feet when on June 1, 1926, all work stopped as
the law finally began closing in on Lewis. Several months later, he was indicted on
multiple counts of mail fraud by a federal grand jury in Los Angeles, and he was tried
and convicted on a total of two dozen charges, reaching back several years. Ultimately he
was sentenced to hwo concurrent prison terms totaling 11 years.'”

The American Silver Corporation leased 12 patented claims, 4 patented millsites, and 42
unpatented claims in the Panamint City area in 1947-48, concentrating its work on the
Marvel and Hemlock claims. Apparently, Nathan Elliott, a movie press agent, established
the company to commence another "get-rich-quick" scheme involving the long dormant
mines. Elliott spun a sumptuous verbal web that entrapped many of the film capital's
finest, aided by the company’s vice president and comedian Ben Blue, the silver-tongued
promoter. The company built a camp at Panamint, improved the Surprise Canyon road,
and imitiated efforts to promote the "Consolidated Panamint Silver Mining Company” on
the New York Stock Market, reportedly raising $1,000,000 before the District Attorney of
New York County took action to quash the traudulent scheme. As a result, the company
reported no shipments before filing bankruptcy on March 22, 1948. During the mid-1950s,
the American Silver Company reopened the road up Surprise Canyon to Panamint City
preparatory to some mining activity, and in the 1970s mining activity was renewed for a
time at Panamint, but faulting in the elusive veins would make them diflicult to
follow."*

Today the Panamint City site features a few reminders of its colorful past, including
remnants of the brick mill and its 65-foot-high stack, parts of walls, rock foundations, and
old cellars from destroyed buildings along Panamint’s main street, and reportedly a few
graves in Sour Dough Canyon. Up the mountain behind the mill are remains of the old
tramway. Near the end of the Surprise Canyon road is an old miner’s shack, and a

113. Lingenfelter, Death Valley & The Amargosa, pp. 422-24; Coolidge, Death Valley Prospectors, pp. 81-84; and "Copy
of Taped Conversation between Ranger Matt Ryan and Mr. Dallas Corum, February 4, 1963, pp. 1-2, Matt Ryan
Collection.

114. Beebe and Clegg, U. 5. West, pp. 168-69, and Photograph Negative No. 1289, dated September 1956, showing
blasting operations of American Silver Company to reopen the road through Surprise Canyon to Panamint City.
(Copy of photograph negative may be found in Reference Library, Death Valley National Park.}

62


BSBLIOGRAPHY

Hanks, H. G. “On the Occurrence of Sait in California and Its Manufacture,” in California State
Mining Bureau, Second Report of the State Mineralogist of California From December 1, 1880, to
October 1, 1882. Sacramento, State Printing Office, 1882, pp. 217-26.

- “Report of the Borax Deposits of California and Nevada,” in California State Mining
Bureau, Third Annual Report of the State Mineralogist, Part 2. Sacramento, State Printing, Office,
1883, pp. 7-55.

Heitman, Francis B. Historical Register and Dictionary of the United States Army, fron: Its Organization,
September 29, 1789, to March 2, 1903. 2 vols. Washington, Government Printing Office, 1903,

Kelley, Vincent C. "Geology and Ore Deposits of the Darwin Silver-Lead Mining District, Inyo
County, California.” California fournal of Mines and Geology, XXXIV (October 1938), pp. 503-62.

Lenton, Edward D. "Sulphur Deposits of Inyo County, California.” California Journal of Mines and
Geology, XXXIV (October 1938), pp. 563-90.

Norman, L. A., Jr, and Richard M. Stewart. "Mines and Mineral Resources of Inyo County.”
California fournal of Mines and Geology, XLVII January 1951}, pp. 17-223.

“Preliminary Report of Explorations in Nevada and Arizona, 1871," by George M. Wheeler,
Appendix B, by D. A. Lyle, pp. 77-80, in Annual Report of the Secretary of War, 1872, Report of
Chief of Engineers, Appendix DD, "Report of Lieutenant G. M. Wheeler, Corps of Engineers,
of Explorations and Surveys in Nevada, Utah, and Arizona, 1872," U. S. Congress, Senate, 42d.
Cong., 2d Sess., Senate Executive Document No. 65, 1872.

Public Law No. 103-433, October 31, 1994 (108 Stat. 4471-4525). °

Raymond, Rossiter W. Statistics of Mines and Mining in the States and Territories West of the Rocky
Mountains, Washington, Government Printing Office, 1873, 75- 76.

Report Upon United States Geographical Surveys West of the One Hundredth Meridian, In Charge of Capt.
Geo. M. Wheeler, Corps of Engineers, UL S. Army. Vol. 1 -” "Geographical Report,” by George M.
Wheeler. Washington, Government Printing Office, 1889.

Sampson, R. J. “Mineral Resources of a Part of the Panamint Range,” in California State Mining
Bureau, Chapier of Report XXVUI of the State Mineralogist Couering Activities of the Division of
Mines and the Geologic Branch. Sacramento, State Printing Office, 1933, pp. 364-76.

. “Mineral Resources of the Resting Springs Region, Inyo County.” California fournal of Mines
and Geology, XXXII] (October 1937), pp. 264-73.

Smithsonian Institution. Bureau of American Ethnology. Bulletin No. 78. Handbook of the Indians of
California, by A. L. Kroeber. Washington, Government Printing Office, 1925.

. - Bulletin No. 120. Basin-Plateau Aboriginal Sociopolitical Groups, by Julian H.
Steward. Washington, Government Printing Office, 1938.

State of California. Department of Conservation. Division of Mines and Geology. Bulletin No. 193.
Gald Districts of California, by William B. Clark. 1970.

Satine Valley Area, by Gary C. Taylor and Stephen E. Joseph. 1988.

186

. DMG Open-File Report No. 88-2. Mineral Land Classification of the Eureka- @


BIBLIOGRAPHY

. Historic Structure Report, Death Valley Scotty Historic District, Main House and
‘Annex, Death Valfey Ranch, Death Valley National Monument, Caltfornia/Nevada. September
1991.

. The National Parks: Index 1995. Washington, 1995.

National Register of Historic Places Inventory — Nomination

Form,

Saline Valley Salt Tram Historic Structure,” prepared by Richard D. Conrad,
Bureau of Land Management. October 31, 1973.

University of California, Berkeley. Department of Anthropology. Archaeological
Research Facility. Contributions of the University of California Archaeological Research Facility:
Great Basin Anthropological Papers, No. 35. April 1977.

Warren, Claude N., Martha Knack, and Elizabeth von Till Warren. A Cultural Resource
Ouerview for the Amargosa-Mojave Basin Planning Units. Contract No. YA-512- CT7-225,
Bureau of Land Management, Desert Planning Staff, Riverside, California.

1980.

Warren, Elizabeth von Till, and Ralph J. Roske. Cultural Resources of the California Desert, 1776-1880:
Historic Trails and Wagon Roads. Prepared for the U. S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of
Land Management, Desert Planning Unit, Riverside, California, Contract No. YA-510-PH747.
1981.

Weiss, Joseph M. “Observations on User Management at the Saline Valley Warm Springs, Ca.”
Senior thesis, Spring 1982. (Saline Preservation Association Collection.)
TRANSCRIBED ORAL INTERVIEWS

Transcribed Oral Interview (Draft) of Barbara Myers by Kari Coughlin and Linda W. Greene,
September 17-18, 194. Reference Library, Death Valley National Park.

Transcribed Oral interview (Draft) of Dugan Hansen by Richard Potashin, March 19, 1992. ECM
OH 142, Eastern California Museum, Independence.

Transcribed Oral Interview (Draft) of Edna Piper by Richard Potashin, January 17, 1995. ECM OH
346, Eastern California Museum, Independence.

Transcribed Oral Interview (Draft) of George Pipkin by David Sprau, April 17 and May 15, 1994,
and June 2, 1995. Reference Library, Death Valley National Park.

Transcribed Oral Interview (Draft) of Silas Ness by Richard Potashin, March 26, 1991. ECM OH 8&4,

Easter Califormia Museum, Independence,

Transcribed Oral Interview (Draft) of Silas Ness by Richard Potashin, October 13, 1992. ECM OH
225, Eastern California Museum, Independence.

Transcribed Oral Interview (Draft) of Ted Etcharren by Richard Potashin, June 18, 1992, ECM OH
162, Eastern California Museum, Independence.

192



Mining District/Aveas Relating to the New Lands

The tramway was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 31, 1974.
Despite its status as a significant historic engineering structure, vandalism and weather
have taken their toll on the tramway components. Although the outline of some of the
evaporating ponds may still be seen at the salt works, virtually anything removable has
disappeared. Remnants of several wooden tramway towers remain in Saline Valley, but
the best preserved components of the tramway system survive only in inaccessible places
on the higher slopes of Daisy Canyon.'®

Saline Vailey Conn and Trudo Borax Works. Located on both sides of the Saline Valley
road north-northwest of the salt fields, the ruins of the Conn and Trudo Borax Works, a
privately owned historic property, constitute a significant story in the historical
development of the borax industry in the United States, as well as in the history of Saline
Valley. The ruins on the east of the road are located on lands added to Death Valley
National Monument in 1994, while those on the west side are privately owned and remain
on lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management.

The first discoveries of borax in the United States were made by Dr. John A. Veatch in
1856 in northern California some 80 miles north of San Francisco. Veatch first discovered
borax in springs at the north end of the Sacramento Valley in Tehama County and then in
larger quantities in a cutoff bay of Clear Lake in Lake County.’

According to Charles G. Yale and Hoyt S. Gale, two geologists with the U. S. Geological
Survey, borax was first produced on a commercial scale in northern California in 1864. At
first, borax was obtained by evaporation of the lake water, but this process was later
supplanted by the collection and washing of natural borax crystals which were found
embedded in the mud on the bottom of lakes. Yale and Gale observed that the second
stage in the development of borax production in the United States followed discovery of
the "so-called marsh or dry-lake borax deposits, a considerable number of which were
developed in western Nevada.” Fish Lake, Columbus, Rhodes, and Teals marshes in
southwestern Nevada near the California line, as well as California locations at Searles
Lake in San Bernardino County, Cane Lake in Kern County, and Saline Valley and Death
Valley in inyo County, "were among the more important localities containing deposits of
this type from which active production was established." Other locations where borax was
discovered and produced included Dixie Valley and Alkali Valley near Fallon, Nevada,
the Black Rock Desert near Gerlach in Washoe County, Nevada, and China Lake in Kern
County, California. Deposits were also discovered and developed at Lake Alvord and the
Wamer Lakes in Harney County, Oregon. In the early days of the borax industry the

175. U. $. Department of the Interior, Nationa) Park Service, National Register of Historic Places Inventory —
Nomination Form, "Saline Valley Salt Tram Historic Structure,” prepared by Richard D. Conrad, Bureau of Land
Management, October 31, 1973; Francis C. Berg and M. Suzanne Crowley, Draft, “Notes on Selected Historical Sites
in the Saline Valley,” Bureau of Land Management, Ridgecrest (California) Resource Area Office; DeDecker, White
Smith's Fabulous Salt Tram, p. 24; Wilma C. Willis, “Skeleton on the Hill,” Westtoays, XL (May 1948), p. 6; Robert
©. Greenawalt, "We Hiked the Inyo Bucket Brigade,” Desert Magazine (August 1959), pp. 19-21; ibid., "We Hiked
the Inyo Bucket Brigade," Desert Sage (March 1995), pp. 25-30; and “And a Rate Peek of the Inyo Tram,” Desert
Magazine (January 1963), pp. 14-15.

176. Dictionary of American History, (Rev. ed., New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1976), Vol. I, p. 340; Ver Planck,
“History of Borax Production in the United States,” pp. 273-91; California State Mining Bureau, Bulletin No. 24,
pp. 36-42; and Hanks, “Report of the Borax Deposits of California and Nevada,” in California State Mining Bureau,
Third Annual Report of the State Mineralogist, Part 2 (Sacramento, State Printing Office, 1883), pp. 7-55.

»


California Desert Protection Act of 1994

Thus, the California Desert Protection Act was designed “to secure for the American
People of this and future generations an enduring heritage of wilderness, national parks,
and public land vaiues in the California desert.” Under the legislation, "appropriate public
lands” were included in the National Park and National Wilderness Preservation systems
to

(A) preserve unrivaled scenic, geologic, and wildlife values associated with
these unique natural landscapes;

(B) perpetuate in their natural state significant and diverse ecosystems of the
California desert;

(C) protect and preserve historical and cultural values of the California
desert associated with ancient indian cultures, patterns of western
exploration and setilement, and sites exemplifying the mining, ranching
and railroading history of the Old West;

rip)

provide opportunities for compatible outdoor public recreation, protect
and interpret ecological and geological features and historic,
paleontological, and archeological sites, maintain wildemess resource
values, and promote public understanding and appreciation of the
California desert; and

(E) retain and enhance opportunites for scientific research in undisturbed
ecosystems. .

The California Desert Protection Act tripled federal park and wilderness acreage in the
southern and eastern paris of the state to more than 9,000,000 acres — a patchwork almost
as large as the states of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island combined. Two
national monuments — Joshua Tree and Death Valley — were redesignated national
parks, the former being expanded by 234,000 acres to approximately 1, 026,000 acres and
the latter being increased by nearly 1,300,000 acres to 3,336,000 acres. The expanded Death
Valley National Park is nearly double the size of the State of Delaware. The legislation
also provided for establishment of a new unit in the National Park System — 1,600,000-
acre Mojave National Preserve, formerly managed by the Bureau of Land Management as
the East Mojave National Scenic Area. In addition the legislation designated 69 wilderness
areas on lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management, and certain lands in the
Havasu and Imperial national wildlife refuges under U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service
administration were designated as wildemess. Approximately 95 percent of the expanded
Death Valley National Park was designated as wildemess, and approximately one-half of
Mojave National Preserve and Joshua Tree National Park were similarly designated.”

299, Parfit, “California Desert Lands,” pp. 54-79, and Public Law No. 103-433, October 31, 1994 (108 Stat. 4471-
4525).

161



Historical Overview of Ranching

In 1872 Noah T. Piper, son of English immigrants and a native of Michigan who arrived in
Califomia in 1855, established the Oasis Ranch north of the Last Chance Range in Fish
Lake Valley to provide foodstuffs for the emerging mining camps in the surrounding areas
of eastern California and western Nevada. The name "Oasis” was derived from Piper’s
planting hundreds of cottonwood and black locust trees on his 2,000-acre ranch. Piper
befriended Indians in the valley and employed some 30 Euro-American and Native
American farmhands on his ranch. The ranch dominated the economy of southeastern
Mono County for several decades, and Piper became the area’s most influential citizen,
serving as Mono County’s agricultural commissioner during the 1830s. Although the ranch
was primarily a cattle operation, Piper raised vegetables, potatoes, hay, and alfalfa. When
mining in the area diminished around the turn of the century, Piper sold the ranch for
$100,000 and retired to Los Angeles where he died in 19102”

By the 1880s large cattle operations had been established in the Owens Valley area. The
Frank Shaw Land and Cattle Company, reportedly the most extensive cattle ranch in Inyo
and Mono counties, was headquartered in Bishop. During the mid-1880s, John W. Lacey, a
native of Arkansas who had worked in various Nevada mines, established a large cattle
ranch in the vicinity of the former site of Fort Independence. George A. Brown developed
a large cattle and sheep ranch in Olancha during the late 19th century, and during the
early 20th century Mark Lacey, the oldest son of John, moved to Olancha to establish the
Double Circle L Ranch. Starting with 150 to 200 head of short-horned or Durham cattle,
Lacey later switched to Herefords, and after 1960 the ranch crossbred the Herefords with
Angus, running approximately 1,200 head. This ranch, which would pass through three
generations of Lacey ownership and management, acquired grazing permits from the
Bureau of Land Management and the U. S. Forest Service for pasturage in the Inyo
Mountains, portions of which would be added to Death Valley National Monument in
1994, During the early 1900s, Beveridge Hunter, son of William, homesteaded a ranch m
Owens Valley, using the Hunter Mountain area to graze about 1,000 cattle, horses, and
burtos. Today, Roy and John Hunter, grandson and great-grandson of William,
respectively, operate a cattle ranch in Olancha and use the Hunter Mountain area for
grazing under permits from the Bureau of Land Management and the National Park
Service"

Ranching Along the Eastern Boundaries
Many of the best ranch lands in the Death Valley region were located east of the valley on

the Amargosa at Resting Spring, Ash Meadows, and Oasis Valley, and farther east at
Pahrump, where more than a dozen ranches were started during the mining booms of the

23. Norwood et al., Cultural Resource Overview of the Eureka, Satine, Panamint, and Darwin Region, pp. 138-39.
‘Also see (Draft) Transcribed Oral Interview of Edna Piper by Richard Potashin, January 17, 1995, pp. 1-78,
ECM OH 346, Eastern California Museum, Independence.

231. Chapter 183, Southern Inyo American Association of Retired Persons, Saga of Inyo County, pp. 116-20;
Peter Perkins, Cowboys of the High Sierra (Flagstaff, Arizona, Northland Press, 1980), pp- 71-78; (Draft)

Transcribed oral interview of Dugan Hansen by Richard Potashin, March 19, 1992, ECM OH 142, Eastern
California Museum, Independence; and “Kispert” and “Lacey,” Family History Files, Eastern California

Museum:

121


CHAPTER TWO: MINING

in 1861. Rich dry placers were discovered at La Paz, Arizona, in 1862. Hundreds of miners
trekked across the eastern California desert to the Colorado River mines, discovering gold,
silver, and copper in present San Bernardino County.

Despite these discoveries, however, mining in the eastern California desert, and especially
in the Death Valley region, was slow in gaining momentum, although by the early to mid-
1860s, there were reportedly 14 quartz mills and 130 stamps at various locations in Inyo
County. Despite their enthusiastic beginnings, the early mining districts met a notable lack
of success in their endeavors to extract and process ore due to a variety of reasons,
including lack of suflicient funding, primitive and inefficient technological methods,
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.

In 1865 the Cerro Gordo silver-lead ores were discovered in the Inyo Mountains west of
Death Valley, and lead deposits were found east of Tecopa south-southeast of the valley.
Cerro Gordo was the most significant discovery in the region during the 1860s, and its
development had an impact on the growth and development of Los Angeles similar to
that of the Comstock on San Francisco. Mining engineer Mortimer Belshaw systematically
developed the entire Buena Vista Peak (now Cerro Gordo Peak), conquering a variety of
problems in linking Cerro Gordo to the outside world, smelting ore, and bringing water to
the area. Criticized as a ruthless mining operator, Belshaw nevertheless furnished the
technology and obtained the capital needed to extract a large percentage of the $17,000,000
produced from the hill.

Although the mines in the Coso and Slate ranges were vacated in the late 1860s because of
hostilities by Shoshone and Paiute tribes who were angered because their traditional lands
were being taken over by the Euro-American prospectors, the threat of Indian attack had
been removed by the 1870s, and prospectors began heading back to the abandoned
portions of the eastern California desert region. The post-Civil War economy of the United
States remained prosperous until 1873, further enhancing prospecting. In that year,
however, a banking panic occurred, triggering a depression that curtailed speculative
capital for mining just as three significant discoveries were made at Panamint in the
Panamint Range (discovered six months before the crash), Darwin on the west slope of Lhe
Argus Range, and Lookout on the east side of the Argus Range. Of these three silver-lead
districts, Panarnint became the most famous and the least productive, receiving too much
publicity and being over-promoted. Within two years of its discovery, Panamint was
already on the decline.

Darwin was developed by Abner Elder and Victor Beaudry, two of Belshaw’s ex-partners,
while Lookout received the attention of former U. S. Senator George Randolph Hearst,
father of newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst. From the mid-1870s to the early
1880s, Darwin and Lookout produced approximately $2,000,000 each. Both mining districts
had similar production figures until World War I, when Dacwin produced some 3,500,000
pounds of lead and some 300,000 ounces of silver, while Lookout produced barely 250
pounds of lead and only 34,000 ounces of silver. Although Darwin Knally proved itself to
be the richer area, supported a larger town, and had its own newspaper, both districts

58. U.S, Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Historic Resource Study: A History of Mining, Vol. I, Pt.
1, pp. 1-2, and Veedenburgh, Shumway, and Hartili, Desert Fever, pp. 273-74.

40



CHArTER Two: MINING

SKETCH DAP
oF

GRKEERWATER DISTRICT
Rulinut stinen Bom

SYE couUATY “T -

E v a fo A

LINCOLN COUNTY

Euriiow

Figure 4: Although somewhat inaccurate, this map, published in late 1906,
shows the relative distances between Greenwater and Rhyolile and
Amargosa, its two principal supply points.

areas shopping for claims. Within a short period, some 4,500 claims were filed, covering
roughly 150 square miles.

During the first wo weeks of August 1906, three boom towns were established. Kunze
established the Greenwater townsite near his claims, taking its name from the
aforementioned Greenwater Spring south of the site. Clark surveyed a townsite, dubbed
Furnace, near his camp, and Harry Ramsey, who had purchased McAllister’s mining
interests, laid out the rival townsite of Copperfield (Ramsey) midway between Kunze’s
and Clark's, 2 miles to the east of the Greenwater townsite. In September 1906 the
Tonopah Lumber Company reported that it had sold 150,000 feet of lumber to the
Greenwater camps and mines.

82


CHAPTER ONE: EXPLORATION, 1849-19305

EARLY EXPLORATION, 1849-1870s
The Forty-Niners

The first known Euro-American visitors to the Death Valley region were emigrants on
their way to the northern California goldfields during the winter of 1849-50.’ More than
100 impatient goldseekers, drawn west as part of the great California gold rush, found
themselves trying to escape the desolate region after having attempted a “shortcut” from
the Old Spanish Trail across Death Valley that they Lhought would save weeks of time
and perhaps as many as 500 miles on their way to the goldfields. Having turned south
from Salt Lake City to avoid crossing the Sierra Nevada in winter (an act that had cost
some members of the Donner Party their lives three winters before), these gold seekers
were nonetheless anxious to arrive in northern California. When a Captain Smith appeared
bearing a map depicting a shortcut to Sacramento that would save weeks on their trip,
they chose to leave the main trail, going cross-country to the west. The shortcut brought
them to the arid and barren expanse of Death Valley.

These visitors split into a number of different groups, each searching for a way across
Death Valley and the Panamint Range on the west side of the valley and on to Sacramento
or Los Angeles and ultimately the goldfields. During their lengthy wanderings in the
desolate region, the various parties explored areas of the Funeral and Black mountains on
the east side of Death Valley, the valley itself, the Panamint, Argus, and Slate ranges on
the west side of the valley, Panamint Valley, and the Owlshead Mountains to the south of
the valley, not only looking for a way of escape but also for water. The emigrants were
forced to bum their wagons, slaughter their oxen for food, and jettison everything not
essential for survival. Had it not been the middle of winter when they wandered through
the region, and had they not possessed a “traveling food supply" in their oxen, it is likely
that none of them would have lived to tell the story of their harrowing experiences.
Although unanswered questions concerning some of the parties and the details of their

2. For information on the Death Valley region’s prehistoric and ethnographic past, see US. Department of the
Interior, National Park Service, Death Valfey National Monument’s Prehistoric Past: An Archasological Overview, by
William J. Wallace, 1977; William }. Wallace and Edith Wallace, Desert Foragers and Hunters: Indians of the Death
Valley Region (Ramona, California, Acoma Books, 1979); William J. Wallace and Edith Wallace, Ancient Peoples and
Cultures of Death Valley National Monument (Ramona, California, Acoma Books, 1991); William C. Sturtevant, ed.,
Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 11, Great Basi (Washington, Smithsonian Institution, 1986), pp. 262-83,
368-97, 412-34; University of California, Berkeley, Department of Anthropology, Archaeological Research Facility,
Contributions of the University of California Archacological Research Facility: Great Basin Anthropological Papers, No. 35,
April 1977, pp. 109-50; Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin No. 78, Handbook of the
Indians of California, by A. L. Kroeber (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1925), pp. 574-600; Julian H.
Steward, “Ethnography of the Owens Valley Paiute,” University of California Publications in American Archaeology
and Ethnology, XXXII (September 1933), pp. 233-350; Smithsonian institution, Bureau of American Ethnology,
Bulletin No.120, Basin-Platea Aboriginal Sociopolitica’ Groups, by Julian H. Steward (Washington, Government
Printing Office, 1938}, pp. 3-10, 46-49, 68-93; and Catherine S. Fowler, Molly Dufort, Mary Rusco, and the Historic
Preservation Committee, Timbisha Tribe, Residence Without Reservation: Ethnographic Querview and Traditional Land
Use Study, Timbisha Shoshone, Death Valley National Monument, California, Cooperative Agreement CA 8000-92-9003,
Cooperative Agreement CA B011-2-9003, January 15, 1994,



CONTENTS

Other Mining Operations in the Saline Valley Region 104
Crater 110
Shoshone 112
Owlshead Mountains 112
Current Status of Mining in the New Lands 114
Recommendations for National Register of Historic Places Evaluation Study 115
Recommendations for Inventory of Abandoned Mining Sites 115

Chapter Three: Ranching/Grazing 117

Historical Overview of Ranching Within or Near the New Lands 117
Ranching Along the Western and Northern Boundaries 117
Ranching in Owens Valley and Fish Lake Valley 119
Ranching Along the Eastern Boundaries 121

Historical Overview of Grazing Within or Near the New Lands 125
Fish Lake Valley 125
Eureka Valley 126
Deep Springs Valley 126
Saline Valley 126
Hunter Mountain 126
Coso 127
Panamint Valley 128

Grazing Allotments in the New Lands 129

Euro-American Ranching/Grazing Sites in the New Lands 129
Hunter Grazing Allotment 129
Myers and Barker Ranches — Goler Wash 132

Native American Ranching Sites in the New Lands 133
Historical Overview of Native American Ranching in the Death Valley

Region 133

Saline Valley Indian Ranch 138

Recommendations for National Register of Historic Places Evaluation Study 143

Epilogue 145

Increasing Visitation and Recreational Use 145

BLM Resource Management and Preservation Efforts 147
Areas of Critical Environmental Concer 147
Historic Mining Trai] Network in the Inyo Mountains 151
Adopt-A-Cabin Program 152

Miscellanea 152
Military Aircraft Crashes 153
Warm Springs — Saline Valley 154
Charles Manson Family 159

California Desert Protection Act of 1994 160

Photographs 163

Bibliography 177
Manuscript Sources 177
Newspapers 177
Maps 178


Recommendations for Evaluation Study

records, title to those 80 acres was transferred from Sarah Hunter to her son Phillip on
January 4, 1963.7

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES
EVALUATION STUDY :

It is recommended that further study and evaluation be given to the Saline Valley Indian
Ranch for the purpose of nominating the property for listing on the National Register. The
property is the most significant example of Native American ranching in the lands added
to Death Valley National Monument in 1994, and the site possesses a vast number of
archeological resources that merit study and protection. Because the property is privately-
owned, the evaluation process should be conducted in cooperation with the landowners.

It is also recommended that further study and evaluation be given to the numerous Euro-
American ranching-related sites associated with the historic Hunter Grazing Allotment,
such as cabins, sheds, building foundations, corrals, water catchment basins, water tanks,
and pipelines in the Hunter Mountain-Grapevine Canyon-Nelson Range-Lee Flat area,
preparatory to determination as to whether to proceed with nomination of appropriate
portions of the area to the National Register as a rural historic landscape. Whether or not
it is determined to proceed with such work, it is recommended that a formai oral history
research project be initiated to interview Roy Hunter for the purpose of establishing an
oral documentary record of grazing operations on the Hunter Grazing Allotment. The oral
history project should not only focus on the historical development of ranching in the area
but also on the developed ranching-related sites in the allotment.

275. Caesat to Fred Rosser, United States of America Patent No. 1136465, September 19, 1952, and Deed, Sarah
Hunter to Phillip Hunter, Inyo County, January 4, 1961, CA No. 144, Folio 303, Land Records, Recorder's
Officer, Inyo Cuunty Courthouse, Independence, California.

143


CHAPTER Two: MINING

activity began with the aforementioned discovery of silver by a man named Turner, who
was associated with more than 100 gold seekers who accidentally discovered and explored
Death Valley while on the way to the goldfields in northern California. Turner, or perhaps
one of his companions named Martin, discovered a promising mineral deposit and carried
some of the ore out of Death Valley. Because this ore was reportedly used later to fashion
a gunsight, this find gained notoriety as the "Lost Gunsight Mine.” The discovery was
made within sight of a campsite in the Panamint Valley the men shared with John B.
Colton and William B. Rood. The exact location of the ore deposit found by Turner is
unknown, but some researchers believe the site to be somewhere in the Panamint or
Argus ranges. According to some historians, the discovery could have been ore from what
would later become the Modoc Mine on Lookout Mountain in the Argus Range
overlooking Panamint Valley."'

In San Bernardino County gold was discovered in December 1849 at Sait Spring, along the
Mormon Trai! that connected Salt Lake City and San Bernardino near the Amargosa River
to the south of Death Valley. This discovery was made by a member of the party of
Temaining emigrants who chose not to follow Captain Smith's shortcut. This party was led
to San Bernardino by Jefferson Hunt, a veteran of the Mormon Battalion. The mine would
be developed and reworked intermittently until about 1902.”

For several years after the harrowing travails of the “Forty-Niners," the desolate Death
Valley region was regarded as a vast, forbidding tract, and only a few daring souls finally
ventured into it during the 1850s, enticed by rumors of earlier mineral discoveries, Many
unfortunates, unaware of and unequipped for the hardships involved, perished from the
teat, lack of water, and other excruciatingly painful inflictions characteristic of the harsh
environment.*

There are various reports of gold discoveries by Mormon prospectors in the vicinity of the
Amargosa River during the 1850s. Mormons also reportedly discovered silver in the
Panamint Range during the latter part of the decade. Since there was no water source
available in the immediate area, some of the ore was refined at Anvil Spring, near the
south end of the Panamint Range approximately 20 miles south of Telescope Peak. The
mining operations, however, were short-lived since the expense involved in mine
development and transportation proved prohibitive because of the arid region’s isolation.
Mexican miners followed the Mormons into the area, but the results of their efforts remain
obscure.#

California,” California Journal of Mines and Geology, Vol. 4, October 1938, pp. 563-90; “Current Mining Activity in
Southern California,” California Journal of Mines and Grology, Vol. 36, January 1940, pp. 10, 12-15, 20-28; ‘Tungsten
Resources of California,” California Journal of Mines and Geology, Vol 37, April 1941, pp. 310-12; and L. A. Norman,
Jr., and Stewart, Richard M., “Mines and Mineral Resources of Inyo County,” California Journal of Mines and Geology,
Vol. 47, January 1951, pp. 17-223. For a brief overview of mining development in the Mojave Desert region, see
Russ Leadabrand, "Mines of Mojave,” Wesiways, October 1962, pp. 37-41.

51. Vredenburgh, Shumway, and Hartill, Desert Fever, pp. 272-73.
$2. ibid., p. 273

53. U. 5, Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Historic Resource Study: A History of Mining, Vol. I,
Pt.1, p. 1.

54. Norwood, et al, Cultural Resource Querview of the Eureka, Saline, Panamint, and Darwin Region, p. 119,

36


Miscellanea

Some miner had homesteaded the oasis, for a neat tent-house awaited its owner’s
return.

The spring sun was warm, for the elevation was only 1,100 feet, but we
discovered that the nights could be chilly. This delightful place would be much
too hot during the summer.

Half a mile eastward is Middle Warm Springs, also date-fringed. This one was a
warm 115 degrees, about four feet deep, clear as a mirror and untenanted. ...

Another three and two-lenths miles brought us to upper Warm Springs, a large
straggling oasis. This pool was well hidden with mesquite, willow and brush. It
was about ten feet wide and twenty feet long, waist-deep, pleasantly warm and
circled for some twenty feet by rank grass.

The sparkling water was crystal clear but we were to discover later, when some
of us took a dip, that the bottom of the pool was inches deep in soft, squishy
mud... 2

During the fall of 1964, an unidentified man and his wife, who had sold their home in Los
Angeles to camp in the desert while he wrote a religious book, reportedly arrived at
Lower Warm Spring to spend the winter. This couple began to gather the trash,
destroying what would burn and dumping the remainder into a nearby gully that was
later covered by fill. The couple encouraged other visitors to aid in cleaning up the area.
Many of the informal fire rings were dismantled and replaced by a central fire pit which
all campers began to share.

While cleaning the area, the couple began to construct a new and larger tub for soaking,
soliciting contributions from those who visited the warm springs. By early 1965 lhe new
tub, 3 feet deep and 10 feet in diameter, was constructed. It was large enough for a dozen
people to soak in at one time. The couple left Saline Valley that spring, never to return.

Upper Warm Spring, the most isolated and difficult of the three springs to reach, have no
man-made soaking facilities. During the early 1980s, however, the Bureau of Land
Management constructed a fence around the spring to prevent feral burros from having
access to the water. Desert pupfish were introduced in the springs, but they did not long
survive. Thereafter, Upper Warm Spring was used as a soaking site by those who wanted
to get away from the more easily-reached and popularly-used springs below.

Palm Spring is less protected from the wind and sun than Lower Warm Spring, because it
is not surrounded by mesquite trees. Nevertheless, it became increasingly attractive as an
alternate soaking area, partly because of the panoramic view of the surrounding valley
and mountains that it provided. Like Lower Warm Spring, Palm Spring has a source pool
of its own. People soaked in the source pool until 1968 when a group of users built a
small retaining wal! around the pool, laid a buried pipe to it, and constructed the first

soaking pool.

291, Robertsan, “At the End of a Back Country Trait,” pp. 16-18. Also see ibid., "Three Pools In the Desert,” pp.
29-31, for an account of a return visit to the springs.

155



CHAPTER Two: MiNING

By that time the demand for charcoal had nearly exhausted the scant timber in the
immediate vicinity of the Lookout district, and Hearst and his associates turned to the
pifion stands of Wildrose Canyon in the Panamint Range. In early 1877 charcoal for the
Lookout furnaces was produced in pits dug in the vicinity of the wood supply on the

slopes adjacent to Wildrose Canyon. During the spring of 1877, under the direction of S. B.

Morrison, the Modock company built 10 large charcoal kilns that still stand near the head
of Wildrose Canyon in Death Valley Nationa) Park. The kilns, which were modeled after
several smailer beehive kilns constructed near Owens Lake for the Cerro Gordo mines,
provided clean hard charcoal supenor to that made in the pits. The Wildrose kilns
measure about 25 feet in height and 30 feet in diameter, and during their operation, they
held 42 cords of pifion, which burned for a week to yield about 2,000 bushels of charcoal.
James Honan, a former Panamint saloon keeper, contracted to supply wood for the kilns
and kept a crew of some 40 men cutting pifion for a mile or two around the kilns. Remi
Nadeau’s Cerro Gordo Freighting Company teams hauled the charcoal to the furnaces
over a wagon road, sometimes referred to as the "Shotgun Road," that he completed in
May 1877. Most of the charcoal produced by the kilns was produced during the spring
and summer of 1877, while the Modock fumaces tumed out $630,000 in bullion. The kilns
were operated by the Lookout Coal and Transportation Company, which would soon
teplace the Cerro Gordo Freighting Company as the major transportation line operating to
Lookout.

The Lookout mining boom hit its peak in 1877. The small settlement, laid out on the
barren 4,000-foot high windswept peak of Lookout Mountain near the diggings, included
three saloons, two general stores, a slaughterhouse, a community hall, and a post office.
The official name of the town was changed to Modock after lhe town’s citizens learned
that California had another town named Lookout, A triweekly stage operated between
Darwin and Lookout aver a toll road across the Argus Range that had been constructed in
early 1876. Eight Lookout children attended classes in the Darwin school district, and 140
voters were registered at Lookout.

During the fall of 1877, the Lookout furnaces broke down, portending difficult times for
the mining camp. The town’s problems were compounded when Modock Consolidated
changed managers, the price of lead fell, and the company reduced wages. The miners
Struck, causing another company reorganization. By May 1878 both Lookout furnaces
resumed operation, each having an average daily output of some 200 bullion bars,
weighing 85 pounds each, from 38 tons of ore. By 1879 however, the high-grade ore was
exhausted, and woodcutting in Wildrose Canyon stopped. The furnaces continued to
operate for a short period thereafter, but the Modock Consolidated leased its property to
Frank Fitzgerald, operator of the triweekly stage from Darwin to Lookout, in 1881.

By 1890 the Modoc Mine had produced some $1,900,000 in mineral wealth. Five years
later, Fitzgerald reworked the Minnietta Mine, recovering $65,000 in silver and $600 in
gold. During the late 1890s, Jack Gunn, a native of Canada who had served in the
Confederate Army during the Civil War and who had come to the region during the
Panamint and Bodie rushes, worked the Minnietta. By 1905 that mine had produced more
than $350,000 in silver and $25,000 in gold. The Minnietta, although under lease during
1934-39 to Ralph P. Merritt, who would later serve as project director of the Manzanar

131, Lingenfelter, Death Valley & The Anmargosa, pp. 126-27.

68



Mining District/Areas Relating to the New Lands

Mining Company of Trona, a mining partnership consisting of Rene Loustalot, John F. Lee,
and Fred Rosser.

The Lotus and Monte Cristo mines, 15 miles south of Ballarat, were developed after 1900
with the aid of two aerial trams and a 2,800-foot inclined rai] tram. A 1,750-foot aerial
tramway that served the Anthony, Gold Bug, and Knob mines, connecting them to Clair
Camp, was rebuilt in 1940 to facilitate removal of ore for processing. Other mines in the
Ballarat district included the Cecil R., Lestro Mountain, Porter, and Thorndyke."*

Despite continuing sporadic mining operations in the vicinity, the Ballarat Post Office
closed on September 29, 1917. Today adobe walls (most of the buildings were built of
adobe because of the scarcity of lumber in the vicinity), a few shacks, and a cemetery are
all that remain of the mining town. Since 1917, however, Ballarat has been a favorite
gathering place for many of the area’s colorful prospectors and desert residents who have
continued to prospect for gold in the nearby canyons of the Panamint Range. Among the
colorful residents who have been associated with Ballarat are Indian George, Panamint
Tom, Carl "Peg Leg" Mengel, Frank "Shorty" Harris, Jim Sherlock, “French” Pete
Aguereberry, Charles Ferge, better known as "Seldom Seen Slim,” and Chris Wicht, the
Ballarat saloon proprietor who went broke grubstaking area prospectors and later opened
a small cabin resort in Surprise Canyon."

This band of lingerers, sometimes referred to as "single blanket jackass prospectors,’ lived
mostly off the kindness of strangers while trekking up and down the Death Valley
country in a never-ending quest for a new strike in a picked-over land. While most of
these prospectors found little to reward their efforts, some did find real gold. W. D. Ciair,
for stance, found his reward in the tailings of the old Ratcliff mine above Ballarat. In
1930 he started reworking the rock, which stil held over $4 a ton, and cleaned up more
than £60,000 im several years. He reportedly accomplished this work between skirmishes
with two gun-toting sisters, Orpha Hart and Mary Ann Thompson, who held nearly all
the other claims in Pleasant Canyon and tried to run him out.”

Most of the major mining operations in the Ballarat area, such as the Ratcliff and the
World Beater, are outside the boundary of the lands added to Death Valley National
Monument in 1994. However, remnants of mining operations dot Pleasant Canyon, as well

144. Norman and Stewart, “Mines and Mineral Resources of Inyo County, California,” pp. 4041, 45-48, 157;
Hubbard, Bray, and Pipkin, Ballarat, 1897-1917, pp. 13, 17; Tucker and Sampson, “Mineral Resources of Inyo
County, California,” p. 388; Gray, “Memories of Ballarat,” p. 9; R. J. Sampson, "Mineral Resources of a Part of the
Panamint Range," in California State Mining Bureau, Chapter of Report XX VIII of the State Mineralogist (Gacramentu,
California State Printing Office, 1933), pp. 364-76; Tucker and Sampson, “Mineral Resources of Inyo County,” p.
413; and State of California, Department of Conservation, Division of Mines and Geology, Bulletin No. 193, p. 146.

14S. Hubbard, Bray, and Pipkin, Ballarat, 1897-1917, p. 90; Florine Lawlor, “Seldom Seen — Except in Ballarat,”
Desert Magazine, XXX (November 1967), p. 14; Florin Lambert, “Ballarat,” Desert Magazine, XXVII (November 1964),
p. 36; Robert F. Campbell and Ron Taylor, “Prospects of a Desert,” Westways, LX (November 1968), pp. 36-38;
Coolidge, Death Valley Prospectors, pp. 127-57; Lambert, California Ghost Towns, pp. 10-11; LeRoy and Margaret
Bales, “They Never Lucked the Door of the jail at Ballarat," Desert Magazine, V (May 1941), pp. 10-13; George R.
Cartter, Twilight of the Jackass Prospector: Death Valley Area Portraits of the 1930's (Morongo Valley, California,
Sagebrush Press, 1982); and Paher, Death Valley Ghost Towns, p. 40.

146. Lingenfelter, Death Valley & The Amargosa, p. 414.


fo. eS
/§/D -163
A HISTORY OF THE LANDS ADDED
TO DEATH VALLEY NATIONAL MONUMENT

BY THE CALIFORNIA DESERT PROTECTION ACT OF 1994
Special History Study

,DEATH VALLEY

National Park + California/Nevada

en gingers sa

svebate

PLEASE RETHIRN TO:

eA NORTON CENTE:
Tench Seine ae
RATIONAL PARK


Mining District/Areas Relating to the New Lands

varies from 3 to 6 inches in thickness. The owners of this more fertile section,
Messrs. Conn & Trudo, have erected here a plant after the usual style, having a
capacity of 40 tons concentrated per month. A working force of thirty men is
employed here. Water for these works is brought through iron pipes from the
mountains to the west, a distance of 1-1/2 miles. Mesquite trees, which make an
excellent fuel, are abundant in the neighborhood. An average of eight assays of
this crude material, made by Mr. John Fleming, gave 66.83 per cent. boric acid.
During 1890 Messrs. Conn & Trudo turned out 400 tons of concentrated borax,
with nearly as much the preceding year.

The California State Mineralogist reported in 1895-96 that the Conn and Trudo Borax
Works controlled “about 700 acres, part of which is covered with a crust of crystallized
tincal from 6 inches to 2 feet thick, which contains 90% borax.” The "crude material" was
“dissolved in boiling water and drawn off in tanks, where the impurities settle and the
borax crystallizes out." The crystallized material became “supersaturated with that salt
upon cooling." The crystallization process alluded to by the state mineralogist was
more fully described some years later in the Dictionary of Applied Chemistry (1912):

All the manipulation that is required is to shovel off the surface of the marsh to a
depth of 18 inches and cart the material to long hemispherical wrought-iron pans
set on arches of stone, fixed beneath with wood fuel obtained in the
neighborhood, The pans are charged with water and the crude material thrown in
and vigorously stirred with long poles, until, with the aid of heat, all of the
soluble salts ate dissolved. The fires are then withdrawn and the contents of the
pans allowed to settle for 10 hours, wher the liquor is drawn off into vats, where
the borax crystallizes out. The mother liquor after six days is drawn off and the
borax is taken out and packed into sacks for shipment.”

Borax production at the Conn and Trudo Borax Works continued unhl 1907, and five
years later Geological Survey Geologist Hoyt S. Gale reported that the “borax industry in
Saline Valley is probably a thing of the past." To heat the tanks at the borax works, much
of the “grove of mesquite trees about the spring at the southwest comer of the salt flat had
been cut and burned, but these trees” were “now replacing themselves by natural growth."
The “principal borax-producing plant was about a mile north of the present salt company’s
camp,” and “some of the buildings and oid tanks" were still there. There was “another
borax works on the opposite side of the valley, said to have been situated east of south
from the lower hot springs.” Gale observed that it seemed "not unreasonable to assume
that a part at least of the boric-acid content of these deposits is derived from the hot
springs,” although "no analyses of these waters" was known to him. However, he ventured
that possibly "the marked decrease in solubility of borate salts on lowering of temperature
accounts for the localization of these salts reported in the saline deposits.” “Aside from the

184. U. S. Department of the Interior, Geological Survey, Mineral Resources of te United States, Calendar Years 1889
and 1890, by David T. Day (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1892), p. 505.

185. California State Mining Bureau, Report of the State Mineralogist, Vol, XIII, 1895-96 (Sacramento, Slate Printing
Office, 1896), p. #.

186. Edward Thorpe, Dictionary of Applied Chemistry (Rev. ed., 1912), Vol. 1, p. 508, quoted in Gale, “Salt, Borax,
and Potash in Saline Valley,” in U. $. Department of the Interior, Geological Survey, Bulletin No. 540, p. 421.

103


BIBLIOGRAPHY
Inyo Register, May 14, 1896; February 22, 1952; August 14, 1968; and January 13, 1993.
Los Angeles Times, November 24, 1992.

Rhyolite Herald, March 12, 1910.

MAPS

Cakfornia State Mining Bureau. Map of Inyo County, California. San Francisco, 1902.

PHOTOGRAPHS
Death Valley National Park, California. Research Library.

Historic Photograph Collection.
Museum Collection.

Diamond Bar, California.
Richard McCutchan Collection.
Independence, California. Eastern California Museum,

Historic Photograph Collection.

PUBLISHED WORKS

Books

Angel, Myron. History of Nevada. Oakland, California, Thompson and West, 1881.

Barilett, Richard A. Great Surveys of the American West. Norman, University of OKahoma, 1962.

Beebe, Lucius, and Charles Clegg, U. S. West — The Saga of Wells Fargo. New York, Bonanza Books,
1974,

Brown, George R. ed. Reminiscences of Senator William Stewart of Nevada. New York, Neale
Publishing Company, 1908.

Cartter, George R. Twilight of the Jackass Prospector: Death Valley Area Portraits of the 1930's.
Morongo Valley, Califomia, Sagebrush Press, 1982.

Caruthers, William. Loafing Along Death Valley Trails. Pomona, California, Privately printed, 1951.
Chalfant, W. A. Tales of the Pioneers. Palo Alto, California, Stanford University Press, 1942.

. The Story of hyo, Rev. ed. Bishop, California, Chalfant Press, 1933.

Chapter 183, Southem Inyo American Association of Retired Persons. Saga of Inyo County. Covina,
California, Taylor Publishing Company, 1977.

178


CHATTER THREE: RANCHTING/GRAZING

In 1980 it was estimated that about 600 animals used the valley as winter range, while
fewer numbers remained during the summer. Ranchers preferred to graze their animals in
the nearby mountain ranges during the summer months to take advantage of the forage.
In 1980 range conditions were considered stable as there was sufficient water for irrigation
of supplemental forage on private lands.

Eureka Valley

Portions of Eureka Valley, nestled between the Saline Range on the west and the Last
Chance Range on the east and to the south of Fish Lake and Deep Springs valleys, were
leased for grazing by the Bureau of Land Management in 1980. However, the valley has
seen infrequent grazing activity, primarily because the barren expanse lacks sufficient
water facilities. Catile use the northern park of the valley outside the park boundaries only
during years of good rainfall and then only as far south as the Big Pine Road.

Deep Springs Valley

Deep Springs Valley, located southwest of Fish Lake Valley and outside the park
boundaries, has been used continuously for grazing purposes since the mid-1870s when a
rancher by the name of Stewart settled there. In 1980 Deep Springs College leased Bureau
of Land Management land in the valley for grazing purposes. Estimates of cattle using the
area since the turn of the century range between 300 and 750. At times, severe sub-
freezing, winter temperatures and significant snow depth have made winter forage use
difficult. For instance, many catile died during severe winters in 1933, 1949, and 1952.

Saline Valley

The area adjacent to and mcluding the Waucoba allotment were used for grazing more
extensively in the past than in 1980. Little and Big Cowhorn valleys, located near the
northwest corner of the Waucoba allotment, have received interminent use. Known or
estimated dates of significant grazing in the area were the mid-1920s and the immediate
post-World War I period. The portion of the allotment that extends down into Saline
Valley was used by a cattleman named Henry Miller prior to the turn of the 20th century.
The Saline Valley floor, in the vicinity of the dunes and up to Willow Creek, have had
considerable domestic livestock use. Beginning in the 1890s and lasting until the 1950s,
Johnny Hunter, a Native American living at the Saline Valley Indian Ranch, reportedly ran
about 40 brood mares year-round,

Hunter Mountain

The Hunter Mountain area, at the south-southeastern end of Saline Valley, has probably
had continuous grazing use for as long as any area in the eastern California desert.
William Lyle Hunter, a miner and cattleman, began using the area as a seasonal ranch to
raise cattle, horses, and mules by the mid-1870s. The Hunter family has been the principal
user of the area for grazing since that time. During the early 1900s, about 1,000 animais

126


Miscellanea

Military Aircraft Crashes

During October 1944, a B-24 Liberator bomber from Muroc Army Base crash-landed in the
salt marsh in Saline Valley while engaged in target practice, The plane had been delivered
from the Ford Motor Company's aircraft factory in Willow Run, Michigan, to the U.S.
Army Air Force on June 17, 1944. After acceptance by the Army Air Force the airplane
was delivered to Muroc Army Air Base in the Mojave Desert on June 20. On July 1, the
aircraft was converted to a TB-24J for use in training aerial gunners. The training exercises
were conducted over the desert region north of Panamint Valley where air-to-air gunnery
practice could be carried out without fear of firing down on populated areas. During the
exercises, the target tow ship, an Air Force A-24, better known as the "Douglas Dauntless"
dive bomber, flew by at about 12,000 feet, towing typical sleeve targets of the era. The
waist gunners, as well as the turret gunners, would blaze away at the white-colored
sleeve, learning the techniques of leading their targets and the deceptive distances
associated with air-to-air gunnery. This training continued almost daily from early July
until late October 1944. During the latter part of that month, the crew of the TB-24J was
conducting target practice over Saline Valley when two of its engines quit. Even at full
power, the two remaining engines did not provide sufficient thrust to lift the bomber over
Saline Valley's surrounding mountains. Seeing the flat valley floor below, the pilot flared
in for an emergency Janding, but unfortunately for the crew the aircraft was too close to
the soft salt marsh, When the airplane touched down, the salt crust collapsed, and gray
subsurface mud exploded from the force of the plowing landing gear, covering the plane
inside and out. Fearing an explosion, the crew hastily scrambled out of the plane. In his
haste Corporal Robert Dunlap, the aircraft's engineer, slipped into a still turning propeller
and severed a leg. The crew slogged to the shore of the lake, carrying the injured engineer
in the nearly 100-degree heat. After a time the fighter plane towing the bomber’s target
noticed the downed plane and called for a vehicle to drive into Saline Valley to retrieve
the crew and take Corporal Dunlap to the hospital at Lone Pine. Because of his massive
loss of blood, Dunlap died in the hospital. After the war someone managed to salvage a
large portion of the bomber by cutting it into sections with an acetylene torch, but
components of the plane, as well as its landing track, may still be seen in the salt
marsh.”

During recent decades, several other notable aircraft crashes have occurred in or near the
lands added to Death Valley in 1994. An SA-16 crashed in the vicinity of Towne Pass on
January 24, 1952, while on a covert training mission from Mountain Home Air Force Base
near Boise, Idaho, to San Diego. This mission was flown by the 580th Air Resupply and
Communications Squadron, a unit which had been established by the U.S. Air Force at the
behest of the Central Intelligence Agency to penetrate foreign borders for the purpose of
infiltrating agents and equipment to countries friendly toward the United States but under
the contro] of Communist governments. Later on August 15, 1990, a Navy F-18 training
aircrafl exploded and crashed on Hunter Mountain, starting a forest fire that eventually
burned 200 acres of pifion woodland during the next several days. The impact site was a
crater 20 feet in diameter and 8 feet in depth. Carbon fibers, aircraft parts, and 2-3 inches

287. R. W. Koch, "The Mystery of the Saline Valley Liberator,” Air Classics, pp. 31-35, Richard §. (Steve) Smith
Files, Bureau of Land Management, Ridgecrest (California) Resource Area Office, and Thomas S, Budlong,
“Penecircumambulation of Lake Saline: Desert Exploration in Two Parts,” California Explorer
(November/December 1993), pp. &7.

153


CONTENTS

Preface vit

Introduction ix
Establishment ix
Geographic Location ix
Purpose ix
Significance xi

Chapter One: Exploration 1849-1930s 1
Early Exploration, 1849-1870s 1
The Forty-Niners 1
E. Darwin French 2
Railroad Surveyors 4
John C. Frémont 5
General Land Office Surveys 6
California Boundary Commission Surveys 6
Charles E. Bendire Expedition 10
George M. Wheeler Expeditions 13
Scientific Expeditions: 1890s-1930s 22
Biological Exploration 22
Surveying 24
Geological Exploration 24
Topographical Exploration 27
Journalists 29
Archeological Surveys 31
Recommendations for National Register of Historic Places Evaluation Study 44

Chapter Two: Mining 35
Historical Overview of Mining in the Death Valley Region 35
Mining Districts /Areas Relating to the New Lands 45
Coso 45
White Mountain City 48
Cerro Gordo 49
Tecopa 55
Panamint/Panamint City 56
Darwin 63
Lookout 66
Beveridge 70
Ballarat 72
Ryan 78
Greenwater 80
Saline Valley Region (Including the Ubehebe Peak, Waucoba, Lee Flat, Nelson
Range, Hunter Mountain, Marble Canyon, and Eureka Valley Areas) 84
Waucoba — Ubehebe Peak Area 84
Saline Valley Salt Works/Salt Tram 88
Saline Valley Conn and Trudo Borax Works 99

iii


Government Publications/Docunients

- . Special Report No. 125. Miners and Mineral Deposits in Death Valiey
National Monument, California, by James R. Evans, Gary C. Taylor, and John S. Rapp. 1976.

- Department of Natural Resources, Division of Mines. Bulletin No. 175. Salt in California, by
William E. Ver Planck. March 1958.

——_- ____. “Saline Valley Area, Inyo County, California.” Mineral Information
Service, VIII ‘(August 1, 1955), pp. 1-5.

. Special Report No. 42. Geology of Mineral Deposits in the Ubehebe Peak Quadrangle,
Inyo County, California, by James F. McAllister, Sacramento, State Printing Office, January 1955.

. . Special Report No. 51. Economic Geology of the Darwin Quadrangle, Inyo County,
California, Wayne E. Hall and E. M. MacKevett. Sacramento, State Printing Office, October
1958,

. . Division of Mines and Geology. Special Report No. 73. Economic Geology of the
Panamint Butte Quadrangle and Modoc District, Inyo County, California, by Wayne E. Hall and
Hal G. Stephens. Sacramento, State Printing Office, 1963.

Tucker, W. B., and Sampson, R. J. “Los Angeles Field District," “Mineral Resources of Inyo County."
California Journal of Mires and Geology, XXXIV (October 1938), pp. 368-500.

“Tungsten Resources of California." California Journal of Mines and Geology, XXXVII (April 1941), pp.
310-12,

U.S. Department of Agriculture. Division of Botany. Contributions from the U.S. National
Herbarium, Vol. I¥, Issued November 29, 1893. Botany of the Death Valley Expedition, by
Frederick Vernon Coville. Washington, Government Printing Office, 1893,

U.S. Department of the Interior. Geological Survey. Bulletin No. 200. Reconnaissance of the Borax
Deposits of Death Valley and Mohave Desert, by Marius R. Campbell. Washington, Government
Printing Office, 1902.

. Bulletin No. 208, Descriptive Geology of Nevada South of the Fortieth Parallel and
Adjacent Portions of California, by Josiah E. Spurr. Washington, Government Printing Office,
1903,

. . Bulletin No. 285. "Notes on Ore Deposits of Southwestern Nevada and Eastern
California, by Sydney H. Ball, in Contributions to Economic Geology, 1905, by S. F. Emmons and
E. C. Eckel. Washington, Goverment Printing Office, 1906.

. Bulletin No. 303. Preliminary Account of Goldfield, Bullfrog, and Other Mining
Districts in Southern Nevada, by Frederick L. Ransome. Washington, Government Printing
Office, 1907,

. Bulletin No. 308. A Geologic Reconnaissance in Southwestent Nevada and Eastern
California, by Sydney H. Bali. Washington, Government Printing Office, 1907.

—__—— . Bulletin No. 407. Geology and Ore Deposits of the Bullfrog District, Nevada, by
“Fredrick L. Ransome, W. H. Emunons, and G. H. Garrey. Washington, Government Printing

Office, 1910.

187



CHAPTER Two: MINING

fact that the richer ore of borax known as colemanite has now displaced the material
derived from dry lake deposits,” such as that in Saline Valley, he “supposed that the richer
borate-bearing portions of the salt crust have been largely worked over and

exhausted."

Today five shallow cock-lined basins of varying sizes are present at the site of the ‘borax
works on the east side of the Saline Valley road. These features were probably
crystallizing tanks and may have been lined with wood. Stone walls define the front of a
large foundation on the west side of the road. This feature displays a trench down the
middle and stone-lined troughs perpendicular to it on both sides. Several vertical pipes
and wooden posts extend above the top of the foundation. It appears as though compost
is eroding out of the back of this salt-encrusted mound. This structure appears to have
housed the dissolving tanks, Nearby are the remnants of a smaller rectangular stone
structure approximately 2 meters figh. This structure may have supported the boilers for
the borax operation. Other mining features may be seen at the site, as well as
concentrations of weathered lumber and scattered trash. The area to the south is
characterized by slag and other evidences of buming.”TM

There are no records of borax operations at the Conn and Trudo site after 1907. In August
1921, however, reports by two Big Pine promoters of “another big colemanite strike” in
Saline Valley drew prospectors to the area. The alleged strike, which occurred about one-
quarter mile from Warm Spring, consisted of "little crystalline veinlets of lime and silica
along the contact between limestone and lava.” Samples were taken to Big Pine for testing
by a chemist, the results of which showed they were poor grade. Thereafter, enthusiasm
for the alleged "strike" waned rapidly.” .

Other Mining Operations in the Saline Valley Region. During the 1880s, copper deposits
were discovered on the east side of Saline Valley. Albert Bierstadt, a well-known artist
from New York, spent considerable money in initial development of the deposits.
Transportation difficulties and the remote location of the discovery, however, prevented
extensive development, and little activity occurred in the area for nearly two decades.”

On October 19, 1906, the Inyo Independent reported that there was “a big rush on to the
copper camps in Saline Valley.” "Prospectors by the hundred” were “flocking in from Big

Pine, Keeler and Rhyolite” to make "thousands of locations” “covering the entire mineral
belt." The article continued:

... Of course most of this locating is done with the hope that capital will become
interested and a market will be made for any kind of claim that can be staked. It

187. Gale, "Salt, Borax, and Potash in Saline Valley,” in U.S. Department of the Interior, Geological Survey, Bulletin
No. 540, pp. 420-21. By 1903 the Conn and Trudo Borax Works consisted of four buildings. “Survey Plan,” Prepared
for Saline Valley Salt Company by William Dixon, Licensed Surveyor, December 31, 1903, Cultural Resource Files,
Resource Management Division, Death Valley National Park.

188. Berg and Crowley, Draft, “Notes on Selected Historical Sites in the Saline Valley.”
189. Gower, 50 Years in Death Valley — Memoirs of a Borax, pp. 80-8).

190, Charles Mulholland, Inyo County: its Lands, Water, Soil, Climate, Mines, Scenery and Other Resources (Los
Angeles, Times-Mirror Printing, and Binding House, 1893), p. 29.

104


(CHAPTER ONE: EXPLORATION, 1649-1930s

that they had to quit their horses aud proceed on foot. For a short distance, they literally
crawled, creeping painfully along on their "hands and knees” toward their destination. On
their return, they found the abandoned mounts and were able to expedite the delivery of
the mail to their colleagues.

On April 11, a small group packed over the summit of the Panamint Range from Johnson
Canyon to Panamint City and camped at Brewery Spring in Surprise Canyon, about 2
miles below the town. After remaining there for four days the party moved its camp to
the Hot Springs in Panamint Valley. Between April 24 and May 17, Funston and others
went from the Hot Springs through Shepherd Canyon in the Argus Mountains to
Maturango Spring, Darwin, Willow Creek Canyon, and Keeler. From May 23 to June 15,
he went from Keeler through Cottonwood Canyon, across Mesquite Valley to Grapevine
Peak, and back to Keeler by the same route.

On June 18, Coville aud Funston took a trail from Keeler over the southern end of the
Inyo Mountains, south of Cerro Gordo Peak, to Willow Creek Canyon, spending four days
“in making excursions down a spur of the Panamint Range into Panamint Valley and
Saline Valley.” Later that month, Funston joined a group led by Nelson that traversed the
area from Lone Pine across the Inyo Mountains into Saline Valley, northward to Waucoba
Peak, and across the range to Owens Valley.”

Surveying

Surveyors returned to the Death Valley region during the 1890s to more accurately define
the California-Nevada boundary after von Schmidt's earlier survey was called into
question. Cephas H. Sinclair of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey was assigned the task.
Starting at Lake Tahoe in 1893, he ran a new line across the north end of Death Valley and
ou through the Amargosa during the heat of the summer in 1895, finally completing the
project at the Colorado River in 1899. He successfully straightened aut the state boundary,
moving it west by as much as one mile in the vicinity of Death Valley.*

Geological Exploration -

During the late 1890s and early 1900s, state and federal government geologists arrived in
the Death Valley region to conduct the initial scientific studies of the area’s geological
formations and mineralogical potential. During April-July 1894, Harold W. Fairbanks,
assisted by R. P. Heagan, conducted a mineral deposit survey of Inyo, Mono, and Alpine
counties. Because of the "great extent of country, and the exceedingly barren and rugged
nature of portions of it,” Fairbanks reported that ‘little more than a reconnaissance report

33, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Division of Botany, Contributions from the U.S. National Herbarium, Vol. IV,
Issued November 29, 1893, Botany of the Death Valley Expedition, by Frederick Vernon Coville (Washington,
Government Printing Office, 1893), pp. 1-10, and Thomas W. Crouch, “Frederick Funston of Kansas: His Formative
Years, 1865-1891," Kansas Historical Quarterly, XL (Summer, 1974), pp. 203-11.

4. Ibid, p. 365.

24


CHAPTER TWO: MINING

Despite its insignificant copper production, Greenwater played a role in the onset of the
Panic of 1907. In April of that year, when the frenzy at Greenwater was at its height, the
Amalgamated Copper Company, in contro] of more than 50 percent of the nation’s copper
production in the early 1900s, began stockpiling copper. In September 1907, after the myth
of Greenwater's riches had been exposed by Yeatman, the company unloaded its copper
stockpiles on the open market, thus reducing the price of copper and copper mining
shares. Augustus Heinze, who had allegedly purchased claims at Greenwater totaling
$200,000, attempted to keep the price of copper up by using funds from several large
eastern banks that he controlled — efforts that contributed greatly to the bank panic."

Today, rusty tin cans, caved-in cellars, sagebrush, three lonely graves, and the remnants of
a crude rock house mark the spot of the once boisterous town of Greenwater. Remnants,
including dugouts and collapsed mining structures, survive at the site of Furnace, and a
few wooden structures amid vast piles of broken glass remain at the site of Kunze.’*

Saline Valiey Region (Including the Ubehebe Peak, Waucoba, Lee Flat, Nelson Range,
Hunter Mountain, Marble Canyon, and Eureka Valley Areas}

Saline Valley, named for the brilliant white salt playa that occurs near its southwestern
edge, is one of the major areas added to Death Valley National Monument in 1994. Lying
north of the Nelson Range, the valley is nestled between the Inyo Mountains on the west
and the Saline and Last Chance ranges on the east. Although Ubehebe Peak in the Saline
Range was located in the national monument prior to 1994, the area west of the peak
extending to Saline Valley was added to the monument that year. Other new areas added
to the park in the Saline Valley region include: the Waucoba area, lying on the east side of
the Saline Range between Saline and Eureka valleys; the Lee Flat area, a high plateau,
lying to the east of the Inyos south of the Nelson Range and north of Rainbow Canyon;
the Neison Range, lying between Saline Valley on the north and Lee Flat on the south; the
Hunter Mountain area, lying south-southeast of Ubehebe Peak and including Grapevine
and Mill canyons; and the Marble Canyon area north of Saline Valley between the Inyo
Mountains on the west and the Saline Range on the east with Cowhorn Valley
immediately to the north and Jackass Flats to the south. Eureka Valley, between the Saline
and Last Chance ranges, lies east of Cowhorm Valley, Marble Canyon, and fackass Flats.

Waucoba — Ubehebe Peak Area. As aforeinentioned in Chapter One of this study, a
party led by Captain Harry Egbert, commander of Camp Independence, left Owens Valley
during 1872 for a two weeks’ prospecting reconnaissance of the Waucoba area on the east

154, Lingenfelter, Death Valley & The Amargosa, pp. 310-37; Weight, Greenwater, pp. 5, 8, 13-17, 31, 34; Paher, Death
Valley Ghost Towns, pp. 10,13; and Harry D. Schulz, Panics and Crashes and How You Can Make Morey Out of Them
{New Rochelle, New York, Arlington House, 1972), p. 49.

155. Weight, Greemuater, p. 15; Harald O. Weight, “The Greatest Copper Camp on Earth,” Westways, {January 1961),
pp. 4-5; Richard 5. Smith, "No Water in Greenwater," pp. 12-13, “Death Valley,” Vertical Reference Files, Inyo
County Library, Independence; and Paher, Death Valley Ghost Towns, pp. 10-14, For an assessment of the mineral
resources in the Greenwater Valley area, see U.S. Department of the Interior, Geological Survey, Bulletin No. 1709-
B, Mineral Resources of the Greenwater Valley Wilderness Study Area, Inyo County, California, by Augustus K.
Armstrong, Michael T. Garrison, James G. Frisken, and Robert C. Jachens (Washington, Government Printing
Office, 1987), pp. B1-B11.

84


United States Department of the Interior * National Park Service


Mining District/Areas Relating te the New Lends

Lila C. branch 4 miles out from Death Valley Junction, and was ready to begin
construction in the fall of 1913. After the California Railroad Commission refused to allow
Smith‘s debt-ridden Tonopah and Tidewater to issue new bonds to finance the work, a
Separate Death Valley Railroad Company was founded on January 26, 1914, to do the job,
its bonds guaranteed by Borax Consolidated. Construction began in mid-February with a
crew of 325 men and 150 mules in hopes of completing the road by the end of June.
Because of the intense summer heat and engineering difficulties that had to be
surmounted, however, the railroad was not completed until December 1 at a cost of
$370,000."

During the interim the Biddy McCarthy had been opened, and ore was shipped as soon as
the rails reached the mine’s dump. The Lila C. was shut down, and all of the old
buildings in Ryan, except for the roaster, were loaded on to railroad cars and hauled to a
site on the slope adjacent to the Biddy. The company oflicially named the ensemble Devar,
for the Death Valley Railroad, but sentiment and the post office restored it to Ryan by
November 1915. One train a day ran fom Death Valley Junction to the new Ryan and
back, hauling water in the morning and taking out the ore in the afternoon.

The roaster at old Ryan was dismantled and hauled to Death Valley Junction, thus making
that location the new mill town. There the machinery was incorporated into a new
$500,000 roasting plant that began operation on Biddy ore in January 1915. The company
also constructed quarters for the mill hands and a company store at the new townsite.

The other claims near the Biddy were placed in production within a year or two. The
Played Out, located along the line of the railroad several miles northeast of the Biddy, was
opened first. Work then started on the Grand View and Lizzie V. Oakey, a mile or so
south of Ryan, and a winding 2-foot-wide gauge rail line, dubbed the Baby Gauge, was
laid from Ryan to the mines in 1915-16, Further to the southeast was lne Widow, which
did not lock promising at lirst. Thus, its ore was packed to the railroad by mule. After
tich ore was struck at depth, however, the Baby Gauge was extended to the Widow in
1919. By that date the Baby Gauge was 7 miles long and had its own gasoline engine and
3ton cars. The company worked the mines at new Ryan year-round, with a crew of about
100 men. The combined production of the mines amounted to more than 200 tons a day —
about double that of the Lila C. — and the new mill at Death Valley Junction operated 24
hours a day.

During the 1920s the Pacilic Coast Borax Company constructed modern kreproof
dormitories and a dozen cottages for the staff at Ryan which would soon have a
population of 250. During 1923-24 the company constructed more elaborate improvements,
completing a unique new company town at Death Valley Junction that featured a grand
Spanish-style, U-shaped adobe headquarters building, with a colonnade across the front
that measured 420 feet by 198 feet on a side and enclosed a 2-acre plaza. A complex of
company houses was constructed north of the adobe structure. Meanwhile, the mining
operations at Ryan were modernized, the last of the mules im the mines being replaced

150. For a history of the Death Valley Railroad Company see Myrick, Railroads of Newada and Eastern California, Vol,
IL, pp. 08-21. Also see Gordon Chappell, "To Death Valley by Rail: A Brief History of the Death Valley Railroad,”
in US Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Proceedings, Third Death Valley Conference on History and
Prehistory, January 30-February 2, 1992.

re)


Early Exploration, 1849-18708

men crossed the Sierra Nevada over the Sonora Trail, turning north along the Walker
River to Walker Lake before heading southeast toward their intended destination at the
Vegas de Santa Clara on the Old Spanish Trail at Meadow Valley Creek. The quest for
water, however, brought the men farther south to Fish Lake Valley at the base of the
White Mountains. From there they continued down into the desiccating basin of Eureka
Valley, just missing numerous springs in the Sylvania Mountains. On November 7, 1853,
after two waterless days, they crossed eastward, in desperation, over the Last Chance
Range and into Death Valley, camping at Last Chance Spring. After several days in the
valley they left Death Valley by way of Last Chance Canyon near the California-Nevada
border on November 11.

Although the party failed to find a railroad route, Goddard coilected more than 600
geological and botanical specimens, and much new country, including the upper reaches
of Death Valley, were mapped for the first time. Goddard showed the results of the

party’s exploration on his map of California, which was published in 1857, On the map
the explorers’ trail leads to their fledgling one-night camp of November 10 — named “East
Camp" — in Oriental Wash just short of the ridge of Gold Mountain. As other mapmakers
borrowed from this map, the trail, springs, and other natural features along the trail faded
in confusion, but East Camp remained on maps for a decade®

Jolin C. Frémont

The quest for a transcontinental railroad route also !ured John C. Frémont through the
hills just north of Death Valley in March 1854. This was Frémont’s fifth, last, and nearly
forgotien expedition to the Great Basin, an undertaking financed from his own packet
because of his disappointment at not having been chosen to lead one of the federal
surveys for a transcontinental railroad, Frémont hoped to show that a railroad route
existed along the base of that great east-west "dividing range” in the vicinity of 37 and 38
degrees north latitude that he thought he had glimpsed from afar on his earlier
explorations, and that he had placed on his great map of the west in 1648. Beginning this
last expedition in September 1853, Frémont reached central Utah with a small body of
men after a journey of great hardship, demonstrating that practicable passes existed
through those mountains. To his dismay, however, Frémont learned that the mountains he
thought he had seen farther west were nonexistent. Thus, the expedition added nothing to
Frémont’s fame, nor did it contribute any practical information for prospective railroads to
the Pacific coast. His exploration activities over, Frémont soon went east to undertake
another futile quest as the fledglmg Republican Party’s tirst candidate for president of the
United States.

8. Lingenfelter, Death Valley & The Amargasa, pp. 60-82.

9, Tbid., p. 82; and Allen Johnson and Dumas Malone, eds., Dictionary of American Biography (New York, Charles
Scribner’s Sons, 1960), Wl I¥, p. 22; and Dictionary of American History (Rev. ed., New York, Charles Scribner's
Sons, 1976), Vol. HL p. 22.



Mining District/Areas Relating to the New Lands

the road in 1925. The site is presently located on lands administered by Inyo National
Forest.”

Cerro Gordo

Wandering prospectors from the Coso area were responsible for the discovery and early
development of Cerro Gordo” near the south end of the Inyo Mountains several miles
west of Death Valley between Owens Lake and the Nelson Range. The Cerro Gordo
mining properties became California’s leading silver and lead producer in a decade of
active mining that followed the Civil War. In 1865 Pablo Flores and two Mexican
companions discovered rich silver float at the foot of Buena Vista Peak, now known as
Cerro Gordo Peak. Attacked and captured by Indians during the summer of 1866, Flores
was released after reportedly promising not to return to the area, but his two companions
were killed. Later in the fall of 1866, Flores returned with some 40 miners, and together
this group located the Ygnacio, San Francisco, and San Felipe mines. Having no capital to
invest, these early efforts were limited, the ore being smelted in small crude adobe
furnaces.

A man named Ochoa developed the San Lucas Mine near the summit of Buena Vista
Peak, thus becoming the first prospector to make a committed effort to establish mining at
Cerro Gordo. Ore from the mine was treated at the Silver Sprout Mill, several miles west
of Fort Independence in Owens Valley. The Lone Pine Mining District (including Cerro
Gordo) was established on April 5, 1866.77”

In May 1867 a prospector displayed Cerro Gordo ore samples in Virginia City, Nevada,
bringing Cerro Gordo to the public's attention and triggering a mining rush. By the end of
1869 more than 900 locations were filed in the district. One of the first persons to arrive in
Cerro Gordo during the ensuing stampede was Mortimer W. Belshaw, a mining engineer
from San Francisco who had become knowledgeable in silver smelting processes while
working mines in Sinaloa, Mexico, six years earlier, Arriving at Cerro Gordo in April 1868,
Belshaw recognized its potential and set out to control the entire mountain peak. As lead
ore was needed to smelt the silver ores, Belshaw obtained a one-third interest in the Union
Mine on May 6, 1868, promising the Union owner, Joaquin Alinada, one-fifih mterest in a
smelter yet to be constructed.”

Belshaw extracted several tons of ore from his new mine, smelting it down in “vaso”
furnaces. After traveling to Los Angeles and San Francisco to secure financial backing,

72. Norwood et al., Cultural Resource Overview of the Eureka, Saline, Panamint, and Darwin Region, pp. 139-40, and
David A. Wright, "Scandal at Big Springs,” The Album, XI (October 1989), pp. 15-18.

73. Vredenburgh, Shumway, and Hartill, Desert Fever, pp. 225-32, and Norwood ef af., Cultural Resource Overview
of the Eureka, Saline, Panamint, and Darwin Region, pp. 122-28. For a comprehensive study of the historical
development and geological features of the Cerro Gordo mining district, see U.S. Department of Interior,
Geological Survey, Professional Paper No. 408, Geology of the Cerro Gordo Mining District Inyo County, California,
by C. W. Merriam (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1963), pp. 1-80.

7A. Chalfant, The Story of inyo, pp. 277-78.
75. Remi Nadeau, City Makers (Los Angeles, Trans-Anglo Books, 1965), pp. 29-30.

43



PHOTOGRAPHS

Photo 7: Greenwater and Death Valley Mining Company, Copper Queen Mine, ca. 1906,
Photographer — Larson, Patm Studio, Goldfield, Nevada. File No. 4821, Historic

Photograph Collection, Research Library and Museum Collection, Death Valley @
National Park. Courtesy, Nevada State Historical Society, Carson City.

Photo 8: Darwin Mining Camp, ca. 1916. File No. 3039, Historic Photograph Collection, @
Research Library and Museum Collectian, Death Valley National Park.

166


Mining District/Areas Relating to the New Lanits

Se Z aaa ree

Y

Str

“S815

Pr
A
Less

Tas.

‘Contour Interval OQ fret,

Figure 5: U.S. Geological Survey, Cctober 27, 1922, Saline Valley.

commodity that was “proposed to harvest and ship to market.” The “playa surface beyond
the white salt" was "like that of marginal salt crusts in some other desert basins, a rough
expanse of broken and tilted salt blocks which, having been partly dissolved by storm
walters, now stand with an exceedingly sharp, craggy surface.” The "rough salt" had "a
dirty brown color, doubtless due to the dust which is blown upon it in windstorms and
which does not have an opportunity to settle out by occasional floodings and partial
solution such as occur in the area of smooth salt.”

Gale noted that the salt company’s prospectus stated “that no refining or treatment other
than grinding will be needed before placing the salt on the market, and it is assumed that

aA



Published Works

Peter. Cowboys of the High Sierra. Flagstaff, Arizona, Northland Press, 1980.

Phillips, Roger. ed. The Hot Springs Gazette. Issue No. 15. Heiena, Montana, Silvertip Publishing
Company, 1990.

Putnam, George Palmer. Death Valley and Its Country. New York, Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1946.

Reed, Lester. Old-Timers of Southeastertt California. Redlands, California, Citrograph Printing
Company, 1967.

Schultz, Harry D, Panics and Crashes and How You Can Make Money Out of Them. New Rochelle,
New York, Arlington House, 1972.

Spears, John R. Hinstrated Sketches of Death Valley and Other Borax Deserts of the Pacific Coast. Chicago
and New York, Rand, McNally & Company, Publishers, 1892.

Sturtevant, William C. ed. Hazdbook of North American Indians, Volume 8, California. Washington,
Smithsonian Institution, 1978.

. ed. Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 11, Great Basin. Washington, Smithsonian
Institution, 1936,

Travis, Norman J., and E. J. Cocks, The Tincal Trail: A History of Borax. London, Harrap Limited,
1984.

Utley, Robert M. Frontier Regulars: The United States Army and the indian, 1866- — 1897. New York,
Macmillan, 1973; Reprint, Lincoln, University of Nebraska Vress, 1984.

Vredenburgh, Larry M., Gary L. Shumway, and Russell D. Hartill. Desert Fever: An Ouerview of
Mining in the California Desert. Canoga Park, California, Living West Press, 1981.

Wallace, William J., and Edith Wallace. Ancient Peoples and Cultures of Death Valley National
Monument, Ramona, California, Acoma Books, 1991.

: . Desert Foragers and Hunters: Indians of the Death Valley Region. Ramona, California,
Acoma Books, 1979.

Weight, Harold ©. ed. Greenwater. Twentynine Palms, California, The Calico Press, 1969.
. Lost Mines of Death Valley. Twentynine Palms, California, The Calico Press, 1953.

Wheat, Carl [. Pioneer Visitors to Death Valley After the Forty-Niners. San Francisco, California
Historical Society, 1939.

Wilson, Neill C. Silver Stampede: The Career of Death Valley's Hell-Camp, Old Panamint. New York,
The Macmillan Company, 1937; Reprint, New York, Ballentine Books, 1974.

Wheelock, Walt. Gentlewomen Adventurers in Death Valley. Death Valley, California, The Death
Valley ‘49ers, Inc., 1996.

Wolle, Muriel Sibell. The Bonanza Trail: Ghost Towns and Mining Canips of the West. Bloomington,
Indiana University Press, 1953,

181



Photographs

Photo 5: Remnants of Mill, Panamint City, March 1960. Photographer —
Menning. File No. 2242, Historic Photograph Collection, Research Library and
Museum Collection, Death Valley National Park.

Photo 6: Main Street, Greenwater, ca. 1906. Photographer — Larson, Palm Studio, Goldfield,
Nevada. File No. 4820, Historic Photograph Collection, Research Library and Museum
Collection, Death Valley National Park. Courtesy, Nevada State Historical Society, Carson

City.

165



CHAPTER TWO: MINING

of ore in 1952, The total production of 470 tons mined during 1944-52 yielded ore
averaging 16.6 percent lead, 12.5 percent zinc, and 2.6 ounces of silver per ton.

Today, the stone shells of several dozen buildings, scales, an old boiler, a toppled wooden
public hall, mull foundations, and the broken chips of hundreds of champagne bottles are
all that remain on Lockout Mountain. The area is dotted with mine portals, tunnels, and

other remnants of mine workings. At the Modoc, there are remains of some 40 buildings

in various stages of deterioration.'*

Beveridge

Located in Hunter Canyon on the eastern.slopes of the Inyo Mountains southwest of
Saline Valley and north of Cerro Gordo, the Beveridge Mining District consists of about 17
square miles, including the rugged and difficult terrain of Keynote and Beveridge (Hahn's)
canyons. Beveridge is probably one of the most inaccessible gold-producing districts in
Inyo County, but despite its remote location, it is the most productive gold-producing
district in the county.*

William L. Hunter, who had come to Cerro Gordo in the mid-1860s and established a pack
animal ranch in the Hunter Mountain area, is credited with making the initial discovery
that led to establishment of the Beveridge Mining District. After selling his lead mine in
the Rose Springs (Ubehebe) district to Belshaw of Cerro Gordo fame, Hunter prospected ta
the northwest and in 1877 discovered the Big Horn Mine, consisting of eight claims and
one millsite located between Hunter and Beveridge canyons. On December 7 of that year,
the Beveridge Mining Distiict was organized at Big Horn Spring in Hunter Canyon,
midway between the summit of New York Bulle and the salt flat in Saline Valley. The
district included the eastern slopes of the Inyo Mountains just north of the Cerro Gordo
Mining District. Because of the scarcity of timber in the area, the new mining district
claimed all ihe timber of Hunter and Robles canyons (Robles Canyon was a small canyon
running northerly from Hunter Canyon near the Big Horn Mine) for mining, building, and
fuel purposes, and prohibited the wanton destruction or location of any timber claims for
Private use. Beveridge took its name from John Beveridge, an early Inyo County pioneer
who had been active in mining discoveries east of Cerro Gordo. Beveridge had been
named justice of the peace at Bend City in Owens Valley in 1865 and had continued in
that capacity after moving to Independence. He was elected first district atlorney for Inyo

134. State of California, Department of Natural Resources, Division of Mines and Geology, Special Report No. 73,
Pp. 2435; Norman and Stewart, “Mines and Mineral Resources of Inyo County, California,” p. 57; and U. S.
Department of the Interior, Geological Survey, Open-File Report No. 84-678, Mineral Resources and Minerat Resource
Potential of the Panamint Dunes Wilderness Study Area, inyo County, California, by George L. Kennedy, James E.
Kilburn, and James E, Conrad, U. 5. Gevtogicat Survey, and Andrew M, Lesacykowski, U.S. Bureau of Mines,
1984, pp. 1-20.

135. Engle, “A Look At Lookout,” pp. 18-19, 35; Ruger Mitchelt, “The Legend of Lookout,” Desert Magazine, XXXI
(April 1968), pp. 28-29; and David A. Wright, “Looking In On Lookout,” pp. 17-26, Subject History Files, “Lookout
{Town)," Eastern California Museum.

136. Norwood et al., Cultural Resource Overview of the Eureka, Satine, Panamint, and Darwin Region, p. 144, and
Vredenburgh, Shumway, and Harlill, Desert Fever, p. 246.

70



CHATTER ONE: EXPLORATION, 1849-19305

boards, because they could not buy horses to haul their supplies." After “the mill bummed
down away went the campers — some perishing on the desert for want of water.” "Out of
the debris a ten-stamp mill" had been constructed, but “even that is idle for lack of fuel,
and only one white man remains.” Describing this lone prospector, Spears noted:

, .. A more curious character than he is said to be would be hard to find. The
white Arabs speak of him with much respect as one who writes novels and other
literary matter, and has sufficient mfluence to keep an open mail route to the
deserted camp.

Aside from the one prospector, a "handful of Indians who call themselves a distinct race
— the Panamints — live about the old camp."*

In May 1898 some seven years after Spears visited the region, Carmen Harcoutt, a
journalist for Querland Monthly, arrived in Death Valley to examine the area and report on
his findings. Harcourt observed:

Death Valley is a spot famous wherever the English language is spoken, and to
most people it is known only as a pestilential hole anywhere from five hundred
feet to one mile below sea level, swarming with Gila monsters, rattlesnakes,
sidewinders, poisonous lizards, and other awful, unnamed creatures which, like
the Sphinx of Sophocles’s great tragedy "Oedipus Tyrannus,” awaits to devour the
intrepid traveler on the Amargosan plains.

According to Harcourt, the "Death valley of reality is considerably unlike the Death valley
of the highly imaginative space writers of the daily press." However, these "knights of the
quill" should be forgiven “when we reflect that their knowledge of this region is mainly
gained from the early Government reports, which are bristling with inaccuracies, and
many of whose surveys were really never made as claimed.”

Emphasizing the scenic attractions of the Death Valley region, Harcourt reported that
when he visited the valley, which he termed a “wondrous spot,” he was “surprised to find
that it differed but little in topography and general characteristics from the Panamint and
contiguous valleys." Despite “its forbidding aspect,” the valley was “a picture masterful in
its vast proportions and as varied in color as the entire range of the artist’s palette, even
without a green thing in the entire detail of the composition.” Looking “at the grand
Panorama, with the sun sinking behind the twin peaks of Mount Whitney, in a sky
illumined with nimbus-like clouds of delicate green and fiery copper and gorgeous shades
of red, one can begin to understand the fascination of the desert to its inhabitants, and no
longer wonders why a man who is once a miner or prospector can never be wholly
weaned from the dangerous but seductive influences of the desert.” Apart from the
incentive of mineral wealth, the rugged region had "a wonderful charm” in which “nature
is seen in all the grandeur of her most savage and forbidding moods."*

43. John R. Spears, jilustrated Sketches of Death Valley and Other Borax Deserts of the Pacific Coast (Chicago and New
York, Rand, McNally & Company, Publishers, 1892), pp. 160, 188.

44. Carmen Harcourt, "Death Valley and the Mojave Desert,” Overland Monthly, XXX] (Secand Series, No. 186, June
1898), pp. 488-91.

30


BIBLIOGRAPHY
MANUSCRIPT SOURCES
Covina, California.
Saline Organization and Kindred Spirits Collection.
Death Valley National Park, California. Research Library and Museum Collection.
Matt Ryan Collection.
Silver Boxes, Archeology - Death Valley.
Silver Boxes, History - Death Valley, Box 1.
Silver Boxes, History - Mines, Gordon Chappel! Research Materials, Box 1.
. Resource Management Division.
Cultural Resource Files.
Mining Files.
New Lands Files (In Possession of Caven Clark, Archeologist)

Independence, California. Eastern California Museum.

Family History Files.
Subject History Files.

. Inyo County Library.

Vertical Reference Files.

. Recorder's Office, Inyo County Courthouse.

Land Records.
Panamint Mining District Records, 1873-74.

Los Angeles, California.
Saline Preservation Association Collection.

Ridgecrest, California. Bureau of Land Management, Ridgecrest Resource Area Office.
Richard $. (Steve) Smith Files.

. Sophia A. Merk Collection.

NEWSPAPERS

Bakersfield Californian, November 26, 1994.

Inyo Independent, November 9, 1872; April 5, 1873; May 20, 1882; August 6, 13, 1897; March 14, 1902;
March 30 and October 19, 1906; September 9, 1910; March 24 and April 21, 1911; May 3, July
26, and September 13, 1924; March 28, August 1, 1925; June 26, 1926; February 22, 29, 1952;
and July 12, 1968.

177



Historical Overview of Maning

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 region. The larger Death Valley area
towns of the first decade of the 20th century flourished until the financial panic of 1907, a
national economic downtum that resulted in an immediate slowdown of work in most of
them and often total cessation of mining activity. In addition, the earthquake that struck
San Francisco in 1906 caused many investors to withdraw from mining ventures in the
Rhyolite area. Prosperous large-scale metallic mining in Death Valley ended, for all
practical purposes, by about 1915, although Skidoo managed to operate until 1917. Later
work at Skidoo was sporadic.

As a result of the outbreak of World War { in Europe in 1914 and American entry into the
war in 1917, mining in the desert region of eastern California experienced a general
revival as prospectors began searching the old dumps for overlooked fortunes in
manganese, lead, zinc, talc, and tungsten. Darwin and Cerro Gordo, among other mining
areas, were "rediscovered" and had record productions during the war years. Nitrate
prospecting was conducted during the war in the Ibex and Saratoga Spring areas in the
southern portion of Death Valley, prompted by the nation’s need for the product to
manufacrure explosives and fertilizers.“

The end of the war in 1918 and the onset of an inflahonary economy during the 1920s
placed a damper on new mineral discoveries in the eastern California desert region, and
many mines were unable to operate with the high prices prevailing during the period.
After the stock market crash in October 1929 the Great Depression had an ironic impact on
mining activity in eastern California. Unemployed men tumed to the old tailing dumps
and prospected old placer streams in search of mineral wealth, particularly gold. Although
these ventures were generally small, gold production increased as new lodes were
discovered and developed and older districts experienced revivals. Prospect holes
appeared wherever gold was known to have been found in earlier times, and some new
discoveries, such as the Marble Canyon placers north of Saline Valley, were made as a
result of this heightened interest. Because of little demand, however, silver districts did
not experience revival during the Depression.

The United States economy emerged from the Depression primarily as a result of the
worldwide demand for military-related industrial products with the onset of World War
IL These products necessitated increased mineral production, including tungsten, lead,
gold, and silver, and hundreds of small miners worked the eastern California desert
region in search of these commodities.

After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the United States entered
World War Il. Men were needed in the armed forces and the factories and industries that

64. ibid., pp. 34.
43



CHAPTER TWO: MINING

mercury from the property during 1967-70, the El Capitan Mercury Company terminated
operations m 1971 when prices dropped to $292 per flask.”?

Shoshone

During the post-World War II era, a light to dark greenish gray color of perlite was
discovered on the east side of the Dublin Hills, 2 miles west of Shashone and just outside
the southeast boundary of the lands added to Death Valley National Monument in 1994,
Perlite is a volcanic glass used as a filler for plaster, rubber, and paint, an abrasive in
soaps and cleansers, an insecticide carrier in filters, and a soil conditioner, In 1948 21 lode
claims, known as the Shoshone Perlite Deposit, were leased to Perlite Industries, Inc., a
Los Angeles based mining firm, for development. At the time, the claims were owned by
Ed Grimshaw of Tecopa and A. W. Stalker and Walter Davis of Shoshone.”

Owlshead Mountains

The Owlshead Mountains are located in northern San Bernardino and southern Inyo
counties in the southwest comer of the lands added to Death Valley National Monument
in 1994. A large low-grade manganese deposit, about one mile north of Owl Hole Spring,
was discovered by Alex Yeoman in February 1910, but the rock would not pay to ship
until metal prices escalated after the beginning of World War I. Yeoman opened the lode,
dubbed the Owls Head Mine (sometimes referred to as the Owl Hole Mine), constructed a
new road across the south end of Death Valley to Riggs Station on the Tonopah and
Tidewater Railroad, and started hauling out ore in the spring of 1915 with two caterpillar
tractors. Even at boom prices, however, the mine was a marginal operation, the ore
averaging only $35 a ton. The mine was optioned to an Ohio steel man, Samuel Mollet, in
1916, but the transaction soon ended jn litigation that closed the mine until the spring of
1918. Yeoman resumed work only briefly before declining metal prices forced him to
suspend operations. In all the Owls Head Mine had shipped about 3,000 tons of ore,
averaging 45 percent manganese. During World War If, the mine became an important
producer as more than 12,000 tons of ore, averaging 20 percent manganese, was mined
between 1941 and 1946. Additional tonnage resulted from mining operations that
continued until the fall of 1950.2

Manganese and iron lode claims in the area north of Owl Hole Spring and southeast of
the Owls Head Mine were located (and periodically relocated or restaked) during times of
favorable metals prices and particularly during the federal government‘s stockpiling
programs during World War II and the post-Korean War period. The Black Magic Mine

213. U. S. Department of the Interior, Geological Survey, Open-File Report No. 84-560, pp. 4, 13-14,

214, Norman and Stewart, "Mines and Mineral Resources of Inyo County," pp. 10344, 106, and Vredenburgh,
Shumway, and Hartill, Desert Fever, p. 257.

215, Vredenburgh, Shumway, and Hartill, Desert Fever, p. 68; H. E. Cloudman, E. Huguenin, and F. J. H. Merrill,
“San Bernardino County," in California State Mining Bureau, Report XV of the State Mineralogist, Mines and Mineral
Resources of Portions of California (Sacramento, State Printing Office, 1919), pp. 822-23; L. A. Wright, ef al., "Mines
and Mineral Deposits of San Bemardino County, California,” California foternal of Mines and Geology, XLIX January-
April 1953), pp. 11%-20; and Lingenleiter, Death Vailey & The Amargosa, p. 415.

112


CHAPTER Two: MINING

White Mountain City

In 1861 one year after the initial discoveries at Coso, a group of miners, consisting of J. S.
Broder, Colonel L. F. Cralley, the Graves brothers, and Dan Wyman traveled from Aurora,
Nevada, to the east side of the White Mountains, across the California-Nevada state line,
seeking placer gold values said to exist there. By 1864 White Mountain City and ©
Roachville (north on Cottonwood Creek) had been established in what was then Mono
County and had prepared surveyed town plals. The two mining camps were located north
of Death Valley in Deep Springs Valley in present northern Inyo County (1866 border
change) near the Mono County line.

During the 1870s, numerous mines adjacent to Deep Springs Valley were operated,
including the California, Oasis, Piper, Copper Queen, Greenly, and Whitman.” By 1881

the Tarrytown District was located some 6 miles west of Deep Springs Valley in a mineral
belt that was reportedly 6 miles long and 2 miles wide. The district contained both silver
and gold deposits, and ore values ran from $75 to $150 per ton. The principal mines in the
district were the Heritage, which boasted a 3-1/2-foot-wide vein that averaged $124 in
silver and $15 in gold per ton, and the Alta, which had a 2-1/2-foot wide vein and 80 tons
of ore on its dump.

At least eight mines were listed as being in the Deep Springs area. Although it was
reported that development of these claims had shown that they would become
“permanent mines," little is known about them. It is likely that they became unprofitable
because of the drop in the price of silver after 1893.

Although little is known about White Mountain City and Roachville, they most likely
served as supply centers for miners working in the aforementioned mines as well as those
Prospecting in the White Mountain gold region of southeastern Mono County. Mark
Twain was perhaps the most celebrated personality to visit White Mountain City during
its heyday. As recently as 1918, the area experienced some mining activity when D. E.
Shively filed 11 tungsten claims on the north edge of Deep Springs Valley to develop a
series of parallel quartz veins in granite up to 4 feet in width.”

Today, all that remains of White Mountain City, located just north and near State
Highway 168, are some stone walls, up to 6 feet in height, foundations of approximately
20 buildings, and the remnants of a mill and retort. The original toll road was constructed
in 1873 by J. S. Broder, who lived in a tollhouse located west of Westgard Tass, where he
collected tolls until 2900. In 1913 the Inyo Good Roads Club and A. L. Westgard
sponsored an Automobile Association tour on this road to promote it as part of a new
transcontinental route. This effort failed, however, and the state assumed administration of

70. State of California, Department of Conservation, Division of Mines and Geology, DMG Open-File Report No.
88-2, Mineral Land Classification of the Eureka-Saline Valley Area, by Gary C. Taylor and Stephen E. Juseph, 1988, p.
53.

71. Vredenburgh, Shumway, and Hartill, Desert Fever, pp. 224-25; Chalfant, The Story of hnyo, p. 129; Horatio
Burchard, Report of the Director of the Mint Upon the Statistics of the Production of Precious Metals in the Linited States
(Washington, Government Printing Office, 1882), p. 38; and California State Mining Bureau, Seventeenth Report of
the State Mineralogist (Sacramento, State Printing Office, 1920), p 301.

48



Native American Ranching Sites

During the 1930s and 1940s, approximately five families maintained “ranches,” similar to
that of the. Myers family, in the Goler Wash area, while five or six families developed
“ranch".properties in nearby Butle Valley. In the early 1940s Blouch Thomason, a former
detective in Los Angeles who later worked as a security officer in Hanford, Oregon, and
his wife purchased a small mining property in Goler Wash and built a stone cabin at
Sourdough Spring below the Myers Ranch. After living there for a decade Thomason died
during a fishing trip, and the cabin homestead was sold to James and Curt Barker, two
men who pursued mining interests in the area. The Barkers enlarged the cabin, and
continued to visit the area for many years. The Barker Ranch would later gain notoriety as
one of the sites where the Charles Manson "family" lived prior to the Tate-LaBianca
murders im 1969 and where Manson and some of his followers were arrested following the
murders.””

NATIVE AMERICAN RANCHING SITES IN THE NEW LANDS
Historical Overview of Native American Ranching in the Death Valley Region

Native Americans continued to live in the Death Valley region, attempting to eke out a
living even as their traditional lands were penetrated by Euro-American explorers,
scientists, prospectors, miners, stock raisers, and ranchers. Of necessity, Native American
existence from precontact time to the 1920s involved a transitory lifestyle with settlements
and camp locations determined by the seasons and foad sources as well as ever-increasing
encroachment by Euro-Americans on their ancestral lands. During the winter months, the
Native Americans retreated from mountain areas to the valley floors to escape the snow
and severe cold. During the summer months, the excessive heat and low water levels in
the valleys forced them to return to higher elevations.””

During the 1880s, after William Johnson lett his terraced truck garden in Johnson Canyon
on the west side of Death Valley during the last stages of the Panamint boom, a Shoshone,
“Hungry Bill,” along with his family, took over the 4 or 5 acres of ground and replanted
the garden. With the help of George Hansen ("Indian George"), and other relatives, he also
terraced and irrigated several more acres, planting more grapevines and peach trees, as
well as squash, melons, beans, corn, wheat, and alfalfa. Three Shoshone families would
live at "Hungry Bill’s Ranch” during the summer months until well into the 20th century.

250. Richard D. Crowe, “Sourdough Pancakes and Fried Burro Liver,” ca. 19M, n. p., and (Draft) Transcribed
oral interview of Barbara Myers by Kari Coughlin and Linda W. Greene, September 17-18, 1994, Reference
Library, Death Valley Nationa! Park. In the interview Myers reminiscences about activities in Anvil Spring
Canyon, Butte Valley, and Goler Wash during the 1930s-1950s. For instance, she mentions that during the early
1930s, burro hunters visited the Goler Wash and Butte Valley areas, trapping the animals and taking them to
Los Angeles for dog food manufacture. After his death Mengel was cremated, and the Myers erected a round
stone cairn atop Menge! Pass {some 50 feet outside the Death Valley National Monument boundary) in which
they placed the um containing his ashes. Mengel’s wooden leg was placed in the small monument. Menge!
Pass was included in lands added to Death Valley National Monument in 1994,

252. Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin No. 120, pp. 68-93; U. S. Department of
the Interior, National Park Service, Death Valley National Monument's Prehistoric Past, pp. 32-84; and
Lingenfelter, Death Valley & The Amargosa, pp. 16-22.

133



CHAPTER TWO: MINING

tumed out war materials. Mines were also needed to extract the minerals that the federal @
government declared essential for war production, and the government paid a premium

Price for manganese, iron, copper, lead, and zinc. Purchase depots were established

throughout the western United States to buy tungsten, antimony, and lead-zine ores from

smali mines. Mining operations producing these ores prospered. Darwin, for instance,
produced more than 100,000,000 pounds of lead and 5,060,000 ounces of silver from 1941
to 1951. :
The United States War Production Board, concerned that more than 20,000 men were
employed at some 250 gold mines and 700 placer mines throughout the western United
States, sought a method to transfer the men and machinery to operations that provided
inore strategic war-related minerals and manufactured products than gold. On October 8,
1942, the War Production Board issued Limitation Order L-208, classifying gold mines as
non-essential to the war effort and giving mine owners 60 days to cease operations.
Although tode mines that produced less than 1,200 tons in 1941 were exempt from the
order, it resulted in sudden disruption to virtually all significant gold mining. Many of the
mines that were closed suffered damage as a result of forced neglect and could not be
reopened after the war. Mineral values stil] present in the mines became inaccessible due
to flooding and the rotting of mine timbers. Orly those gold mines that received special
permission to keep a smal] crew on the site for maintenance were able to survive the war
years.

The inflationary post-World War II years drove labor costs upward, adding to the expense
of dewatering and retimbering the mines. Despite various economic and monetary policies @
and programs adopted by the federal government that have resulted in rising prices for

gold in recent decades, gold mining in the eastern California desert region has not fully

recovered froin the effects of L-208 and the fixing of the price of gold at $35 per ounce

during the 1930s.

In 1951 the California Division of Mines estimated that the mineral production of Inyo
County, as recorded from 1880 through 1948, was valued at $138,692,01t. The production
consisted of about 40 different metallic and nonmetallic products. Lead, silver, zine, gold,
tungsten, talc, and salines were the most important commodities economically.”
Researchers noted in 1981 that the county’s recorded mineral production was more than
$150,000,000, and that the county had led the state in silver-lead production, with more
than 98 percent of the lead produced in California having originated there.”

During the years following World War II, tungsten prospectors combed the hills near
Skidoo and in Trai] Canyon in Death Valley, as well as in surrounding areas, mostly
covering properties previously claimed or prospected. This activity was a direct result of
new price stability and the absence of tungsten exports from mainland China. Lead and
silver deposits in Wingate Wash were also investigated at this time. A major tale industry

65. Vredenburgh, Shumway, and Hartill, Desert Fever, pp. 273-83.

66. L. A. Norman and Richard M. Stewart, “Mines and Mineral Resources of Inyo County,” California Journal of e@
Mines and Geology, Voi. 47, January 1951, p. 28,

67. Vredenburgh, Shumway, and Hartill, Desert Fever, pp, 222, 261

44



Mining District/Areas Relating to the New Lands

and that September, one-half mile above Ratcliff’s claims, Bob and George located their
World Beater Mine. After the South Park Mining District (portions of which are in the
lands added to Death Valley National Monument in 1994) was formed that month, George
sent out the word, and a new rush to the Panamints began.”

Others had been working gold ledges in the Panamints for some time, but it took’a
natural publicist like George Montgomery to work up a boom. Tales of Goller’s elusive
nuggets and Aivord’s lost ledge had enticed a number of prospectors to hunt for gold
among the siiver leads of the Panamints, but they had done little more than leave a few
names on the land, In June 1883, for instance, Milo Page thought he had found Goller’s
gold in what has since been known as Goler Wash (in the lands added to Death Valley
National Monument in 1994), south of Anvil Spring. Page organized the Butte Valley
Mining District and made wages for a few seasons working high-grade ore froin the ledge
in a little arrastra. In April 1889 two other prospectors, grubstaked by Riverside banker
Robert B. Taylor, tocated the Gold Hill ledge on a spur of the Panamints that still bears
that name, and in April 1894, Royal McIntyre, a Redlands carpenter, discovered gold in
what is currently called Redlands Canyon."

With characteristic enthusiasm, George Montgomery rallied Hugh Canson and his other
Mormon backers and plunged ahead. Before the end af the year, he had dismantled the
Confidence mill and moved the machinery to a spring at the mouth of Pleasant Canyon.
With added backing from several San Francisco promoters, Montgomery formed the South
Park Development Company, added a rock cnisher and a concentrator to the old Bryan
mill, and put a crew of 45 men to work at the mine and mill. The mill began operation in
March 1897, treating free-milling ore from surface croppings which paid as much as $40 a
ton.

Three rival camps in the Pleasant Canyon vicinity sprang up as a result of this mining
activity, including Pleasant City, in the canyon near the mines; Post Office Spring, at the
foot of the great fan at the mouth of the canyon; and Ballarat, out on the flat, one-half mile
north of the spring. Ballarat, named for the Australian gold rush camp of the early 1850s,
became tha boss camp, with Pleasant City a distant second. The 80-acre townsite of
Ballarat was laid out in March 1897, and the buildings from the Ratcliff Mine were hauled
down Pleasant Canyon to help start the new town. By the end of the month Baliarat had
two saloons, plus a general store and a dozen tents. Two months later, the boom camp
boasted four saloons, hwo general stores, two restaurants, three feed yards, an assay office,
a hotel, and a population of more than 100. By the end of the year the camp had added a
post office, two rival weekly stages, and two little gasoline-powered custom mills having a
total of 18 stamps, each running on sample lots of high-grade ore from the mines opening
up in nearly every canyon in the Panamints. The two-story Calloway Hotel was
constructed in 1898, and a school operated in an adobe building for one year in 1899, In
1900 the Porter brothers built a jail at Ballarat at the request of the Inyo County Board of
Supervisors, and the following year the Teagle brothers opened a feed and supply yard.’*

140. Hubbard, Bray, and Pipkin, Ballarat, 1897-1917, pp. 15-16.
141, Lingenfelter, Death Valley & The Amargosa, p. 194.

142. ibid., pp. 193-96; Hubbard, Bray, and Pipkin, Ballarat, 1897-1917, pp. 15-30; and William Caruthers, Loafing
Along Death Valley Traits (Porona, California, Privately printed, 1951), p. 176.

73



Mining District/Areas Relating to the New Lands

Disputes between the three rival camps were finally resolved iate in November, when Jack
Salsberry and three partners bought out both Kunze and Ramsey. In early December
Salsberry began merging the camps at Ramsey’s site, to be known as Greenwater. By April
1907 a telegraph and telephone line from Rhyolite extended to the growing town. Within
months, the town boasted two newspapers, a bank, drug store, boardinghouse, two stage
lines, and several saloons. Water, a precious commodity in the arid region, sold for high
prices — $15 a barrel or $1 a gallon. The Ash Meadows Water Company started laying a
30-mile, 6-inch pipeline from Longstreet Spring in Nevada to a projected 15,000,000-gallon
reservoir in a canyon above the town. After spending some $200,000 on the water line,
however, it only extended some 10 miles in iengih, and it was never completed. In May
1907 Kunze traveled to Los Angeles to order a printing press and supplies for two
publications — the Death Valley Chuck-Walla and the Greenwater Miner. The press building
at Greenwater burned to the ground the following month, and the new press was never

shipped.

More than 30 mining companies, having capitalizations between $1,000,000 and $5,000,000,
were established to tap Greeenwater’s highly-promoted mineral riches. During the frenzy
of the Greenwater boom, the price of stock skyrocketed. The Furnace Creek Copper
Company, for instance, was capitalized with 1,000,000 shares offered originally at 25¢
each, but soon the shares were selling for more than $5. The public, encouraged by the
prominent names promoting Greenwater, including such men as Charles Schwab,
Augustus Heinze, T. L. Oddie, and F. M. (Borax) Smith, purchased any stock with
Greenwater in its name, and most new stock promotions were sure to include the name
Greenwater somewhere in their corporate titles. It is estimated that some $30,000,000 was
invested in Greenwater in four months, but, despite the frenzy, no one found a paying
mine in the area,

By the winter of 1906-07 the Greenwater stock excitement had tumed into a feeding frenzy
for mining sharks, and the rampant speculation soon attracted the critical attention of
muckrakers in the eastern press. By early 1907 western mining stocks had started to fall,
and Greenwater stocks fell much faster than most. Within several months, the district was
all but dead. The only Greenwater companies still working were Clark’s and Schwab's.
Both had stopped construction on shafts at a depth of about 500 feet and were spending
their time on crosscuts to tap the stringers and titilate stock prices by discovering the
hoped-for “sulphide level." Pope Yeatman, a mining engineer hired by the Guggenheim
interests in the eastern United States, arrived in Greenwater during the late summer of
1907 to investigate the Furnace Creek copper mine, Greenwater’s largest mining operation.
By that time it was some 200 feet in depth, opening up a body of copper oxides. Some 20
tons of ore, yielding 20 percent copper, had been shipped in early 1906. After examining
the mine, however, Yeatman left the camp and made a long distance telephone cai] to
New York, alerting his employers that the ore body went nowhere and the shaft had hit
what appeared to be volcanic ash. With this news, the Greenwater copper rush collapsed.
By September 1907 only about 100 people were still living at Greenwater. Buildings were
tom down one by one, many of them being hauled to mining camps at Zabriskie or
Shoshone. Aithough work on the two mine shafts resumed briefly during the winter of
1907-08, Greenwater’s last hope vanished on September 1, 1909, when Schwab, whose
shaft had reached 1,404 feet in depth without striking pay dirt, decided to terminate

operations,

83


Historical Overview of Mining
CALIFORMLA.

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Figure 3; "Mining Map of Inyo County," by J. M. Keeler, 1883
Land Records, Recorder's Office, Inyo County Courthouse, independence, California.

37



CHAPTER THREE: RANCHING/ GRAZING

beyond. During the mining booms, they were mostly hay ranchers, with their cultivated
acreage in alfalfa, since that paid the biggest return for the least work. Most ranches
yielded four cuttings a year, with a yield of about 6 tons an acre worth from $70 to $200 a
ton in the camps, depending on the market. Some ranchers also raised barley, which
generally sold for about $200 a ton, but yielded only several tons per acre. Most ranches
had vegetable gardens that included com, beans, potatoes, beets, cabbages, onions, squash,
and melons. Some ranchers planted small orchards with apples, peaches, pears, figs,
plums, apricots, nectarines, almonds, and walnuts. Surplus quantites could usually be
sold in the mines at over $200 a ton for vegetables, and more than $500 a ton for fruit and
nuts. A few ranchers set out small vineyards and made wine. Joseph Yount had the
largest vineyard — 2.5 acres in seven varieties of grapes — and he made a wine that he
called Chateau Manse.”

All of the ranchers kept some stock, but except for King, none had even 100 head. Most
kept about two dozen catile, a dozen or so stock horses and mustangs, several work
horses, and some hogs. The horses and cattle grazed the open range on bunch- and
saltgrass from spring until fall, and were fed hay, barley, or even mesquite beans during
the winter. Atkali and locoweed posed continuing problems to the health of the herds.

The size and value of the scattered ranches, generally one to a spring, varied. The smaller
hay ranches, worth only a few hundred dollars, were generally two-man operations with
little irrigation and all of the cutting and baling done by hand. The largest ranches —
Bennett's and Yount’s — each had several hundred acres in crops, miles of irrigation
ditches and fences, and were highly mechanized and worth $20,000 or more. Bennett was
the first to mechanize, buying a "mammoth self-binding Harvest machine" in the spring of
1880. He and Yount later brought in a variety of mowing, reaping, and threshing
machines for the fields, and fruit cutters, parers, and dryers for the orchard harvest. They
employed several perinanent ranch hands and a large seasonal crew of Paiute."

Amargosa ranch houses ran the gamut from brush and mud structutes to comfortable,
thick-walled adobes with wooden floors, shady verandas, and cool cellars. Aaron Winters’
house at Ash Meadows, the former King place, was typical of most ranch residences.
According to one visitor to the ranch, the house stood

Close against the hill, one side half-hewn out of the rock, stood a low stone
building, with a tule-thatched roof. The single room within was about fifteen feet
square. In front was a canvas-covered addition of about the same size. The earth,
somewhat cleared of broken rock originally there, served as floor for both rooms.
There was a door to the stone structure, and directly opposite this was a fire-
place, while a cook-stove stood on a projecting rock at one side of it, At the right
was a bed, and at the foot of the bed a few shelves for dishes. A cotton curtain
was stretched over some clothing hanging on wooden pegs in the comer. . . .

The water of the spring ran down the hill and formed a pool in front of the
house, and here a number of ducks and chickens, with a pig and a big dog,

240. Lingenfelter, Death Valley & The Amargosa, pp. 168-69.
241, ibid., p. 169-70.

124


‘CHAPTER TWO: MINING

Placer gold was discovered north of Saline Valley in Marble Canyon (between Cowhorn
Valley on the north and Jackass Flats on the south) during the early 1900s. Substantial
development of the placers did not begin, however, until 1934, when unemployment and
devaluation of the American dollar resulting from the Great Depression renewed interest
in the search for gold. A small mining rush occurred that year when J. C. Lewis
“rediscovered” coarse gold in the guiches of Marble Canyon. By 1938 approximately 20
men were working placer gold mines in the area, recovering gold by dry washing. One
gold nugget worth $300 was found at the Bedell group of mines, and all of the mines
reported recovering nuggets ranging in value from $3 to $20. Although production was
mostly unrecorded, at least 329 ounces of gold and 22 ounces of silver were recovered
from more than 7,300 cubic yards of gravel between 1936 and 1960. The principal
drawback to operation of these claims, however, was the lack of water. Operation of same
Marble Canyon mines was renewed after World War II, and at least one mine, the Easy
Pickings, was active as late as the early 1960s. Several placer mines in Marble Canyon
were prospected during the mid-1980s.

The source of the placer gold values in Marble Canyon is an ancient stream channel some
200 feet in width and 9 miles in length running in an east-west direction at an altitude of
about 7,000 feet. The miners sank approximately 20 shafts through this channel until they
hit bedrock, usually some 70 to 115 feet in depth. The gold was likely washed down from
the Magpie or Blue Bell veins located 3 miles south-southwest in the Inyo Mountains.

In August 1955 California’s Mineral Information Service published a survey of mining
operations in the Saline Valley region. The survey stated that mines in the area had
"yielded commercial quantities of copper, gold, lead-silver-zinc, tungsten, asbestos
(tremolite}, and talc.” Deposits which might be “potentially productive” included
“chrysotile asbestos, nepheline syenite, and many metalliferous ore prospects.” After
noting that the Ubehebe and Lippincott mines had been the chief producers of lead-silver-
zine in the region, the survey noted that the Lee Mine, although not as extensively
developed, was notable for the high silver content of its ore. Copper deposits in the region
had a total recorded production of at least 120,000 pounds. Minor amounts of tungsten
had been produced in the area, but tactite, the common host rock for tungsten, was
widespread. Of the deposits of non-metallic minerals in the area, however, only those
containing tremolite asbestos were active. Several hundred tons of this material, used
chiefly as a filler in plaster, had been mined for several years by Huntley Industrial
Minerals from an area northeast of Burro Spring.

According to the 1955 survey, relatively undeveloped but possibly important reserves of
high-quality tale existed in the vicinity of Goldbelt Spring. Three of the deposits — the
Ubehebe, Gold Belt, and White Horse — had been seriously worked, first during World
War Il and later during 1951-53, Although the proven reserves were smail, the
characteristic irregularity of the steatite deposits made it difficult to develop them. The tale
operations were inactive mainly because the steatite demand was supplied by deposits
closer to milling facilities, and the more distant deposits were being held in reserve.

204. Tucker and Sampson, "Mineral Resources of Inyo County, California,” pp. 407-11; Vredenburgh, Shumway,
and Hartill, Desert Feper, p. 253; Samuel B. Jackson, 200 Trails to Gold (Garden City, New York, Doubleday &
Company, Inc., 1976), pp. 106-07; State of California, Department of Conservation, Division of Mines and Geology,
DMG Open-File Report No. 88-2, p. 53; and Robertson, “Our Waucoba Adventure,” pp. 30-31.

108


CHAPTER THREE: RANCHING/GRAZING

HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF RANCHING WITHIN OR NEAR THE NEW LANDS
Ranching Along the Western and Northern Boundaries

In the midst of the Death Valley region — an extensive desert expanse — little oases with
rich pockets of ground, could become for a time more profitable bonanzas than most of
the surrounding mineral lands. These isolated patches of fertile soil and perennial springs
could produce bonanza crops of vegetables and hay, or fatten a small herd of beef cattle,
thus providing quick fortunes for the homesteader or rancher as long as the neighboring
taining camps boomed. Even a hay ranch could pay startling profits. With as many as
eight alfalfa cuttings a year, each acre could produce 10 tons and a modest 40-acre plot
could yield as much as $80,000 worth of hay per year — provided there was a mining
boom camp nearby. The proximity of ranches and mining camps determined the profit-
ability of both, but ultimately it was the size of the ore pocket that limited the size of the
saleable crop, so as the mines went from boom to bust, so did the ranches.”

The natural fecundity of watered land in the Death Valley region had long been
demonstrated by the Southern Paiute and the Shoshone, who raised abundant crops of
cor, beans, melons, and squash around some of the springs and seeps. During the late
1860s, Mormon Charlie, a progressive Paiute, started a stock ranch in Pahrump Valley,
across the Califomia-Nevada border east of Death Valley, with animals left to him by the
miners at Potosi. Euro-American homesteaders would soon follow.”

Andrew Jackson Laswell, a hot-blooded Kentuckian, is generally credited with being
Death Valley's first homesteader. Laswell came through Death Valley from Pioche during
the summer of 1874 with a partner, Cal Mowrey. They came in the rush to the Panamint
mines, although they sought their fortunes not in minerais but in the soil. They struck pay
dirt when they received a contract from the Surprise Valley Mill and Water Company to
supply hay for about $200 a ton. Later that summer, the hwo men headed east over the
Panamints into Death Valley to start a hay ranch at Bennett's Well. They built a shelter,
seeded a field of alfalfa, dug an irrigation ditch, and within several months Laswell
packed their first load of hay to Panamint. After a second load was delivered to Panamint,
a dispute between the two strong-willed partners over how to divide the proceeds erupted
into violence in early December with Lasweil shooting Mowrey several times. Although
Mowrey recovered, the partnership ended, and Laswell kept the ranch while Mowrey
moved on.”*

Laswell prospered during the Panamint boom and started a second hay ranch on the east
side of Death Valley at the mouth of Furnace Creek. As the Panamint mining rush began
to decline during the fall of 1875, however, he abandoned his Death Valley ranches and
moved east to the foot of the Spring Mountains, east of the Amargosa basin. He

221. Lingenfelter, Death Valley & The Amargosa, p. 162.
222. Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin No. 120, pp. 94-97, 180-84.
223. Lingenfelter, Death Valley & The Amargosa, p. 163.

117


CHAYTER THREE: RANCHING /GRAZING

1870s" Charles King was the first of the ranchers to settle on the Amargosa. A Yankee
from Maine, he had joined the gold rush to California in 1850. During the next 20 years,
he held a number of jobs, including that of ship unloader on San Francisco Bay, merchant
in Sacramento, lumberman at Yankee Jim, sheriff in Placer County, and miner in various
localities in California and Nevada. During the summer of 1871, he served as a guide with
the Wheeler Expedition, using the survey to look over the business prospects of the Death
Valley country. With the Ivanpah, Chloride Cliff, and other mines opening in the
neighboring hills, he saw a chance for a fortune on the range land at Ash Meadows where
amid the scattered ash trees that gave the meadow its name were dozens of perennial
springs and seeps that watered thousands of acres of virgin grasslands.**

With the financial backing of Pioche mining superintendent Charles Forman, King entered
the cattle business, purchasing 1,300 head in southern California and driving them to Ash
Meadows in January 1873. He gave the cattle free range, and at the foot of a small butte,
he built a stone house at what is now Point of Rocks Spring. Although experiencing some
setbacks because of the limited market of the neighboring mines and the deadly toll that
alkali, black leg, and occasional Paiute arrows took on his stock, the advent of the
Panamint rush provided him with a new market. He began running his catile across
Death Valley to his new butcher establishment at Panamint in 1874. By the spring of 1875,
however, King had apparently had his fill of the Death Valley country, and he had
learned enough about the cattle business to decide that he should get out before the
Panamint boom collapsed. Thus, he sold his half of the partnership to Gold Hill butcher L.
T. Fox at boom prices and moved out of the areaTM

The oases along the Amargosa attracted other settlers, who began arriving even before
King left. For instance, Philander and Leander Lee, two brothers in their early hventies,
came to the area during the Panamint rush in the winter of 1874-75 with a herd of cattle
from the San Joaquin Valley to stake out a spring near King. Taking Paiute wives, the
brothers became long-term area ranchers.”

Further south in the Amargosa, two brothers, William and Robert Brown, started the first
ranch at Resting Spring after discovering silver at Tecopa. The Tecopa mines boomed for
several years, providing a market for ranchers along the Amargosa. But the Browns soon
moved on, and Philander Lee eventually took over the Resting Spring ranch. During the
fall of 1879, Eugene Lander started a ranch in Oasis Valley near the present town of
Beatty. When Lander moved severa! years later, William M. Stockton, nicknamed “Old

232, Claude N. Warren, Martha Knack, and Elizabeth von Till Warren, A Cultural Resource Querview for the
‘Amargosa-Mojave Basin Planning Units, Contract No. YA-512-C17-225, Bureau of Land Management, Desert
Planning Staff, Riverside, California, 1980, pp. 223-31. Ranches were also established in the Lida Valley
northeast of Last Chance Canyon and east of Fish Lake Valley during the early 1870s to provide food for
mining camps in the area. For further information on Lida Valley ranching see, Myron Angel, History of Neunda
(Oakland, California, Thompson and West, 1881), pp. 416-25, and Sar P. Davis, ed., The History of Nevada (2
vols., Reno, The Elmo Publishing Company, 1913), Vol. If, pp. 847-87.

233, Lingenfelter, Death Valley & The Amargosa, pp. 165-66, and Angel, History of Nevada, p. 582.
234. Lingenfelter, Death Vatley & The Amargosa, pp. 166-67, and Angel, History of Necade, p. 60.

235. Lingenfelter, Deutit Vatley & The Amargosa, p. 167, and U. 5. Department of the Interior, Geological Survey,
Water Supply Paper No. 224, pp. 39-40.

122


EPILOGUE

INCREASING VISITATION AND RECREATIONAL USE

Automobile visitation and tourism in the Death Valley region began during the 1920s and
was facilitated by completion of California State Highway 190 from Lone Pine to Death
Valley in 1937. That same year, William and Agnes Reid began construction of a small
resort at Panamint Springs (located in the lands added to Death Valley National
Monument in 1994}, consisting of a motel, cafe, service station, and swimming poo!
However, the improvement of roads and automobiles, as well as the increasing demand
for recreation by the expanding population of the southwestern United States, has
subjected the lands added to Death Valley National Monument in 1994 to increasing
recreational use since World War Ii. These recreational uses include sightseeing, camping,
picnicking, touring, photography, hiking, bird-watching, rockhounding, and off-road
vehicle adventuring. The expanding public use of these lands has resulted in mcreasing
regulation by federal and state land management agencies that have been forced to
confront the complex problems associated with the need to protect significant natural and
cultural resources while responding to the call for expanding recreational

opportunities.””

1,276

The increasing public recreational use of the new lands during the post-World War II era
has had signilicant impacts on their natura! and cultural resources. The impact of
recreational use on the resources in Saline Valley, for example, is described in the
reminiscences of a faculty member of Deep Springs College who periodically visited the
valley during the 1940s and 1950s. Reflecting on his past association with the valley, the
author stated:

I was first in the valley in the spring of 1940. Two of us on the faculty and fifteen
or twenty students of Deep Springs College camped there on the annual student
spring trip... .

276. For accounts of early automobile travelers to the Death Valley region during the 1920s and 1930s, see
Edna Brush Perkins, The White Heart of Mojave: An Adventure with the Outdoors of the Desert {New York, Boni
and Liveright, 1922); Margaret Long, The Shadow of the Arrow (Caldwell, Idaho, The Caxton Printers, Ltd_,
1941); Walt Wheelock, Gentlewomen Adventurers in Death Valley (Death Valley, California, The Death Valley
“49ers, Inc., 1986); and Johnston, “To the Roof of the Panamints,” pp. 20-23, 37-38, 40, 42, 44. A guide to
principal highways and rough roads in Death Valley and surrounding areas may be found in Federal Writers’
Project of the Works Progress Administration of Northem California, American Guide Series, Death Valley, A
Guide (Boston, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1939), pp. 27-49. The museum collection in the Reference Library
at Death Valley National Park has motion pictures of automobile travel experiences taken by a Mr, Frasher
during the 1930s, The film depicts scenes and highlights of auto travel fromm Owens Valley to Saline Valley and
Death Valley National Monument (DEVA 14035).

277, Warren, Knack, and von Till Warren, A Cultural Resource Overview For The Amargosa-Mojave Basin Planning
Units, p. 246, and Richard H. Brooks, Richard Wilson, and Sheilagh Brooks, Archeological Rescarch Center,
University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Museum of Natural History, with sections by Joseph King, Matthew
MeMackin, Margaret Miller, Ralph Roske, and Arnie Cunningham Turner, An Archaeological Inventory Report of
the Owlshead/Amargosa-Mojave Basin Planning Units of the Southern California Desert Arca, Prepared for the U. S.
Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, California Desert District, Riverside, California,
Contract No. YA-512-CT7-250, October 1981, pp. 40-41.

145


BLM Resource Management and Preservation Efforts

Marsh, were having an adverse impact on wildlife resources. Thus, the plan stipulated
that the marsh would be accessible to the public on a day-use basis only. A path would
lead to the stone-lined reservoir from a designated camping /parking area adjacent to the
Saline Valley road to allow access to the water. The path would cross the burro enclosure
fence through an “angler access.”

The artesian well near the salt marsh was another major source of water and thus had
become a popular camping area. To curtail adverse impacts to this resource resulting from
unrestricted camping activities, an area was established in the mesquite area
approximately 100-200 yards from the well. A path and “angler access” gate would permit
access through the burto enclosure and te the water source.

Day-use parking would be available within 100 feet of designated vehicle routes
throughout Saline Valley. Vehicular-oriented camping, however, would be timited to
designated areas.

Abundant water in portions of Saline Valley had provided for the buildup of a high-
density burro population. Burro concentration areas included the marsh, mesquite thickets,
artesian well, and Hunter Canyon stream. Approximately 1,500 burros had been removed
by the BLM from the Saline Valley, Hunter Mountain, and Panamint Springs areas in

1981. At the end of the removal, only 35 burros were observed in Saline Valley, but the
number of animals observed in the vicinity of water sources indicated to BLM officials
that the population was of sufficient size to impact adversely the wildlife habitat
surrounding water sources in the valley. Even though the CDCA plan had specified that
169 burros would be retained in the Saline Valley region, BLM officials now determined
that management and protection of the marsh, water sources and surrounding habitat, and
cultural resources required that burros be excluded in selected areas and that their overail
population be limited. Burro population control would be accomplished through burro
capture with traps placed near water sources on an as-needed basis.

To protect habitat for the benefit of native wildlife and archeological resources which were
usually associated with water sources, approximately 5 miles of fence would be
constructed to exclude burros from significant wildlife habitat. Three miles would be
located at the marsh and two at the artesian well. The fencing would be five strand,
barbed-wire livestock fence. Habitat/water sources would be developed, exotic vegetation
would be removed, and steps would be taken to protect, preserve, and interpret cultural
and natural resources."

Although ranger patrols were initiated by the Bureau of Land Management to enforce
provisions of the management plan for Saline Valley, limited funding and personnel
curtailed the effectiveness of the bureau's resource protection services. Nevertheless, BLM
law enforcement officers attempted to protect the area as best they could. As a result of an
investigation by Mike Hubbard in December 1992, for instance, three persons pleaded

281. U. S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, California Desert District, Ridgecrest
Resource Area, "A Sikes Act Management Plan For the Saline Valley Area of Critical Environmental Concern
(ACEC) (CA-06-ACEC-4) and the Saline Valley Marsh Wildlife Habitat Management Area (WHMA) (CA6-
WHA-4), October 22, 1982. A copy of this plan may be found in the "New Lands Files” in Caven Clark’s office
in the Resources Management Division at Death Valley National Park.

149



A HISTORY OF THE LANDS
ADDED TO DEATH VALLEY NATIONAL MONUMENT
BY THE CALIFORNIA DESERT PROTECTION ACT OF 1994
Special History Study

September 1997

by
Harlan D. Unrau

DEATH VALLEY

National Park * California/Nevada

United States Department of the Interior » National Park Service


(CHAPTER THREE: RANCHING/GRAZING

The combined 160-acre property was laid out as two offset (by 40 acres) 80-acre tracts
(instead of as a square) to encompass the principal areas of cuJtivation, habitation, and
use. However, the land area that the ranch and its inhabitants occupied and utilized was
considerably larger.

Accounts of the extent and nature of the Saline Valley Indian Ranch operations are
impressive. According to an article in the Inyo Independent on May 20, 1882, the ranch was
“in a superior state of cultivation being largely devoted to the production of onions,
pumpkins, cabbage and al} such.” In October 1891 E. W. Nelson provided a more
detailed description of the ranch in an article published in the American Anthropologist:

In this latter locality the Indians all live at one place on the west side of the
valley, at the base of the Inyo mountains and near the border of the salt-bed
which covers the sink of the valley. A small stream of water flows out of
Hunter’s cafion, in the Inyo mountains, about a mile from the Indian village, and
furnishes them with water for irrigating purposes.

They have about one hundred acres of land enclosed, and some of it planted in
alfalfa, and they are increasing their acreage of this crop during the present
season. They also grow melons, squashes, corn, beans, barley, and wheat.

The alfalfa, barley, and wheat raised they sell readily to the [Conn and Trudo]
Borax Company, whose borax works are located less than a mile from the Indian
village.

This company pays the Indians a small royalty for the use of water during the
irvigating season. These Indians have four American plows and seven scythes,
and say they are going to buy a mowing machine next year.

Some of them kind continuous employment, at fair wages, at the borax works.

Their houses are both square and dome-shaped, and made of wattled straw or
brush laid over a frame-work. They also have a small grape and peach orchard.

Nelson also referred to the "Cottonwood Creek people” that numbered "only two or three
families, except during the grass-seed or pifton-nut gathering seasons, when many of the
Saline Valley people go over there for a time.” The "supply of water" was “very limited” in
the Cottonwood Creek area, and “only a few melons” were raised with “an occasional
effort at corn and beans on a little enclosed patch of ground.”

In 1893 a promotional pamphlet publicizing the resource potential of Inyo County noted
that “a small tribe of Indians” was located at the mouth of the stream that flowed out of
the Inyo Mountains to provide water for the Conn and Trudo Borax Works in Saline

270. Inyo Independent, May 20, 1882.

271. Nelson, “Panamint and Saline Valley (Col.) Indians,” pp. 371-72. In addition the ranch had a horse and
mule breeding operation, undoubtedly pattemed after that of the Hunter Mountain Ranch, Moyer, "Rise and
Fall of the Saline Valley Indian Ranch,” p. 35-

140


Mining District/Areas Relating to the New Lands

the same metal suspended in the liquid. Seven of these plates are used in each
tank. The borax is put in sacks direct from the tanks, and is then ready for
shipment. From the works to the railroad at Alvord [in Owens Valley], the
distance is 55 miles. Within a few hundred yards of the works is an Indian
settlement. The borax marsh has an elevation of about 500 feet above the level of
the sea. The Inyo mountains rise like a wail close to the works and attain an
elevation of about 11,000 feet above sea level. This is one of the grandest shetches
of mountain scenery in the State.”

Conn and Trudo made their first shipment of borax in early July 1889. According to the
Mining and Scientific Press, the borax was “of very fine quality and if the weather will
permit regular shipments will be made.” Although many had “predicted that borax could
not be made in Saline Valley,” Conn and Trudo had "shown that such is not the case.” In
December the mining journal reported "much activity in making borax in Saline Valley.”
The capacity of the borax works would be “largely increased soon and more than double
the amount of teams will be employed in hauling the borax from the works to Alvord."
The borax operation was already providing "a good deal of business for the town of Big
Pine."

The Report of the State Mineralogist for 1889 observed that "70 per cent” of the "borax crop
of the United States" was “made in California, the remainder in Nevada.” About "the
middle of the year a new company operating in Saline Valley, Inyo County, began making
borax, and have since tured out the refined article at the rate of about forty tons per
month,"

By February 1890 the Mining and Scientific Press reported that a Mr. Bush had taken
“samples of borate of lime from his borax location" in Saline Valley to Independence in
Owens Valley. The samples were "the richest form in which borax is found and Mr. Bush
has one Socation of 160 acres that carries that kiud of material." Four partners, including
John Stoutenborough of Bishop, John F. Millner of Benton, Mr. Lent, and Mr. Cox from
Boston, had “made some locations of Borax land” in Saline Valley. The men proposed "to
go over to the valley soon with a large outfit for a borax cainp.” Conn and Trudo had "a
large quantity of borax at their camp all [sic] ready,” but there was a "scarcity of teams.”
Accordingly, J. D. Marshall of Keeler would begin hauling borax from Saline Valley to
Alvord, the round trip taking one week.'?

Because of the high cost of hauling the borax to Alvord, some entrepreneurs, according to
the mining journal, suggested the need for a shorter and more practical route from Saline
Valley to Independence. Those interested in a shorler route claimed "that an easy route for
a pack-trail” could be found and that “the distance will be but little, if any, in excess of 20
miles.” Accordingly, a “practical man" reconnoitered the route “with a view to contracting

179. Mining and Scientific Press, LVIII June 15, 1889), p. 436.
180. sbid., LIX uly 6, 1889), p. 4, and LIX (December 14, 1889), p. 450.

181, California State Mining Bureau, Report of the State Mineralogist, Volume IX, 1889 (Sacramento, State Printing
Office, 1889), p. 338.

182. Mining and Scientific Press, LX (February 15, 1890), p. 112.
101


Mining District/Areas Relating to the New Lands

Bank of California in Panamint City closed in August 1875, less than two months after the
company’s mill went into operation, thus signaling the early demise of the mining town.
The bank’s fall brought down with it much of the Comstock’s wealth that had been
invested in the Panamint mines. Harris published the last issue of the Panamint News on
October 25, 1875, and left for Darwin. Virtually everyone left Panamint City in November

1875 as rumors continued to circulate that the ore bodies were nearing exhaustion.””

To restore production at Panamuint, Senator Jones backed the construction of the Los
Angeles and Independence Railroad that would presumably provide cheaper and more
reliable transportation to the Panamint mines in Surprise Canyon, as well as to Cerro
Gordo and Darwin. As the railway company was grading its right-of-way in Cajon Pass
near San Bernardino on May 17, 1876, William Workman, a prominent financial backer of
the railroad, committed suicide. With Francis Temple, his brother-in-law who was
treasurer of the railroad, Workman had owned the Workman and Temple Bank in Los
Angeles. The bank soon failed, thus spelling the end of the railroad as its assets fell into
the hands of competitors.”

Although many sources indicate Lhat a cloudburst washed down Surprise Canyon on July
24, 1876, killing 15 people and destroying virtually every building in Panamint City,
research indicates that the storms that wrought havoc elsewhere in the Great Basin on that
date barely touched the failing camp. Later in May 1877, after another panic swept the
stock market, Senator Jones was forced to shut down his Panamint mill. Of the
approximately $2,000,000 that the "Silver Senators" poured into Panamint, it appears that
they received litile, if anything, in retumn.'?

After more than a decade of little mining activity in the Panamint City area, Richard
Decker reopened the Panamint post office on May 23, 1887, operating it until June 19,
1895. Decker and two companions apparently conducted some prospecting, because they
filed a mining claim on January 3, 1890, in nearby Woodpecker Canyon. Between 1900 and
1918, two miners, Judge Curran and Jack Byme, reportedly packed ore out of the
Panamint mines while laboring to reconstruct the road up Surprise Canyon, the roadwork
being completed in Augnst 1918 with the aid of S. F. Hopkins and Harry Wellman. Soon
after the roadwork was completed, however, another cloudburst destroyed much of their
labor. Al Myers, one of the original discoverers of the Goldfield, Nevada, mines, acquired
title to most of the old mines at Panamint during the early 1910s. In 1923 Dallas Corum
took an option on the Panamint mines from Myers, and during the fall of 1924, he began
rebuilding the road to Panamint which had been washed out since 1917, Apparently,
Corum and Myers, along with mining engineer William L. Seeley, began building a mill.
After six months of exploratory work they found that leasers had picked out the last of
the high-grade, and that the remainder of the exposed ore would not pay. The only
remaining chance of striking pay ore was to run a tunnel to cut the veins at depth in the

110. Wilson, Silver Stampede, pp. 26-36, 117, and Raymond, Statistics of Mines and Mining in the States and Ternitories
West of the Rocky Mountains (1876), p. 24.

111. Cragen, Bays in the Sky-Blue Pants, pp. 168-69.
112. Lingenfelter, Death Valley & The Amargosa, p. 132; Nadeau, City Makers, pp. 139, 225; and Chalfant, The Story
of Inyo, p. 286,

61


Mining District/Aveas Relating to the New Lands

mining rush to hit the Death Valley region, and by the fall there were hundreds of
Prospectors in the surrounding hills. In August mines were discovered with ore assaying
$2,000 or more of silver per ton, resulting in the establishment of a flurry of stock
Promotion companies by promoters who overestimated the money-making possibilities of
the Coso area. In 1861 Dennis and John Searles initiated mining exploration in the Slate
Range east of Coso, but while investors recognized the rich deposits of borates in the Slate
Range region, few shared the enthusiasm of the Searles brothers for the silver and gold
potential of the area. By 1862 a trail was conshucted to the isolated mining camp at Coso,
leading northeast from Littie Lake in Owens Valley. The district, however, would continue
to be plagued by untriendly Indians who feared the loss of the area’s springs, pinon, and
game to the growing number of miners.

Several batiles with the Shoshone during the mid-1860s precipitated an exodus from the
mining camp and mining activity declined. In 1866 a mill constructed to handle output
from the Josephine, the largest mine, was burned, and the miners attributed this action to
local Indians. These problems, coupled with the fact that the stockholding public had lost
trust in Coso’s overinflated riches, resulted in abandonment of Coso by Euro-American
miners, leaving it to “Mexicans” who reorganized the district on March 23, 1868. By 1870
about 100 miners were in the camp, the total popuiation of which was approximately 150.
Ore was processed by mule-driven arrastras, and gold bullion produced during seven
months of operation that year had an estimated value of $30,000 to $40,000. By 1874 the
Coso district contained about 10 Mexican miners who reportedly produced about $1,200 in
gold per year. With the threats of Shoshone attack having subsided, whites returned to the
Cosos and a new Coso Mining District was established on December 3, 1874, by white
miners. The Coso Range experienced sporadic production during the 1890s and early
1900s and again in the 1930s, although no activity proximated the fever of the early 1860s.
Dr. Irving Jacob Woodin of Independence located several mining claims in the Coso
Range, and by March 1893 he had located Coso Hot Springs, described as a sulfate and
mineral ground and mineral springs located 2 miles east of sulfur banks that were under
development. Although sulfur mining proved unprofitable in the Coso region during
World War 1, approximately $17,000 worth of cinnabar (mercury ore) was mined near
Coso Hot Springs between 1929 and 1939. When the land was withdrawn for
establishment of the U.S. Naval Air Weapons Station in 1944-45, the Coso area contained
more than 100 validated gold, silver, tungsten, copper, zinc, and quicksilver mining
claims. However, the old mining setlement of Coso was litle more than a picturesque
ghost town, although some of its better rock cabins were still occupied.”

69. Vredenburgh, Shumway, and Hartill, Desert Fever, pp. 223-24, 273, Norwood et al, Cultural Resource Overview
of the Eureka, Saline, Panamint, and Darwin Region, pp. 120-22; Lingenfelter, Death Valley & The Amargosa, pp. 62-65;
Chalfant, The Story of Inyo, p. 130; California State Mining Bureau, Third Report of the State Mineralogist (Sactamento,
1883), p. 36; Cart |. Wheat, “Pioneer Visitors to Death Valley After the Forty-Niners,” California Historical Quarte
XVIII (September 1939), p. 201; W. B, Tucker and R. j. Sampson, “Mineral Resources of Inyo County, Califor
California Journal of Mines and Geology, XXIV (October 1938), p. 461; Joseph E. Doctor, Dr. Samuel Gregg George:
Death Valley Explorer of 1860-61 (Death Valley, California, The Death Valley ‘49ers, Inc., 1983), pp. 5-20; Mary
DeDecker, Mines of the Eastern Sierra (Glendale, Catifornia, La Stesta Press, 1966), pp. 37-39; and Iroquois Research
Center, A Land Use History of Cosa Hot Springs, Inyo County, California, Prepared for the Public Works Department,
Naval Weapons Center, China Lake, California, Janmary 1979, pp. 117-22, 135-51.

47



PHOTOGRAPHS

Photo 11: Ruins of Chris Wicht’s Saloon, Ballarat, September 1946 Photographer —
Alberts. File No. 1248, Historic Photograph Collection, Research Library and Museum
Collection, Death Valley National Park.

3h

Photo 12: Main Street, Ballarat {Looking North), September 1946. Photographer —
Alberts, File No. 1249, Historic Photograph Collection, Research Library and Museum
Collection, Death Valley National Park.

168



CHAPTER Two: MINING

44

she,

anc. OF DEATH WALLEY 4.

wea

Mzp by Norms Alcs / Desert Magarise, Ang. 1959

Figure 6; Map showing the location of the Saline Valley satt tram.

Map by Norton Allen/Desert Magazine, August 1959,



CHAPTER ONE: EXPLORATION, 18°9-19305

.... Water had been conducted by pipes from springs distant about 7 miles, and
in sufficient quantity for Lhe use of the town and furnaces. The party camped on
the night of the 23d of July in Darwin Canon, about 7 miles from the town, where
a magnificent spring burst from the side of Lhe canon. Its waters, however, sink
after flowing a few miles and before reaching the valley; and such is found to be
the case with all the other little streams of this range (the Argus) and those of the
Panamint and Amargosa ranges to the east of it.

Returning through Darwin, the Bimie party moved “a short distance westerly to Coso, an
old but now abandoned gold-quariz mining-town (except by a few Mexicans) in the Coso
Mountains." Birnie reported further:

.-.- From these hills at present is obtained the supply of wood and charcoal for
Darwin; this supply, with any great demand, as seems probable, will, however,
soon be exhausted. From Coso, following a wagon-road, we crossed the Argus
range into Shepperd‘s Cafon, and thence directly across Panamint Valley to
Cafion Station, (of the Cerro Gordo Freighting Company) in Panamint or Surprise
Cation, on the eastern slope of the range, a few miles from the valley. We
temained in this camp about a month, (unbl August 28) occupied in measuring a
check base-line in Panamint Valley; the ascent of Telescope Peak; a trip to
Lookout and Rose Spring mining-districts; another to Panamint; and another to
Borax Lake and factory, in which the Slate range was crossed; Argus Peak
occupied for topography, a route meandered from this peak northward to
develop the topography of the angle formed by the junction of the Argus and
Slate ranges, (Borax Lake lying between these ranges) and to occupy Maturango
Peak of the Argus Range.

Birnie discussed the exploration party’s visit to Panamint City, where silver had been
discovered two years before, triggering a mining rush:

20

Panamint Valley, a little more than 1,000 feet above the sea-level, is exceedingly
desert and aikaline, and, together with Lhe other low and desert valleys in this
country, very hot in sumumer. Hot springs are found at nearly the lowest point,
which is on the east side of the valley, at Lhe base of the Panamint range. A
valuable salt marsh is near them.

The mining-town is situated near the summit of the range, in a cafion of the same
name, (Panamint) and is reached from Panamint Valley by a very steep but
excellent wagon-road. ...

While at this camp, all our animais, except a few required for short trips, were
sent a distance of about 30 miles, where pasture could be obtained; we were thus
enabled to recruit materially Lhose that had developed signs of weakness,

From this place, with a portion of the party, I crossed the head of the cation in
which the town is situated, and from the sumunit of the pass we overlooked
Death Valley and the Amargosa range beyond on the east and Panamint Valley
on the west.



CHAFTER ONE: EXPLORATION, 1849-19305

At this point, Hahn requested that the party remain in camp one day while he went to see @
if there was enough water for the party at Grapevine Springs which he believed to be 35

to 40 miles distant. Hahn set out at 8:00 AM on July 23, accompanied by an Indian named

Sam and naturalist John Koehler, who wante-! extra time to collect specimens at

Grapevine Springs. When Hahn and his companions did not return the following day,

Lyle and his party set out at 5:00 AM on July 24, followmg Hahn’s erratic, waterless trail

to the northeast in the hope of meeting him. According to Lyle, this trait

led over a rocky, volcanic divide, separating Salinas [Saline] from Termination
[Eureka] Valley, which latter was some fifteen or twenty miles long, having heavy
sand-hills [Eureka Sand Dunesj, over which the trail led, the mules sinking knee-
deep at every step. The day was excessively hot. The wind passing over the
heated sand-hills, came in scorching gusts, rendering our sufferings intense and
our thirst almost unbearable, while the incessant glaze of the sun upon the white
sand nearly blinded us and caused great pain in our eyes and heads after the first
few hours. At 4 p.m. we struck the slope leading up to the foot-hills, covered
with sharp rocks and jasper ints. By 5 p.m. we were brought to a halt half way
up a sharp peak, over which the trail led, by the mules becoming so weak as to
be unable to proceed further. I ascended the peak alone on foot to get a view of
the country beyond. Once up, I saw no hope of getting my animals, in their then
weak and exhausted state, over the summit at this point, so steep and rocky were
the mountains. Beyond, range after range of black ridges, their wall-like sides
banded with white, red, and yellow strata, reared their frowning crests, and
seemed to interpose an impassable barrier to farther (sic] progress. { returned to @
my anxious followers and we descended in silence and tried two or three cafions,
but, after penetrating a short distance in each, were compelled to turn back by
vertical walls of rock that effectually prevented our ascent. Worn out and almost
exhausted, we bivouacked on lhe heated, flinty surface to get a little rest; made
some coffee, our only fuel being some small bushes, and ate a little hard-tack. We
dared not eat any meat for fear of increasing our thirst. I was surprised at the
tapidity with which the mules weakened and succumbed to fatigue upon this
day’s march. We saw nothing of Hahn, and I concluded that he had found the
country worse than he anticipated, and had, no doubt, deserted us; or, thinking,
perhaps, we would not attempt to follow his trail with pack-mules over such a
country, had gone to jom you [Wheeler]. Twenty-four miles were made this day.
Most of the distance we had to march on foot, owing to the weakness of our
animals. The soles of my shoes had completely worn out, and the others were
little better off, Fortunately, I had a pair of slippers with me, which protected my
already bleeding and lacerated feet a little at least.

Next morning, Lyle started “southward along the foot-hills, to make one last endeavor to
lind a pass through which" he could “penetrate this range” into Death Valley. Finding a
canyon which “bade fair to lead us to the summit without serious obstacle,” he named it
Last Hope Canyon. According to Lyle, lhe men

teached the summit without difficulty, and here found the trails of three animals

ridden by Koehler, Hahn, and the Indian. It was at or near this point that Koehler

afterward told me he had last seen Hahn about 8 p.m., at which time Hahn, who @
would never be seen again, tumed and left him without saying a word, and that

16


CHAPTER Two: MINING

“marsh” or “dry-lake" borax deposits came to yield practically the entire output for a
considerable period of time. The “saline deposits" were "the product of evaporation of
saline waters which, having been accurmulated in undrained reservoirs through long
periods of time, have in many places reached considerable magnitude.” Borax found in the
“marsh" or "dry-lake” deposits appeared to be “primarily derived from the boric acid of
adjacent springs, commonly warm or hot springs, so that its ultimate source may be found
in colvanic emanations." In these deposits the borax occurred “as a thin saline crust on the
surface of the marsh, the most characteristic portion of which is the ‘cotton-ball’ or soft
fibrous tufts of the mineral ulexite." Such “deposits are generally associated with other
salts, from which the borax has to be separated or refined. Many of these marshes were
remotely situated at the time the borax was shipped from them, and the product was
customarily transported by horse or mule teams over long desert hauls to the

railroad.""”

Development of the borax works in Saline Valley began in late 1888 or early 1889. On
January 12, 1889, the Mining and Scientific Press reported that three men, Trudo, McAfee,
and Carson, had “indians at work making" an 18-mile road across the Inyo Mountains
“from Saline Valley up to Cerro Gordo” for the purpose of reaching an extensive “borax
deposit in Saline Valley." From Cerro Gordo, the borax would be taken to Keeler on the
east shore of Owens Lake. Several months later, on April 6, the mining journal reported
that "Messrs. Conn & Trudo" had located "1,120 acres of borax land in Saline Valley, and
will work the property extensively.” The two men, who had come to Inyo County from
Candelaria, Nevada, and were currently residents of Big Pine in Owens Valley, applied for
patents "for over 1200 acres of land” in November 1890. Of this total, 160 acres was "a pre-
emption and the reinainder” was “borax land." Patent to the mining claims was awarded
to Frederick Conn (Patent 504 D/C) on November 23, 1891.’

Coun and Trude built a small reduction plant about 1-1/2 miles north of the spring in the
Saline Valley salt marsh. The June 15, 1889, issue of the Mining and Scientific Press reported
that "Conn & Trdo [sic] have their borax works in Saline Valley in working order and are
making borax.” The article, noting that the men had “already made a great many tons” of
borax, provides the earliest description of the establishment and operation of the borax
works:

... They have 18 crystallizing tanks, each of a capacity of 1000 gallons. Three
tanks are emptied each day, and the yield froin these is about two tons of borax.
In very warm weather the yield might not quite reach that amount, as the borax
does not crystallize so well as in cool weather. The crude material is first boiled,
the boiler having a capacity equal to three of the crystallizing tanks, and the
solution is then run into them and allowed to stand six days. The borax
accumulates on the sides of the tanks, which are made of zinc, and on plates of

177, Charles G. Yale and Hoyt & Gale, “Borax,” in U. S. Department of the Interior, Geological Survey, Mineral
Resources of the United States, Calendar Year 1911, Pari ii — Nonmetals (Washington, Government Printing Office,
1912), pp. 857-0, and ibid, “Borax,” in U. S, Department of the Interior, Geological Survey, Mineral Resources of the
United States, Calendar Year 1913, Part lf — Nonmetals (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1914), pp. 521-36.

178. Mitting and Scientific Press, LVI (January 12, 1889), p. 28; LVII (April 6, 1889), p. 248; and LXI (November 29,
18950), p. 348. Also see anpy of patent, “United Stated States of America to Frederick Conn, November 23, 1891,
in Cultural Resources Files, Resources Management Division, Death Valley National Park.

100


EPILOGUE

By the late 1960s the Warm Springs had become a mecca for "hippies" and those
preferring hedonist lifestyles characteristic of the era. Reportedly, the notorious Charles
Manson family visited the springs periodically during its desert wanderings. The requisite
peace symbol of the era still adorns one red yoleanic mountainside in the valley near the
springs. Since that time, the Warm Springs have been the focus of steadily increasing
visitation as a result of word of mouth reconunendations and listings in popular hot
springs literature. Whereas one party a week was common during the early 1960s, visitors
began to stay at the springs for longer periods of time. Often parties of two or more began
to camp at the springs for weeks or months, particularly during the winter season, but the
greatest use of the springs came from “regulars” who began to make short but frequent
trips to tte springs.

Although both Palm Spring and Lower Warm Spring provided clean drinking water and
pools to soak in, the lower spring continued to attract the majority of soakers. In 1971 a
group of regular users constructed a larger four-foot-deep soaking pool at the lower
spring. Besides the pipe, concrete, and nearby rocks which were used in its construction,
sand was brought from the Eureka Valley sand dunes via a small aircraft operated by one
of the regulars, using the “rough-and-ready" airstrip that had reportedly been laid out near
the springs in 1967." Thereafter, the runoff from the soaking pool, which has a constant
flow of hot water pouring into it, watered a palm-tree lined lawn and filled a large
goldfish pond. Water flowed into the soak via a buried pipe at water level or through an
old standing water pump which sent the hot water cascading down an artificial waterfall,
thus cooling the water before it entered the new soaking pool. In addition to the soaking
pools at each of tte springs, separate poois of water were constructed for washing dishes.

A fourth soaking pool at Lower Warm Spring was constructed by Walt, who had become
a building contractor, and some 25 other "regulars" in March 1978. This hexagonal soaking
pool was built flush with tte ground, surrounded by a stone deck, the overflow trough
serving as a foot wash. Later, a stone and wood bench was added to the deck and palm
trees were planted downhill from the footwash. The pool, which could be drained for
cleaning, seated more than a dozen soakers.

During the past two decades, "regulars" to the Warm Springs, “consisting of an eclectic
collection of bohemians, loners, individualists, tourists, and others who simply share a
love for hot springs and a desire to escape from the complexities of modem life,” have
developed an informal self-policing community that maintains and cleans the springs and
their vicinity. Beginning in the 1960s, the springs slowly became an informal “clothes are
optional” resort, and by the early 1980s nudity had become the norm. By 1980 the Bureau
of Land Management estimated that an average of 53 peopie visited the springs on a daily
basis. On holiday weekends, according to the bureau, off-road or four-wheel-drive clubs
would meet at the springs, swelling the population to as much as 150. Regular users,
however, believed that the daily average of visitors to the springs was closer to 30

292. Hillsbery, “Paradise Lost,” p. 105.

156


Miscellanea

protect their interests against federal encroachment. The Saline Preservation Association
(SPA), begun in 1986 by valley residents Sheri Cosgrove and Glenn Young with a
newsletter, is currently led by spokesperson David Bybee of Los Angeles. The Saline
Organization and Kindred Spirits (SOAKS) was formed during the early 1990s, electing
five individuals to serve on its leadership team.”

Charles Manson Family

Beginning in the summer of 1967, the Death Valley region and surronnding areas in the
eastern California desert became the focus of a mass migration, calling college students,
runaways, “nature children," and other individuals who identified with “counter-cultural"
groups. For the most part, these young people were long-haired, blue-jeaned "hippies,"
seeking isolation and freedom from the norms of American society which they abhorred.

In October 1967 a group of 17 young adults and two babies, led by Charles Manson, left a
temporary camping spot at the dilapidated Spahn Movie Ranch in the Santa Monica
Mountains northwest of Los Angeles and headed for Panamint Valley in an old
Teconditioned bus in which the seats had been removed and mattresses, curtains, and
psychedelic accoutrements had been installed. One of the young women of the group, that
would later become known as the notorious “Manson Family," was the granddaughter of
Mrs. William Myers, owner of the aforementioned Myers Ranch in Goler Wash just
outside the pre-1%/4 boundaries of Death Valley National Monument. Her favorable
description of the scenery and isolation of the ranch prompted the group to travel to Goler
Wash. Manson found the “mystique” of the aforementioned adjacent and largely vacated
Barker Ranch (except for an occasional prospector who spent a night there while
wandering through the Panamints) appealing, and after gaining the assent of a Barker
family member, who was living at the Indian Ranch in Panamint Valley, the family moved
into the deteriorating buildings on the ranch property.

The “Manson Family" soon gained access to other vehicles in addition to its bus, and the
“family” members began periodic forays throughout the desert country. Small parties
camped in virtually every major canyon in the Panamints, and periodic trips were made
throughout the Death Valley region, including the communities of Shoshone, Tecopa, and
Trona, as well as towns in Owens Valley and the Warm Springs in Saline Valley. Members
frequently returned to Los Angeles to renew supplies of marijuana, hashish, and acid, and
most spent the winter months in the Los Angeles area. By generally avoiding contacts
with the public, their presence in the isolated deseri country was little noticed by area
residents or law enforcement agencies. Their mode of living, rough appearance, and
frequent nudity, however, served as a “repulsive buffer" against desert travelers and some
of the prospectors with whom they came in contact. The presence of other “hippie” groups
in the desert country, however, diminished observation or continuing identification of the
“family.”

297. Steven Smith, “Saline Valley Warm Springs,” n. d., pp. 46-48, Richard S, (Steve) Smith Files, Bureau of
Land Management, Ridgecrest (California) Resource Area Office; Bakersfield Californian, November 26, 194;
and Michael Parfit, “California Desert Lands: A Tribute to Sublime Desolation,” National Geographic, CLXXXIX
(May 1996), pp. 76-79.

159



PHOTOGRAPHS

164

Photo 3: Mill, Surprise Valley Mill and Water Company (West View), ca. 1877.
Accession DEVA No. 1429, File No, 27003, Museum Collection/ File No. 4191,
Historic Photograph Collection, Research Library and Museum Collection,
Death Valley National Park.

Photo 4: Old and New at Panamint City, September 1946, Photographer — Alberts.
File No. 1388, Historic Photograph Collection, Research Library and Museum
Coltection, Death Valley National Park.


CHAPTER ONE: EXPLORATION, 1849-19305

According to Mendenhall, three principal routes led to Death Valley, each of which came
from the south. One route started from Johannesburg in Kern County, while two others
originated at the San Bernardino County towns of Daggett and Barnwell in the Mojave
Desert. His description of these routes demonstrates the difficulties of transportation in the
region before the introduction of automobiles and construction of modern paved
roadways:

The Johannesburg route runs by way of Blackwater and Granite Wells. A heavily
laden team can leave Johannesburg late in the morning and reach either of these
camping places in the evening. A dry camp should be made between Granite
Wells and Leach’s Spring, the next watering place, as the distance is 45 miles, and
pulling is hard over the last 6 miles on account of deep sand and heavy grades.
From Leach’s Spring the route leads to Owl Springs, Saratoga Springs, the China
ranch, and thence to Resting Springs. At Resting Springs directions should be
obtained for going to the head of Furnace Creek, whence the route follows down
Furnace Creek to the Borax Works at Coleman, in Death Valley.

The Daggett route is a favorite with many. This road runs from Daggett to Otis,
thence east of the Calico Mountains ta Coyote Well, and across the dry lake to
Langford Well and Garlic Spring. From this spring the road passes to the east of
the Granite Mountains and climbs the Avawatz Mountains to Cave Springs. From
Cave Springs it leads to Saratoga Springs and thence to Resting Springs.

The Bamwell route was for a number of years traveled by a daily stage running
from Barnwell, Cal., to Manse, Nev., but the stage has been abandoned since the
construction of the Salt Lake Railroad. This route is still preferred by some
travelers, who obtain their supplies at Barnwell or at Ivanpah. From Ivanpah the
road extends across the dry lake to lhe north, thence through the State Line Pass
to Mesquite Dry Lake and Sandy; from Sandy northwestward to Stamp Spring
and Manse; thence to Pahrump and Johnnie and Miller Well No. 2, where it joins
the stage road from Las Vegas to Bullfrog.

Outfits may also start from Roach or Jean, Nev., and go westward to Sandy. At
Pahrump, on this line, roads branch to the Fairbanks ranch at Ash Meadows, but
it is advisable to go by way of Johnnie to Miller Well No. 2, and thence to the
Fairbanks ranch, where there are springs. A number of recent changes and
improvements in the roads give good routes to the head of Death Valley.
Travelers can obtain all information regarding these changes at Pahrump and at
the Fairbanks ranch.

In his list of springs Mendenhall described several which are in or near the lands that
were added to Death Valley National Monument in 1994, One was the Saline Valley Well,
which had been dug by Conn and Trude during the 1880s when they manufactured borax
“on an old dry lake in Saline Valley." The well was near their works on the west side of
the valley road, and it furnished “a good supply of water of fair quality.” The well was
"still used by prospectors on their way to the copper regions on the eastern side of Saline
Valley.”



PHOTOGRAPHS

Photo 15: Cerra Gordo, ca. 1930s~40s. Photographer — M. Rice. Jim Caton Accession,
Museum Collection, Death Valley Nationa] Park.

Photo 16: Cerro Gordo, ca. 19308408. Photographer — M. Rice. jim Caton Accession,
Museum Collection, Death Valiey National Park.

170


CHAPTER TWO: MINING

Crater

California's largest sulphur deposits are located in the Crater area in Hanging Rock
Canyon on the western slopes of the Last Chance Range east of Eureka Valley. By the
mud-1950s the deposits yielded almost one-third of the state’s total sulphur production,
Although the Crater Mine property is located in a “keyhole” area carved out of the
northem Hp of the lands that were added to Death Valley National Monument in 1994,
some of its associated processing operations are located within the new park
boundaries.**

The Crater sulphur deposits were Krst discovered in 1917 and were located by Frank
Hicks and his brother Dan early in 1924. The men opened up an estimated 150,000 tons of
99 percent pure brimstone before selling the property to Woolworth dimestore millionaire
Fred M. Kirby in the spring of 1928. The Crater sulphur deposits lay in a mineralized area
3 miles long and 1 mile wide. A bedded deposit 16 to 30 feet thick contained ore values
ranging from 30 to 80 percent sulphur. Based on mining surveys, the estimated reserves of
the deposits in 1938 showed more than 1,000,000 tons of ore containing at least 40 percent
sulphur.”

Kirby established the Pacific Sulphur Company of New York in June 1928. To reach the
remote Crater area, the company bulldozed a 12-mile road (commonly referred to as the
Big Pine Road) to the mine from a point 2 miles southwest of the junction of the Zurich-
Oasis and Big Pine-Willow Springs-Lida roads at the eastern border of Eureka Valley. The
company established the smal! Crater camp, consisting of a half dozen buildings and
several dozen miners, and began blocking out ore. Six claims, known as the Crater Group,
were developed in 1929-30, with the completion of several shafts and a large open pit.
This company produced approximately 12,000 tons of sulphur before suspending
operations in December 1930. During the fail of 1932, W. H. Sanger and Morris Albertoli
of Big Pine leased the mine and started trucking out an average of 10 tons of sulphur per
day. In 1934 Western Sulphur Industries reportedly shipped 4,500 tons of 96 percent
sulphur. In August 1936 Sulphur Diggers Inc. obtained a lease on the Crater Group,
operating the mines until September 1937. Mercury retorts {remnants of a mercury retort
are located on the north side of Big Pine Road in Hanging Rock Canyon on lands added
to Death Valley National Monument in 1994) were installed at the mine, and some 5,000
tons of 96 percent sulphur ore and some refined sulphur were produced.

The Western Mining Company took over operation of the Crater Group in 1938 and
constructed a new 100-ton retort. Using open pit methods, the company concentrated its
operations on an exposure of 10,000 tons of sulphur on the Crater Number Six Claim. A
125-horsepower boiler provided steam for the retorts that consumed 3,250 gallons of water
each day. Fifteen men were employed at the mine, while 15 worked at the retort. An
explosion destroyed the retort in late 1941, and operations at the mine ceased in August
1942.

208. Vredenburgh, Shumway, and Hartili, Desert Fever, pp. 256-57, and Lenton, “Sulphur Depasits of Inyo County,
Califomia,” pp. 563-90.

209. Norman and Stewart, "Mines and Mineral Resources of Inyu County, Califomia,” pp- 112-13, and Lingenfelter,
Death Valley & The Amargusa, p. 407.

110



BIBLIOGRAPHY

Brooks, Richard H., Richard Wilson, and Sheilagh Brooks, Archeological Research Center, @
University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Museum of Natural History, with sections by King, Joseph,
McMackin, Miller, Margaret, Roske, Ralph, and Tumer, Amie Cunningham. An Archaeological
Inventory Report of the Owlshead/Amargosa-Mojave Basin Planning Units of the Southern California
Desert Area. Prepared for the U. S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management,
California Desert District, Riverside, California, Contract No. YA-512-CT7-250, October 1981.

Busby, Colin L, John M. Findlay, and James C. Bard. A Culture Resource Overview of the Bureati of
Land Management Coleville, Bodie, Benton and Owens Valley Planning Units, California. Oakland,
California, Basin Research Associates, June 1979.

Chappell, Gordon. "The First Ryan: A Borate Mining Camp of the Amargosa," in U.S. Department
of the Interior, National Park Service, Proceedings, Fourth Death Valley Conference on History and
Prehistory, February 2-5, 1995, pp. 94-110.

. "To Death Valley by Rail: A Brief History of the Death Valley Railroad,” in U.S.
Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Proceedings, Third Death Valley Conference on
History and Prehistory, January 30-February 2, 1992, pp. 89-131.

Crowe, Richard D. “Sourdough Pancakes and Fried Burro Liver.” ca. 1994. (Research Library, Death
Valley National Park.)

Fowler, Catherine $., Molly Dufort, Mary Rusco, and the Historic Preservation Committee,
Timbisha Tribe. Residence Without Reservation: Ethnographic Overview and Traditional Land Use
Study, Timbisha Shoshone, Death Valley National Monument, California, Cooperative Agreement
Onder No. CA 8011-2-9003. january 15, 1994, (Research Library, Death Valley National Park.) e.

Iroquois Research Center. A Land Use Histary of Cosa Hot Springs, Inyo County, California. Prepared
for the Public Works Department, Naval Weapons Center, China Lake, California. January
1979.

Kinchloe, Jessica. "From Riches to Rags: A Historical Archaeological Perspective of Lookout.” Paper
presented to historical archaeological class, University of California, Los Angeles, June 12, 1997
(Research Library, Death Valley National Park).

Newcomb, Thalia Weed. “Agricultural and Industrial Survey of Inyo County, Calif. made by the
California Development Board of San Francisco, California at the Request of the Board of
Supervisors of Inyo County.” June-July 1917.

Norwood, Richard H., Charles S. Bull, Emma Lou Davis, and Ronald Quinn. A Cultural Resource
Overview of the Eureka, Saline, Panamint and Darwin Region, East Central, California. Prepared for
the U. S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, California Desert Planning
Staff, Riverside, California, Contract No. YA-512~CT7-226, 1980,

The Timbisha Shoshone — Death Valley Land Restoration Project. Timbisha Shoshone Land
Restoration Committee Report: Principles Related to Identifying Aboriginal Homeland Areas for
Restoration to the Tribe. Presented to Study Group Two at the Meeting of August 17, 1995,
Death Valley, California (Research Library, Death Valley National Park).

U.S. Department of the Interior. Bureau of Land Management. "A Survey of Archaeological
Resources in the Saline-Eureka Valley Area," by Carole Robarcheck (UCR}. October, 1972. e@

190


Euro-American RanchingAGrazing Sties

reportedly is located on the site of the homestead originally belonging to the wife of
Beveridge Hunter, the original cabin having burned around 19127”

By the early 1930s some 400-500 animals were grazed on the Hunter Mountain Ranch.
When Death Vailey National Monument was established in 1933, the monument’s lands
constituted approximately 50 percent of the area of use. Although it was illegal after
establishment of the monument, Beveridge, and his son Roy, continued to graze horses,
burros, and weaner calves in nearby Emigrant and Cottonwood canyons and Hidden
Valley. Lengthy litigation initiated by the Park Service removed livestock use from the
lands within the boundaries of the monument in 1964. At that time, the Bureau of Land
Management permit for the Hunter Mountain grazing allotment outside Lhe monument’s
boundaries reduced the number of cattle that could be grazed from 300 to 150 head.**

The Coso Grazing Unit adjudication conducted by the Bureau of Land Management in
1966 established a carrying capacity for the Hunter Mountain Grazing Allotment of 1,600
AUMS. A portion of those AUMs, however, were considered-unsuitable, because the area
lacked a sufficient water supply. Duting the adjudication, it was determined that Roy
Hunter had only Class II base property and a right to 1,105 AUMs. This resulted in a
permit for 150 head of cattle for the period from January 1 to August 11 (1,105 AUMs).
‘Thie provisions of the permit were unchanged unti] 1978, when Hunter applied for and
was granted a change in his season of grazing use to match that of his grazing permit
from the U. S. Forest Service. Thus, the Bureau of Land Management permit was changed
to read "150 cattle 11-20 to 6-30 for 1,105 AUMs."

By the mid-1980s Roy Hunter owned approximately 235 head of cattle which he operated
as a cow-calf operation at his ranch in Olancha. Grazing took place on his privately-owned
and leased private fands around Owens Lake and Olancha, as well as on lands of the
Bureau of Land Management and the U. S. Forest Service. Under the terms of Hunter’s
permit, 150 head of cattle grazed on the Hunter Mountain Allotment from November 20
to June 30. However, poor autumn water and forage conditions have resulted in delays to
Hunter’s “on date” until January on several occasions. While Hunter grazed his cattle on
the Hunter Mountain Allotment, his other cattle remained on the home ranch at Olancha
or on the Owens Lake leased lands.

Hunter trailed his cattle from the Hunter Mountain Allotment to his Olancha ranch in late
June, where they were combined with the cattle that had remained in Owens Valley. The
entire herd was trailed to a high elevation range for summer pasturage in Inyo National
Forest. Although the U. S. Forest Service "season of use” varied according to weather
conditions, it generally included the months of July, August, and September. From Inyo
National Forest, the cattle were trailed back to Hunter‘s ranch, where they remained until
a portion of the herd was trailed to the Hunter Mountain Allotment.

247. U. S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Historic Resource Study: A History of Mining, Vol. i,
Pt. 2, pp. 766-78; ibid., Death Valley National Monument Historical Background Study, p. 92; Personal
Communication from Roy Hunter of Glancha, California, October 19, 1996; and (Draft) Transcribed Oral
Interview of Silas Ness by Richard Potashin, March 26, 1991, ECM, OH §4, Eastern California Museum,
Independence.

248. Perkins, Cowboys of the High Sierra, pp. 114-20, and U. S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land
Management, The California Desert Conservation Area Plan, Vol. F, Appendix XIIi, “Livestock Grazing," pp. 23-24.

131


PHOTOGRAPHS

Photo 19: Zig-Zag Trail, Daisy Canyon, Inyo Mountains, ca. 1912-13. Pack
train of six or seven mules can be seen descending near the top of the zig-
zag. Photographer — Miles O. Bolser, Courtesy Richard McCutchan
Collection, Diamond Bar, California (Photograph supplied to author by
Thamas 5. Budlong, Los Angeles).

172


Mining District/Areas Relating to the New Lands

Lead Company was driving a tunnel to intersect its silver vein when it struck lead.
Belshaw, upon seeing galena on the San Felipe dump, accused the Owens Lake Silver-
Lead Company of robbing his mine vein and boldly took over the San Felipe tunnel. Thus,
the Owens Lake Silver-Lead Company filed suit for damages resulting from Belshaw’s
action and to regain contro! of the vein.

During a week-long trial in July 1873, it was claimed by the Owens Lake Silver-Lead
Company that the Union Mine was claim-jumped by its original locators, it being a part of
the San Felipe vein. The Union group contended that the San Felipe was a silver vein
mine cutting diagonally across a lead vein. The jury determined that the San Felipe
discovery shafts intersected the two veins, and thus the Owens Lake Silver-Lead Company
won the lawsuit.

While the verdict was under appeal, the Union group robbed the mine of its rich ores,
leaving all ores assaying less than 25 percent lead in the mine or dumping them as waste.
In May 1875 Belshaw obtained a new trial that dragged on for a year. The Union
Consolidated Company was finally established in 1876 as a compromise between both
Parties.

When both furnaces at Cerro Gordo and the fumace at Swansea were in full operation,
Cerro Gordo boasted a population of 500 to 600 men working as miners, furnacemen, coal
burners, and packers. Nevertheless, the best days of Cerro Gordo had passed by 1876 as
the Panic of 1873 and its subsequent nationwide economic downturn had begun to impact
the boom camp. In December of that year lhe Belshaw furnace shut down, and by 1877
only 60 people were employed. The Union works were destroyed by fire on August 14,
1877, causing some $40,000 in damage.

By October of that year the Union had been repaired, but Belshaw reported a debt of
$110,000. Beaudry resigned from the company and left for Darwin. Miners’ wages were
reduced to $3 per day in March 1878, so half the men immediately left Cerro Gordo. That
April the last stage left Cerro Gordo, the Union Mine was abandoned in October 1879, and
on November 20, 1879, Beaudry’s furnace closed, Nadeau hauled the last load of 208 bars
of bullion and a 420-pound mass of silver on Noveinber 21, 1879, and in June 1882 the
Bessie Brady was destroyed by fire.

California state mineralogist W. A. Goodyear visited Cerro Gordo in July 1888. He found
approximately 40 men eking out a living in the area. In September 1889 Archie Farrington
began reconstruction af the Union Mine, but this venture proved a failure, and the Union
closed operations in February 1892. Depressed silver prices further discouraged any plans
for reviving the Cerro Gordo mines. During the early 1900s, Thomas Boland, a lone miner,
remained the only active prospector in the Cerro Gordo vicinity.

In 1905 the Great Western Ore Reduction Company acquired the rights to the Cerro Gordo
mines, constructing a steam traction engine that transported ore from Cerro Gordo to a
smelter at Keeler. In November 1907 the company sold its mining rights at Cerro Gordo to
the Four Metals Company of Keeler, and this firm constructed an aerial tramway

86. Likes and Day, From This Mountain, pp. 54-57.
53


Mining District/Areas Relating to the New Lands

three-mile pipeline, financed by a Reconstruction Finance Corporation loan. Concentrates,
which included bingsten trioxide amounts of one-two percent, were sold to the
Molybdenum Corporation of America”

Other mines that were discovered in the eastern foothills of the Inyo Mountains prior to
1907 included the Scheelite (tungsten and copper) at the western edge of Eureka Valley,
and the Opal (lead and silver) west of Jackass Flats. The Scheelite was credited with 400
pounds tungsten averaging 40 percent sheelite in 1906. The Victor Consolidated mine,
located at the northwest edge of Eureka Valley as a gold prospect in 1909, was patented in
1912, and was later operated as a talc mine. The Loretto Mine, a copper deposit west of
the Victor Consolidated that was developed by Schwab and Associates with an 1,800-foot
shaft during 1907-15, was patented in 1922 and was reactivated in 1975-77 by the
Bristlecone Copper Company as an open pit operation. Silver and fead quartz veins at the
Lee, Del, August, Ruby Port, Emma, Hillside, and Morning Star prospects in the
Whipporwill Flats-Jackass Flats area north of Saline Valley were prospected probably
before 1900. Minor production, amounting to 17 tons averaging 13.5 percent lead and 4-5
ounces of silver per ton, was recorded in 1968 from the Morning Star.**

The Lee Mine in the Lee Flat area also underwent furher development during the period
from the mid-1920s to the late 1930s. By 1926 the mine, consisting of six claims, was
developed by a number of shafts and open cuts, the deepest shaft being 80 feet, and by an
open stope to a depth of about 80 feet. The dumps from these old workings were reported
to carry 22 ounces in silver per ton. The lessees, B. F. Shively and A. E. Beauregard of
Laws, operated a Stebbins dry concentrator on ore from the dumps and old fills. The
concentrates were reported to carry 100 ounces in silver per ton with 20 percent lead. By
1937 the mine had been developed by some 1,000 feet of underground workings. That
year, 250 tons of ore, having a net value of $49 per ton in silver, had been shipped from
the site2”

In addition to the aforementioned mines a manganese prospect was also discovered near
Upper Warm Spring in Saline Valley on the eve of World War II. Claims were filed on the
manganese deposit in Saline Valley by P. I. Dolley, a Lone Pine resident and president of
the Pacific Alkali Company, in 1941. The deposit, known originally as the Saline Valley
Claims and now known as the Black Diamond prospect, assayed at 20-30 percent
manganese and 0.24-0.63 percent tunsten trioxide. There is no record of development or
production from these claims.”*

200. Norman ang Stewart, "Mines and Mineral Resources of Inyo County,” pp. 96-97.

201. U. $. Department of the Interior, Geological Survey, Open-File Report No. 94-560, Mineral Resources and
Mineral Resource Potential of the Saline Valley and Lower Saline Wilderness Study Areas, Inyo County, California, by
Chester T. Wruacke, Sherman P. Marsh, Gary L. Raines, R. Scott Werschky, Richard J. Blakely, and Donald B.
Hoover, U. 8. Geological Survey, and Edward L. McHugh, Clayton M, Rumsey, Richard S. Gaps, and J. Douglas
Causey, U. S. Burcau of Mines, 1984, p. 3, and State of California, Department of Conservation, Division of Mines
and Genlogy, DMG Open-File Report No, 88-2, pp. 67-64, 71.

202. Tucker, "Los Angeles Field Division,” "Inyo County,” p. 488, and Tucker and Sampson, "Mineral Resources
of Inyo County," p. 443.

203. ibid., p. 192, and State of California, Department of Conservation, Division of Mines and Geology, DMG
Open-File Report No. 68-2, p. 75.

107


Mining District/Areas Relating to the New Lands

County, but, after failing to qualify for the position, he became active in politics,
eventually rising to leadership of the 1912 Bull Moose politcal party in the county.

Hunter began development of the Big Horn Mine in 1878, building three arrastras in
Hunter Canyon to treat the ore. Transportation of the treated ore from the isolated area
was expensive. Selected ore was transported by pack mules over the Inyo crest to the
roadhead in Long John Canyon, from where it was transported to Owenyo in Owens
Valley. There it was transferred to the railroad for shipment to smelters at Salt Lake City.

In 1878 the Keynote Mine, consisting of seven claims on the ridge north of Keynote
Canyon, also began operation. Eventually the Keynote would include seven tunnels from
150 to 750 feet in length, as well as a shaft some 1,800 feet in depth. Ore was at first
reduced in arrastras driven by horsepower, but by 1885, the ore was carried 3 miles by
pack mules to a five-stamp “custom mill” located in nearby Beveridge Canyon.

As a result of these mining operations, a small town, boasting some 10 stone houses, a
grocery store, a saloon, and other buildings, developed below the junction of Cave and
Beveridge canyons. The Big Horn and Keynote mines were worked intermittently until the
early 1900s, much of the early development work apparently being conducted by Mexican
miners. The Big Horn had a total production of some $10,000, while the Keynote produced
more than $500,000. Both mines were worked briefly during the 1930s, the Keynote being
reopened as the Golden Princess Mine with funding provided by a Reconstruction Finance
Corporation loan for a seven-month period.

Located on the Inyo crest about 1-1/2 miles south of the summit of New York Butte and
south of the Keynote, the Burgess mine, a later gold producer sometimes known as Iron
Sides, included 19 claims. Its workings mcluded a shaft 156 feet deep, a tunnel 700 feet
long, and 2,000-foot drifts. A gasoline hoist and compressor were used to extract ore from
the mine. ;

From the late 1870s until the early 1900s, approximately 35 gold and silver mines operated
intermittently in the Beveridge area. Some of the more important mining operations
included the Chilula, Gavalan, Montano, and San Antonio near the head of Robles
Canyon; the Laura and McAvoy north of Keynote Peak; and the Cinnamon, which had its
own two-stamp mill near the Big Horn Mine. The Golden Eagle and Gold Standard (Vega)
mines of later date were located in the vicinity of Craig and Little Hunter canyons.
Individual prospectors have explored the Beveridge region for gold since the 1930s, but its
inaccessibility has discouraged mvestors from fully exploring the area’s mineral
possibilities.”

137. U. S. Department of the Treasury, Report of the Director of the Mint Upon the Production of the Precious Metats
in the United States During the Calendar Year 1885 (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1886), p. 159;
DeDecker, Mines of the Eastern Sierra, pp. 49-51; Tucker and Sampson, “Mineral Resources of Inyo County,
California,” pp. 383-41, #05; Thomas S. Budiong, “Beveridge: A Three-Mystery Ghost Town,” pp. 33-39, and “The
Keynote Group of Gold Bearing Ledges, Statements and Reports Issued by the Keynote Mining and Milling
Company, the former owners, 2906," Vertical Reference Files, “Towns-Beveridge,” Inye County Library,
Independence; Delos E. Flint, "The Geology of the Beveridge Mining District, California" (Master's thesis,
Northwestern University, 1941), pp. 1-7, 66-70; and State of California, Department of Conservation, Divisiun of
Mines and Geology, Bulletin No. 193, Gold Districts of California, by William B. Clark, 1970, p. 147. For a summary
of the identified mineral resources and significant mines and prospects in the Beveridge area, see U.S. Department

71


CHAPTER ONE: EXPLORATION, 184919305

A base, 6.78 miles in length, was measured in Panamint Valley, where we were
able to find a nearly level and favorable surface, and well-conditioned triangles
enabled us to include two prominent mountain stations (Telescope and
Maturango Peaks) in the lirst extension. This system was definitely connected
with that of the Los Angeles base by the two parties occupying in common
Whitey’s, Olancha, and Owens Peaks. . . .

The principal roads and trails were meandered, and a table of distances for these,
with remarks as to wood, water, &c., prepared in the held.

Twelve hundred and sixty-one miles were meandered and 611 traversed but not
meandered... .”

After this expedition was completed a special report was submitted to the Chief of
Engineers and printed by departmental authority. The report was accompanied by a
“skeleton map of the region west of the 100th meridian, on a scale of 1 to 6,000,000,
illustrative of a scheme for mapping the entire area on a scale of } inch to 8 miles." A table
of camps, distances, altitudes, etc, was published for office use, serving as “a preliminary
rather than completed work, and will contribute its quota to the geographic positions,
distances, azimuths, altitudes, etc. to be specially prepared.”

SCIENTIFIC EXPEDITIONS: 1890s-19Xs

As the period of early exploration of the Death Vailey region drew to a close with the
completion of the Wheeler expeditions, the lure of mineral riches, which had already led
to several mining rushes, drew increasing numbers of people to the area during the 1870s
and for several decades thereafter. Even during the boom years, however, mineral wealth
was not the only thing that lured men inte the region. Some individuals came simply to
discover and observe the facts about the isolated and desolate lands that had developed a
reputation enshrouded in mystery and fantasy. This group of explorers was a new crew of
scientists who picked up where Wheeler’s surveys had left off. They collected and
catalogued many new species, measured and mapped much new ground, found new
geological and topographical facts, and tried to dispel old fantasies and illusions that had
grown up about the mystery of the isolated region. Outrageous talk of hellish conditions
and satanic creatures and of the unknown and the unknowable which had persisted for
some four decades was certain to arouse the interest and curiosity of more scientilic
Ameticans, who could not resist coming to see it for themselves.

Biological Exploration

The krst of the scientific groups to visit the Death Valley region following the Wheeler
explorations was the Department of Agriculture’s Death Valley Expedition in 1891. This

29. “Executive Report of Lieutenant R. Birnie, }r., Thirieenth United States Infantry, On the Operations of Party
No. 2, California Section, Field-Season of 1875," Anmual Repori of the Secretary of War, 1876, Report of Chief of
Engineers, Appendix JJ, pp. 350-58.

30, Report Upon United States Geographical Surweys West of the One Hundvedth Meridian, In Charge of Capt, Geo. M.
Wheeler, Vol. 1 - "Geographical Report,” pp. 666-67.

22



Mining District/Areas Relating to the New Lands

a proposed location line was selected in late May. A final location was completed in July
by C. H. Wickham, field engineer for the Trenton Iron Company. On August 14, 1911, the
Trenton Iron Company, a subsidiary of the American Steel and Wire Cornpany with
headquarters in Trenton, New Jersey, received a contract from the Saline Vailey Salt
Company to construct the 13.4-mile aerial wire-rope electric tramway. The contract called
for preparation of designs and finished drawings, as well as the wire cables, carriers, and
machinery, for a Trenton-Bleichert tramway to carry salt weighing 60 pounds per cubic
foot. The slope length of the line was 69,645 feet; the capacity 20 tons per hour; the
elevation of the discharge terminal above the loading terminal, 2,450 feet; the carriers to
have a volume of 12 cubic feet; and the speed of the traction rope was ta be 500 feet per
minute. The Trenton company would use the Bleichert System, developed in Germany, to
which it held patent rights in the United States. The two men in charge of supervising
construction were C. H. Wickham, field engineer for the Trenton company, and W. H.
Leffingwell.’*

Prominent items in the tramway specifications provided for: (1) 13,850 feet of patent
locked coil steel track cable, 1-1/4 inch; (2) 55,450 feet of patent locked coil steel track
cable, 1-1/8 inch; (3} 69,300 feet of patent locked coil steel track cable, 7/8 inch; (4) 141,000
feet of special steel traction rope, 3/4 inch; (5) 286 special steel buckets, capacity 12 cubic
feet, with protecting covers, and hangers, carriages, and patent compression grips; (6) 120
intermediate supports; (7) 240 track cable saddles; and (8) 240 steel traction rope rollers,
with shafts, bearings, bolts, washers, and foot castings. The specifications included
supervision for the erection of the timber work and attaching the machinery; the
equipment for one loading terminal, one discharge terminal, five intermediate control
stations, 21 rail structures, 12 anchorage-tension structures, and one double-tension
structure; tools for coupling and splicing track cables and traction rope; signal gongs for
the control of the line when in operation; track cable oiling cars, traction rope oiling tanks,
and water carriers.

Construction began on the west side of the Inyos in September 1911. Material for
construction was unloaded at the Tramway railroad stop by 35 to 50 men. Materials
included 650 tons of iron in bolts, nuts, braces (two box cars of nuts and bolts), 1,300,000
board feet of Douglas fir lumber, 5,000 sacks of cement, and more than 280,000 feet of
steel track cable and traction rope.

The rugged terrain and steep ascent of the Inyo Mountains made construction of the
tramway difficult. Thus, the first section of the tramway to be constructed was on the west
side of the mountain range where the grade was less formidable. An “old charcoal road”
was reconstructed on the west slope of the mountain range and combined with new road
construction to facilitate movement of machinery and equipment, but, because one section
of the road had a 25 percent grade, it took eight horses to move 5,000 pounds of
equipment and 10 or 12 to haul heavier loads. A work and supply camp was established
along the road about 31/2 miles west of the summit. By this arrangement teams could
make one trip per day from the railroad to the camp, leaving their loaded wagons for

164, DeDecker, White Smith's Fabutous Salt Tram, pp. 8-9; Inyo Independent, September 9, 1910, and March 24, April
21, 1911; F. C. Carstarphen,"An Aerial Tramway for the Saline Valley Salt Company, Inyo County, California,”
Transactions, American Society of Civil Engineers, Paper No. 1304, May 2, 1917, pp. 709-42; and ‘The Purest Salt in
the World,” in Inyo County, California, Anno Domini 1912 (Bishop, The Inyo Register, (1912), pp. 27-28.

89



CHAPTER ONE: EXPLORATION, 1849-19308

routes remain, a map of the probable routes of the "Forty-NinerTM parties may be seen on
the next page.

In their search for water and a way out of the region, scouts discovered silver in the
Panamints. jim Martin and an associate named Turner, young silver miners from Georgia,
found a chunk of black rock containing silver ore. The exact location of the ore deposit is
unknown, but some researchers believe it to be somewhere in the Panamint or Argus
ranges. The men told scattered groups whom they met at camps in the Panamints of their
find, but none of the frustrated and fearful emigrants cared much about mineral wealth.
Martin cacried a small but particularly rich sample with him as he followed a Captain
Town out of Death Valley yia present-day Towne Pass, later taking it to Mariposa where it
was found to contain 50 percent silver. After Martin had a gunsight fashioned out of it,
this silver ore would capture the imagination of miners throughout the West and send
them scurrying into the Death Valley country in search of this “Lost Gunsight Lode.” It
could never be found — at least not to anyone's satisfaction — but the search would do
much to open up and develop the Death Valley region’s mineral wealth.‘

E. Darwin French

Discouraged by his unsuccessful attempts to find gold in the northern goldfields, Turmer,
along with a party of 14 eager prospectors, returned to the Death Valley region in May
1850 to look for his silver discovery. Unsuccessful, he solicited the financial aid of Dr.
Erasmus Darwin French, who had served in California as a hospital steward with Stephen
W. Kearney’s 1st Dragoons during the Mexican War and was now the prosperous owner
of the Tejon Ranch in southern San Joaquin Vailey. The two men returned to the Death
Valley region, along wilh an Indian guide, Iguacio, and several prospectors. In the Coso
Range they found a Paiute who showed thei the trail of the Forty-Niners, leading them
to Darwin Canyon in the Argus Range, which French laler named for himself using his
preferred middle name. There they made a base camp, and three at a time, searched the
Panamints to the east in the vicinity of Towne Pass. They found oxen tracks and signs of

39. Carl I. Wheat, “Trailing the Forty-Niners Through Death Valley.” Sierra Club Bulletin, XXIV June, 1939}, pp.
74108. Also see George Koenig, Beyond This Place There Be Dragons: The Routes of the Tragic Trek of the Death: Valley
1849ers through Nevada, Death Valley, and on to Southern California (Glendale, California, Arthur H. Clark Co., 1984);
Richard E. Lingenfelter, Death Valtey & The Amargosa: A Land of IItusion (Berkeley, Los Angeles, Londen, University
of California Press, 1986, pp. 23-58; and John G. Ellenbecker, The ... Jayhawhers of Death Valley (Marysville, Kansas,
1938), Alsa see U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Death Valley National Monument Historical
Background Study, by Benjamin Levy, April 15, 1948, Current going research by Le Ray and Jean Johnson of Bishop,
California, indicates that the 1939 map requires revision. For instance, the Johnsons’ research indicates that the
Bennett-Arcan families, often referred to as the Manly party, exited Death Valley via Galena Canyon rather than
Six Springs Canyon. Most Jayhawkers entered Death Valley via Furnace Creek Wash rather than Hole-in-the Wall,
although some may have entered through Indian Pass. The Jayhawkers traveled north to McLean Spring,
paralleled the present route of California State Highway 190, and exited via Towne Pass rather than Jayhawker
and Emigrant canyons. The Georgians entered Death Valley via Indian Pass and paralleted 190 from McLean
Spring to Towne Pass rather than existing via the vicinities of Tucki Mountain and Sktdoo. McLean Spring and
Jayhawker Well are two separate {and extant) sites.

4. Lingenfetter, Death Valley & The Amargosa, pp. 4345,

2


(CHAPTER TWO: MINING

Mines within the Beveridge district were the focus of renewed activity during the mid-
1980s, with most, if not all, old properties under active operation. An attempt was made
in 1983 by Far West Exploration to bring the Keynote into production, when the company
flew a 250-ton-per-day cyanide gold recovery plant to the site by helicopter and began
mining the dump. Operations, however, were suspended Jater in the year.TM

Ballarat

Located on the east side of the Panamint Valley and on the west flank of the Panamint
Range approximately 15 miles south of Wildrose Canyon and several miles outside the
western boundary of the lands that were added to Death Valley National Monument in
1994, Ballarat served as a supply and entertainment center for that gold-producing region
during its heyday. Mining was extraordinarily difficult in the Ballarat region. More often
than not, valuable ore was located high up in the gorges above lhe Panamint Valley. In
order to obtain lhe gold ore miners had to surmount some of the steepest grades in the
Panamint Range. In Pleasant Canyon (portions of which are in lauds added to Death
Valley National Monument in 1994), for example, where much of the Ballarat gold mining
operations occurred, it took six teams of “good” mules to haul a wagon of two tons.’*

Charles Anthony, a 60-year-old storekeeper and part-time prospector who had come to the
Death Vailey region during the Panamint rush and stayed on at Darwin, and John
Lampier discovered a gold ledge they called the "Mineral Ranch" high up on the south
wall of Pleasant Canyon on July 27, 1893. A native of New York, Anthony had gone west
to find his fortune, engaging in the cattle business near Carson City, Nevada, before
moving to Darwin where he was serving as justice of the peace at the time of the
discovery. In September 1895 Anthony sold an interest in his "Ranch" to a group of Los
Angeles investors, who formed the Golden West Mining and Mitling Company,
established a small camp, and set up a five-stamp mill just below the mine. The mine,
consisting of five claims, promised wealth, but the venture foundered on poor
Management, an inadequate water supply, and poor milling procedures. This mine,
known variously as the Anthony, Gold Bug, and Knob Mine, is located some 3-1/2 miles
east of Post Oftice Spring in Post Office (now Pleasant) Canyon.

While the company attempted to secure an adequate water supply and make
improvements to the mill, most of the men took off to prospect for mines of their own.
The most successful was Henry Ratcliff, a Kentuckian who located the Never Give Up
Mine 2 miles above the "Mineral Ranch" in May 1896. Ratcliff’s six claims east of the
camp, named the Never Give Up, Grover Cleveland, Kentucky, Sun Rise, John G. Carlisle,
and Joker, would ultimately form the basis of the Ratcliff (Radcliffe) Consolidated Gold
Mines, Ltd., the district’s largest producer. This strike attracted the Montgomery brothers,

of the Interior, Geological Survey, Bulletin No. 1708-A, Mineral Resources of the Inyo Monntains Wilderness Study
Area, Inyo County, California, by Edwin H. McKee, James E. Kilburn, J. Howard McCarthy, Jr., James E. Conrad,
and Richard J. Blakely (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1985), pp. 11-13.

138. State of California, Department of Conservation, Division of Mines and Geology, DMG Open-File Report No.
88-2, p. 54.

139. Norwood et al., Cultural Resource Overview of the Ewreka, Saline, Panamint and Darwin Region, pp. 137-38; Fred
Gray, “Memories of Ballarat," Westways, XXII (September 1940), pp. 8-10; and Vredenburgh, Shumway, and Hartill,
Desert Fever, pp. 247-48.

72



CHAPTER TWO: MINING

as nearby Jail, Hall, and Tuber canyons, both inside and outside the new park
boundary.” One such mining operation is the Gem Mine and Mill in Jail Canyon,
located on Keith R. Kummerteld’s Corona Mine and Corona No. 1 unpatented mining
claims. The historic mill is relatively intact and is an excellent, well preserved example of
1920s/30s-period, small scale, milling technology in the area. Thus, the National Park
Service has determined to recommend listing of the mine and mill on the National
Register of Historic Places.

Ryan

Ryan, a company town owned and developed by the Pacific Coast Borax Company and
after 1958 owned and operated by the U. S. Borax and Chemical Corporation, is located on
the eastern slopes of the northern part of the Greenwater Range overlooking Furnace
Creek Wash just outside the east boundary of the lands that added to Death Valley
National Monument in 1994."

By 1900 the Pacific Coast Borax Company, realizing that its colemanite mine at Borate in
the Calico Mountains of San Bernardino County would soon be exhausted, began
reexamining its reserves in the Death Valley region in search of new sources for the
mineral. The company focused on the Lila C. Mine, named for a daughter of William
Coleman, where prospectors had located outcroppings of colemanite in 1884 en a hill
several miles east of the Greenwater Range in the valley of the Amargosa River. In 1903
the company began development of the mine, which contained three beds of colemanite 6
to 18 feet wide and at least 2,500 feet long. In October 1907 the Tonopah and Tidewater
Railroad was completed, and a spur from the railroad connected the Lila C. Mine to the
main line, allowing ore to be shipped over the Tonopah and Tidewater. The opening of
the Lila C. Mine resulted in a two-cent per pound drop in the price of borax to between 4-
1/2 and 5-1/2¢. The Lila C. was worked until January 1915, and the town of Ryan (Old
Ryan), named far John Ryan, the company’s general superintendent, was established near
the mine. The town, which soon had some 200 inhabitants and a post office, was
developed by hauling many of the buildings from Borate to the new townsite.'”

By the time the Lila C. was nearing exhaustion in 1914 plans were underway to open new
colemanite deposits, including hugh borate reserves at Monte Blanco and some in
Corkscrew Canyon, both south of Furnace Creek Wash and west of the present-day Billie
Mine and the Sigma and Boraxo pits. The next most accessible deposit of any significance
was the Biddy McCarthy, on the west side of the Greenwater Range overlooking Furnace
Creek Wash, a 12 miles northwest of Ryan. Nearby were several other promising claims —
the Played Out, Grand View, Lizzie V. Oakey, and Widow — all of which had been
patented by Coleman in 1886. John Ryan surveyed a new rail line from the Biddy to the

147, E. Hillier, District Manager to Ms. Kathryn Gualticri, tate Historic Preservation Officer, Sacramento, October
23, 1986 (and attachments), "Pleasant Canyon, Krucker OP Plan,” New Lands Files, in possession of Caven Clark,
Archeologist, Resources Management Division, Death Valley National Park.

148. Vredenburgh, Shumway, and Hartill, Desert Fever, pp. 248-49.

149. W. E. Ver Planck, "History of Borax Production in the United States,” California Journal of Mines and Geology,
LIT (uly 1956), pp. 283-85, and Paher, Death Valley Chost Towns, p. 17.

78



INTRODUCTION

ESTABLISHMENT

On February 11, 1933, President Herbert Hoover issued Exccutive Proclamation 2028 (47
Stat. 2554) establishing Death Valley National Monument under the provisions of “An Act
For the Preservation of American Antiquities," approved June 8, 1906 (34 Stat. 225). The
executive order provided that the national monument, consisting of approximately
1,601,800 acres, would be administered under the "supervision, management, and control”
of the National Park Service as provided in the act of Congress, "An Act To Establish a
National Park Service, and for other purposes,” approved August 25, 1916 (39 Stat. 535-
536).

The boundaries of Death Valley National Monument were expanded by President Franklin
D. Roosevelt with the issuance of Executive Proclamation 2228 (50 Stat. 1823) on March 26,
1937, and by President Harry S Truman with the issuance of Executive Proclamation 2961
on January 17, 1952. As a result of the two executive orders, the monument's size was
increased to about 2,067,793 acres.

Under the provisions of Title III of the California Desert Protection Act of October 31, 1994
(Public Law No. 103-433; 108 Stat. 4471-4525), Death Valley was designated a national
park and acquired jurisdiction over more than 1,200,000 acres of additional lands formerly
administered by the Bureau of Land Management. These new lands include all or portions
of the following geographic areas: Eureka Valley, Last Chance Range, Last Chance

Canyon, Inyo Mountains, Saline Range, Saline Valley, Nelson Range, Lee Flat, Darwin
Plateau, Panamint Valley, Panamint Range, Long Valley, Owlshead Mountains, Saddle
Peak Hills, Ibex Hills, Black Mountains, Greenwater Range, Greenwater Valley, and
Funeral Mountains. The majority of the new lands lie to the west of the former
monument's boundaries, although smaller portions lie to its norlh, soulh, and east sides.
(See the map on the next page showing the pre-19%4 boundaries of Death Valley National
Monument and the post-1994 boundaries of Death Valley National Park.)

GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION

Death Valley National Park, consisting of some 3,336,000 acres (approximately twice the
size of the State of Delaware), is located in the arid Mojave and Colorado desert expanses
of Inyo and San Bernardino counties in eastern California and Nye and Esmeralda
counties in southwestern Nevada. All of the new jands lie within the State of California,
and all, with the exception of the southernmost portion, lie within Inyo County.

PURPOSE

The purpose of Death Valley National Monument was stated in its establishment executive
proclamation: to provide “for the preservation of the [valley’s) unusual features of scenic,
scientific, and educational interest." The new lands were added to the park in 1994
because its previous boundaries excluded, and thus exposed “to incompatible development

ix


CHAYTER TWO: MINING

with crosscuts over a strike length of 2,500 feet. Evidence at the site, however, indicates
that this mine probably supported earlier high-grade silver production by Mexicans
during the 1860s and 1870s. Three arrastas and a crude retort exist at Spanish Spring
about one mile from the mine, and U. S. Bureau of Mines sampling has determined silver
mineralization (tetrahedrite) assaying 101 ounces of silver per ton and 0.10 ounces of gold
per ton as coming from a selected dump sample.’ ,

Among the more significant mines to be developed in the Saline Valley region between
World Wars I and II were the Big Silver (Essex), Monster (Blue Monster), Bunker Hill, and
Waucoba Tungsten. In 1926 the Big Silver Mining Company, owned by Chicago mining
interests who were represented by A. G. Kirby of Darwin, initiated development work on
the Big Silver (Essex) Mine on the west edge of Saline Valley on the eastern slopes of the
Inyo Mountains at an elevation between 1,600 and 3,000 feet. The mine consisted of two
groups of claims known as the Essex and the Hudson, each group having five claims. The
mining operations covered some 200 acres located within one-fourth mile of the salt tram.
A number of tunnels were driven into the different veins at various elevations. Ore mined
from one vein provided "500 sacks, which by sorting” was said to "average 200 ounces in
silver per ton.""” By 1938 the Big Silver Mine was owned by the Saline Valley Mining
Company, a Los Angeles-based firm, and it consisted of three tunnels, the longest being
240 feet.’

Discovered prior to 1907, the Monster (Blue Monster) Mine, consisting of six claims on the
east slope of the Inyo Mountains at the northwest edge of Saline Valley, operated from
1907 to 1911, producing lead-silver ore that was valued at more than $100 per ton, The
mine was leased by its owner, Dr. John MacLean of Los Angeles, in 1935, and the leasers
shipped 50 tons of ore to the U.S. Smelting, Refining and Mining Company’s smelter at
Midvale, Utah. The Bunker Hill, located to the north of the Blue Monster, shipped ore
during the late 1920s and 1930s that was from 30 to 60 percent lead, 33 ounces of silver
per ton, and 0.10 ounce of gold per ton.”

Located during the 1880s as a copper prospect, the Waucoba Tungsten Mine was operated
during 1939-42 by J. L. Danziger of Glendale, California, for its owners, Stuart Bedell and
Clyde McBride of Big Pie. Consisting of two claims on the east slope of the Inyo
Mountains 3 miles southwest of Waucoba Spring and some 40 miles over the Waucoba-
Saline Valley road from Big Pine, work consisted of a 168-foot shaft and 700 feet of
workings. Early milling was conducted by dry concentration, but this process was later
replaced by a mill which included a primary crusher, rolls, screen, and two Wilfley
concentrating tables in a series. Water was obtained from Waucoba Spring by means of a

196. State of California, Department of Conservation, Division of Mines and Geology, DMG Open-File Report No.
83-2, pp. 76, 89-90, A48. The J. O. Mine area, site of an extensive wollastonite mineralized body, is also located
on the northern flank of Hunter Mountain. Total volume of reserves has been estimated to be 18,000,000 tons of
ore containing an average of 60 percent wollastonite.

197, California State Mining Bureau, Chapter of Report XXII of the State Mineralogist, 1926, pp. 477-78.

198. Inyo Independent, March 28, 1925, and Tucker and Sampson, “Mineral Resources of Inyo County, Califomia,”
p. 423,

199. Tucker and Sampsun, “Mineral Resources of Inyo County, California,” p. 447, and State of California,
Department of Conservation, Division of Mines and Geology, DMG Open-File Report No. 88-2, p. 76.

106



CHAPTER TWO: MINING

however, all of the remaining ore was so refactory Lhat it could not be worked profitably,
and Godsmark was forced to close the mine. He stayed on for another year, experimenting
with roasting and smelting furnaces and trying to make the base ore pay, before finally

giving up.

By that time George Montgomery had returned to Ballarat, and late in 1903 he and his
brother Frank had found a rich chute of free milling high-grade in the abandoned World
Beater. George staked claim to the mine again, renaming it the Republican. After hustling
up new backers in Los Angeles he established the Republican Mining Company,
constnicted an aerial] tramway to the mine, and refurbished the old Bryan mill.
Comumencing operations in April 1904, he produced $107,000 in bullion by the summer of
1905 when the high-grade was exhausted. J. P. Flint established a new company, Inyo
Gold, during the summer of 1902, to reopen the Oh Be Joyful, but he only recovered about
$20,000 by cyaniding the tailings before returning to Los Angeles to enter the liquid air
business. Several other new companies joined in the Ballarat revival, but they produced
little for anyone but their promoters.’©

Estimates of the total production for the Ratcliff Mine have ranged from $300,000 to
$1,000,000. An assay office, engine room, blacksmith shop, and other outbuildings formed
the nucleus of a small camp that developed at the base of the mountain. By 1951 remnants
of the Ratcliff Mine included a 20-stamp mill, a 4-foot by 6-foot ball mill, and 4,000 feet of
underground workings.

Although the Ratcliff Mine gave out in 1903, the World Beater continued to produce.
According to some estimates, this mine produced $185,000 prior to 1930 and another
$75,000 between 1936 and 1942. Adjoining the World Beater, the Buster Brown Mine
featured a five-stamp mill, and its 1927-42 production amounted to some $250,000. Nearby
mines, such as the Oh Be Joyful in Tuber Canyon and the Gem Mine in Jail Canyon,
produced aggregates of some $250,000 and $150,000, respectively.

During the early part of the 1930s, the Gem Mine was owned by R. D. Warnock of Trona
and leased by the Panyo Gold Mining Company of Los Angeles, but by 1938 the mine had
been purchased by Gem Mines, Inc., with E. S. Sinclair of Bakersfield as president.
Between 1932 and 1938, a 25-ton mill was constructed at the mime to process the ore. As
described in 1938, the mill, which remains at the mine site, consisted of a "9 by 12 jaw
crusher, elevator bin, 4 by 5 ft., bali mill, simplex Dorr type classifier, Groch, 4-cell
flotation unit and table." Mill power was furnished by “50-hp. diesel engines.” During
subsequent years, A. F. Troster obtained the Gem Mine claims, formerly known as the
New Discovery and Gem, by relocation. Thus, the lode claims came to be known as the
Corona, Corona No. 1, and Corona No. 2, and the mine was renamed the Corona. Troster
sank a new 42-foot vertical prospect shaft 60 feet south of the main shaft, exposing a
quariz vein, 2-3 feet in width. He also extended the creek-level adit on the Corona No. 1
claim by some 110 feet. Troster shipped 8 tons of ore containing gold with some silver,
lead, and zinc, assaying $90 per ton, to the American Smelting and Refining Company at
Selby. The mill equipment was upgraded with installation of a 12-inch by 16-inch Pilgrim
crusher. In 1949 Troster sold his claims to John F. Lee, who assigned them to the Corona

143, Lingenfelter, Death Valley & The Amargosa, pp. 195-201, and Hubbard, Bray, and Pipkin, Baliarat, 1897-1917,
pp. 3, 18, 86-90,

76


BrBLiOcRAPHY
Ratziaff, Neil. “Saline Valley Hot Springs Tip, Masch 4-6.” The Survivor, (Spring 1994), pp. 25-26.

Reid, John A. "A Little Known Corner of California.” Overland Monthly, LII (Second Series, No. 3,
September 1908), pp. 271-75.

Robertson, Dorothy. “At the End of A Back Country Trail.” Westrvays, LI (April 1961), pp. 16-17.
. “Our Waucoba Adventure.” Westways, LV (February 1963), pp. 30-31.

. “Three Pools in the Desert.” Desert Magazine, LVII (February 1965), pp. 29-31.

“Ruins of Old Panamint.” The Pony Express, XIX (March 1953), p. 3.

Sauke, Erwin Z. “‘Greater Than the Comstock!".” Frontier Times, XOOXII (No. 4, Fall 1959; New
Series No. 8), pp. 26-27, 49-51,

. “Panamint City.” Bonanza Magazine, 1 (November 1958), pp. 36-39.

Shannon, Betty. “Canyon With A Surprise.” Desert Magazine, XXXVII (April 1974), pp. 13-15.

Smith, Mara. “Saline Valley Warm Springs: A Place Like No Other.” Nude & Natural, XV (No. 4,
1996), pp. 46-48.

Speck, Gary B. “Exploring a Ghost Railroad.” Western and Eastern Treasures, (March 1995), pp. 28-30.

Starry, Roberta. “California's Chinese Wail.” Desert Magazine, 20CKI (April 1969), pp. 10-13.

Steward, Julian H, “Ethnography of the Owens Valley Paiute.” University of California Publications in
American Archaeology and Ethnology, OXI] (September 1933), pp. 233-350.

“The Salt Marsh in Saline Valley.” Inyo Magazine, I (July 15, 1908), pp. 9-10.
Weight, Harold O. “The Greatest Copper Camp on Earth.” Westways, LIII (January 1961), pp. 4-8.
Werner, Louise. “We Climbed Telescope Peak.” Desert Magazine, XV] (November 1953), pp. 7-8.

Wheat, Carl I. "Pioneer Visitors to Death Valley After the Forty-Niners." California Historical
Quarterly, XVIII (September 1939), pp. 195-216.

. “Trailing the Forty-Niners Through Death Valley.” Sierra Ciub Bulletin, XXIV (June 1939),
pp. 74-108.

Willis, Wilma C. “Skeleton on the Hill.” Westways, XL (May 1948), p. 6.

Wright, David A. "Scandal at Big Springs." The Album, XI (October 1989), pp. 15-18.
GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS/PUBLICATIONS

Burchard, Horatio. Report af the Director of the Mint Upon the Statistics of the Production of Precious
Metals in the United States. Washington, Government Printing Office, 1882.
4

184


CHAPTER Two: MINING

for the transportation of borax by pack-train at a much less figure than the present cost of
hauling.”

Although there is no record that a new pack-train trail was laid out during the early
1890s, the mining journal reported in early March 1890 that five teams were engaged in
hauling borax from Saline Vailey to the railroad at Alvord. Two teams belonged to a Mr.
Schober and one each to Messrs. Marshall, Hall, and Smith. Snow curtailed the transit
operations for one week during the winter of 1889-90.

In early April 1890 the mining journal printed the findings of a correspondent for the Inyo
Independent, the principal newspaper in Inyo County. According to the correspondent’s
report, the Saline Valley borax deposits extended

... over a porton of four townships. The principal portion of the borax deposit is
in the northwest part of township No. 14 S. R. 38 E. The marsh portion of the
valley has an area of from 25 to 30 square miles. The best portion of the deposit
is at the southwest border of the valley and has an area of two to 3 square mules.
This is the lowest point in the valley, the altitude being about 1100 feet. The
borax belt and a soda belt cross each other at this portion of the valley, forming
the combination known as borate of soda, The course of these belts, as near as I
can determine, is: soda, north, 20 [degrees] east; borax, north 20 [degrees] west.
The deposits of borate of soda found on the east side of the marsh are heavy and
rich, but not regularly distributed over the surface. This indicates that the
deposits have been formed by water running in a number of channels, or
‘washers,’ from the northeast to the southwest side. The deposit on the east side
of the marsh extends for a distance of four to Kve miles in a northwesterly and
southeasterly direction and is rich in borax and very evenly distributed. When the
borax found on the surface is removed, another deposit speedily forms which
seems, judging from ordinary tests, to be as rich as the original deposits. At the
northeast edge of the marsh there rises out of the bedrock a number of springs,
the water of which is strongly impregnated with boracic acid. The water from al}
these springs quickly sinks into the marsh, the flow being strongest from October
tlt April of each year. The belts of borax and soda already spoken of, in their
course southerly are far separated at the extreme south side of the valley, and on
that side of the marsh is found a deposit of borate of lime, more commonly called
‘cotton-ball.’ The supply of wood and water in the valley is abundant. In my
judgment there is not a place in the United States where borax can be got at so
small a cost as in Saline valley. . . ."%

In a US. Geological Survey publication entitled Mineral Resources of the United States,
Calendar Years 1889 and 1890, published in 1892, David T. Day, chief of the agency’s
Division of Mining Statistics and Technology, reported on the Saline Valley borax deposit.
His report noted:

....The marsh in which the crude material, the borate of soda, occurs covers
some 20,000 acres, though the more fertile portion, so far as known, is confined to
less than one-tenth that area. Over much of this the borate of soda incrustation

183. ibid., LX {February 22, 1890), p. 180; LX (March 9, 1890), p. 148; and LX (April 5, 1890), p. 232.

102



Mining District/Areas Relating to the New Lands

Mines and Smelter Company, capitalized with 3,000,000 shares at $1 par, which he began
selling at 25¢. Salsberry talked grandly of building a railroad and a smelter. He even
printed up a $1,000,000 bond issue for the railroad, which was to run 60 miles across
Death Valley and up Grapevine Canyon to connect with the Tonopah and Tidewater line.
He actually built an automobile road over that route to bring in several carloads of eastern
investors, Several miles northwest of the Racetrack dry lake, Salsberry laid out a small
townsite, which he first called Salina City but later renamed Latimer to flatter a major
investor, Cleveland traction magnate Jay E. Latimer. The town, however, never had more
than 20 tents, and its business was limited to the company store, a lodging tent, feed yard,
and two saloons. A rival town called Ubehebe City was started at the south end of the
Racetrack, but it amounted to even less. Salsberry made one last push for his fledgling
Ubehebe Copper Mines and Smelter Company stock with an expensive double-page
spread in Harper's Weekly during the spring of 1908, before letting it die quietly.'”

The Ubehebe and Lippincott mines, located at the north and south ends of the Racetrack,
respectfully, have been the chief producers in the Ubehebe area. The first recorded
production from the Ubehebe Mining District was silver from the Ubehebe Mine in 1908.
By 1951 the Ubehebe Mine, the most productive, yielded a total of 2,940 tons of ore
containing 2,249,438 pounds of lead, 122,742 pounds of zinc, 26,424 pounds of copper,
34,912 ounces of silver, and 40 ounces of gold. Much of the copper output may have been
contained in ore produced from the adjoining Copper Belle mine, owned and operated by
the same company during its productive history.

The Lippincott Mine was worked for lead and silver as early as 1908 and operated
intermittently anti] the mid-1950s. Through November 1, 1954, the Lippincott Mine,
according to George Lippincot, yielded 834,000 pounds of ore having an average grade of
20 percent lead. The owner also estimated the mine’s total yield to be approximately
5,000,000 pounds of ore of that grade, or about 1,500,000 pounds of lead. The mine was
opened in 1940 and became productive in 1942. By the mid-1950s it supplied about one~
third of the lead requirements for Lippincot'’s battery manufacturing concern at Santa Ana
in Orange County, California. The ore was trucked from the mine over a road constructed
by Lippincott from the mine to the Saline Valley road and smelted at the owner’s ameliers
at Bonnie Claire, Nevada, and Ontario, California.”

Some gold and tungsten has also been produced in the Ubehebe copper-lead-silver
district, The chief source of gold has been the Lost Burro Mine located east of Racetrack
Valley. This mine was worked from 1906 to 1917 and from 1934 to 1942 when geld mines
were closed during World War II. The value of its total output is about $100,000. Mines in
the Dodd Spring-Hunter Mountain area were reported to have produced several hundred
pounds of high-grade tungsten in 1915."*!

159, Lingenfelter, Death Valley & The Amargosa, pp. 129-30, 327-29, 336.

160, State of California, Department of Natural Resources, Division of Mines, “Saline Valley Area, Inyo County,
California,” Mineral Information Service, VUI (August 1, 1955), pp. 1-5.

161. State of California, Department of Natural Resources, Division of Mines and Geology, Bulletin No. 193, p. 152.
For further information on mining development in the Hunter Mountain area, see U.S. Department of the Interior,
Geological Survey, Open-File Report No. 84-638, Mineral Resowrces and Resource Potential of the Hunter Mountain
Wilderness Study Area, Inyo County, Californiz, by Edwin H. McKee, James E. Kilburn, James E. Conrad, and J.
Howard McCarthy, U. $. Geological Survey, and J. Douglas Causey, David A. Benjamin, and Clayton M. Rumsey,
U.S. Bureau of Mines, 1984, pp. 1-10.

87


Photographs

Photo 24: Tram Towers, Satine Valley Salt Tram, n.d., Museum Collection,
Dvath Valley National Park. Courtesy Leonard Brumund, Barstow, California.

175


Published Works

Clark, Lew and Ginny. High Mountains & Deep Valleys: The Gold Bonanza Days. San Luis Obispo,
California, Western Trails Publications, 1987.

Coolidge, Dane. Death Valley Prospectors. New York, E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc., 1937

Cragen, Dorothy Clora. The Boys in the Sky-Bitie Pants: The Men and Events at Camp Independence and
Forts of Eastern California, Nevada and Utah, 1862-1877. Fresno, California, Pioneer Publishing
Company, 1975.

Cronkite, Daniel. Death Valley's Victims: A Descriptive Chronology, 1849-1977. Morongo Valley,
Califomia, The Sagebrush Press, 1977.

Davis, Sam P. ed. History of Nevada. 2 vols. Reno, The Elmo Publishing Company, 1913.
DeDecker, Mary. Mines of the Eastern Sierra. Glendale, California, La Siesta Press, 1966.

. White Smith's Fabulous Salt Trani. Death Valley, California, The Death Valley ‘49ers, Inc.,
1993.

Dictionary of American History. Rev. ed. 7 vols. New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1976. Vol. II.

Doctor, Joseph E. Dr. E. Darwin French's Exploration of Death Valley: Keepsake No. 22. Death Valley,
The Death Valley Forty-Niners, 1952. .

. Dr. Samuel Gregg George: Death Valley Explorer of 1860-61, Death Valley, California, The
Death Valley “49ers, Inc., 1988.

Ellenbecker, John G. The . . . jayhawkers of Death Valtey. Marysville, Kansas, 1938.

Federal Writers’ Project of the Works Progress Administration of Northern California. American
Guide Series, Death Valley, A Guide. Boston, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1939.

Florin, Lambert. Cafifornia Ghost Towns. Seattle, Superior Publishing Company, 1971.

Glasscock, C. B. Gold in Them Hills: The Story of the West's Last Wild Mining Days. Indianapolis, The
Bobbs-Merrill Company, Publishers, 1932.

Gower, Harry P. 50 Years in Death Valley — Memoirs of a Borax Mon. Death Valley, California, Death
Valley ‘49ers, 1969.

Heizer, R. F,, and M. A. Whipple, comps. and eds. The California Indians: A Source Book. 2d ed.
Berkeley, Los Angeles, London, University of California Press, 1971.

Hildebrand, George H. Borax Pioneer: Francis Marion Smith, San Diego, Howell-North Books, 1982.

Hubbard, Paul B., Doris Bray, and Pipkin. Ballarat, 1897-1917: Facts and Folklore. Lancaster,
California, 1965.

Inyo County, California, Arino Domini 1912. Bishop, California, The Inyo Register, [1912].

Jackson, Samuel H. 200 Trails to Gold. Garden City, New York, Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1976.

179


Mining District/Aveas Relating to the New Lands

Located at the northeastern edge of Owens Lake, the town of Keeler was established as a
result of the Cerro Gordo mining operations. The site of the town was the place where
residents of Cerro Gordo had originally obtained spring water. James Marshall Keeler, an
agent for D. N. Hawley, began construction of a mill at the town site in March 1880, and
some bullion from Cerro Gordo was processed there after the mill was placed in operation
in March 1881. The Carson and Colorado Railroad, a narrow gauge railroad which
extended from Mound House, Nevada, opened service to Keeler, its southern terminus, on
August 1, 1883, and thereafter the town became a shipping point for the Cerro Gordo
mines and other lead-silver mines at Darwin. By 1900 the Carson and Colorado was sold
to the Souther Pacific Railroad Company. In 1910 this company built a new standard
gauge line northward from Mojave to Owens Valley, jogging around the west side of
Owens Lake and reaching the narrow gauge at Owenyo, north of Keeler. The town
expanded rapidly, reaching a peak population of nearly 7,500. After the Cerro Gordo
mines gave out the establishment of the Inyo Marble Works, some 5 miles north of Keeler,
during the late 1880s sustained the town. In recent years the town has been kept alive by
a fairly active Inyo County soda works and talc industry.”

Tecapa

At approximately the same time that Pablo Flores discovered Cerro Gordo, silver-lead ores
were discovered at Tecopa, named for a local Paiute who befriended early settlers and
located south-southeast of Death Valley at the southern edge of the Nopah Range some 10
miles east of the park boundary.’ Known as the Gunsight Mine, it is related to Turner's
discovery in name only, because his discovery is presumed to be much farther north-
northwest in the Argus Range, Little is known about the early history of this mine except
that it operated from 1865 to 1882 and that a ten-stamp mill and three furnaces were
constructed in 1880. Prior to that time, ore from Tecopa had been smelted and processed
at Resting Springs and Ivanpah. By 1881 some 40 men were involved in the mining
operations. A 2,000-foot tunnel was dug to open a vein composed of galena at the surface
that changed in depth to a carbonate ranging in value from $60 to $400 a ton, with an $80
average.”

Due in part to the interest generated by the Greenwater mining rush to the northwest of
the Gunsight Mine during the early 1900s, the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad pushed its
railroad construction northward through the Amargosa Valley in an attempt to obtain the
developing copper camp’‘s business. Completed to Tecopa at the time of Greenwater‘s
collapse, the railroad provided the Noonday and Gunsight mines, both owned by the
Tecopa Consolidated Mining Company, with an outlet for their silver ores. The company
quickly shipped a 30-car train of ore worth $40 per ton. By 1910 an 11-mile standard

90. Likes and Day, From This Mountain, p. 51; Francis C. Krautter, The Story of Keeler (Independence, California,
1959), np; David F, Myrick, Railroads of Nevada and Eastern California, 2 vols. (Berkeley, Howell-North Books, 1963},
Vol. I, pp. 166210; and John F, Due, “Carson & Colorado Railroad,” The Western Raifroader, XXII (May 1959}, pp.

3-25.
91, Wredenburgh, Shumway, and Hartill, Desert Fever, pp. 232-33, 251-52.

92. Myrick, Reilrozds of Nevada and Eastern California, Vol. 1, p. $93, and Horatio Burchard, Report of the Director
of the Mint Upon the Statistics of the Production of Precious Metals in the United States (Washington, Government
Printing Office, 1882), p. 40.

55


Mining District/Areas Relating to the New Lands

The payroll at the Beaudry furnace, where 25 men worked, was more than $3,000 a month
by 1876. The furnace consumed $750 in water and $7,800 worth of charcoal per month.
Eight tons of charcoal were required to smelt 25 tons of galena sulphate and carbonate
lead ores."'

Few timbers were used in the Union Mine, causing frequent accidents for the 20
underground miners, but by 1876 these men were raising 60 tons of ore per day from the
mine. With the aid of a 16-horsepower engine, the ore was taken to the surface, where it
was loaded on wagons for transport to the furnaces. Slightly less than $1,000,000 was
produced by the district in 1872, but two years later the district produced more than
$1,000,000 in silver and more than $500,000 in lead.*

Remi Nadeau received the contract to haul Cerro Gordo’s bullion to San Pedro, an ocean
port near Los Angeles from where the ore was transported by ship to San Francisco,
Nadeau began hauling the bullion by December 1868. Two years later in 1870, Nadeau,
using 32 teams, agreed to haul 130 tons a month, a quantity that was only one-haif the
capacity of the furnaces. Wagons started on the 200-mile, month-long trip to Los Angeles
by chaining their wheels in place for the ride down the Yellow Grade Road into Owens
Valley. An average of $50,000 worth of Cerro Gordo silver and lead were hauled by
Nadeau‘s company per day. From December 1868 to the end of 1869, a total of 340 tons of
bullion were hauled, and that amount was more than doubled to 700 tons during 1870.
The wagon loads had a significant economic impact upon the development of the City of
Los Angeles, because the wagons stopped in Los Angeles on the return trips to purchase
food, supplies, and machinery to support the Cerro Gordo mining camp operations.

Nadeau’s contract with Belshaw expired on December 1, 1871, and thereafter it was
awarded to James Brady, who had come to Inyo County in 1869 as superintendent of the
Owens Lake Silver-Lead Company. Brady founded the town of Swansea, some 3 miles
north of Keeler, and built a furnace to work Cerro Gordo’s ores. To save expenses and
speed up haulage procedures, Brady built a small 85-foot-long steamer that he launched
on Owens Lake on June 27, 1872. Christened the Bessie Brady after his daughter on July 4,
1872, the steamer carried 70 tons of bullion a day from Swansea across Owens Lake to
Cartago, cutting off several days of the month-long trip to Los Angeles and return. At
Cartago, wagons picked up the bullion and hauled it to Los Angeles, but they could never
keep up with the Cerro Gordo mines’ production.

During the fall of 1872, rains hampered the freight teams, causing 12,000 bars of bullion to
accumulate at Cartago and 6,000 each at Swansea and Cerro Gordo. The following spring
a disease affecting horses spread throughout Inyo County, causing even greater freighting

81. ibid., Statistics of Mines and Mining in the States and Territories West of the Rocky Mountains (Washington,
Government Printing Office, 1876), p. 31.

82. ibid., Statistics of Mines and Mining in the States and Territories West of the Rocky Mountains (Washington,
Government Printing Office, 1873), p. 21, and ibid., Statistics of Mines aud Mining in the States and Territories West
of the Rocky Mountains (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1875}, p. 32.

83. Nadeau, City Makers, pp. 33-34, 65-66.
51



CHAPTER ONE: EXPLORATION, 1849-19305

The Indians, Pah Utes, Shoshones and Pahranagats, seem to be peacably inclined.
I saw few but plenty fresh signs. Generally any information I got from the few
seen proved to be correct. No attempt was made by any Indians to steal any of
the stock, however, I would not deem it adviseable for any small party to travel
there, or to put too much confidence in them. . . .§

As the threat of Indian attacks receded during the mid-1860s, soldiers at Camp
Independence took turns "vacationing" and prospecting in the Inyo Mountains and
surrounding valleys east of the fort during the summer months. According to William H.
Michael in his master’s thesis entitled, At the Plow and in the Harvest Field’: Indian
Conflict and Accommodation in the Owens Valley, 1860-1880,” the military presence in
Owens Valley provided economic benefits to the local regional economy. He observed:

It was also claimed that the beginning of the mining rush to the Russ District
(airectiy east of Camp Independence) was begun by a soldier who found gold
while prospecting in his spare time. This led to the founding of the San Carlos
Mining and Exploration Company along with the beginning of the towns of San
Carlos and Bend City. It was even claimed that many of this [those] enlisting in
the California Volunteers were doing so to get free passage to the rich mining
country surrounding the Owens Valiey. This claim is believable when it is seen
that these troops had a desertion rate that rose as high as 32.6 per cent... .’¢

During 1872, a party led by Captain Harry Egbert, commander of Camp Independence,
left Owens Valley for a two weeks’ prospecting reconnaissance of the Waucoba area on
the east side of the Inyos between Eureka and Saline valleys.” During the trip, the men
apparently found gold. While the date of the discovery is not known, W. A. Chalfant, in
his The Story of Inyo, states that a Colonel James Brady was actively at work at what
would become known as the Waucoba Mine (mine site is within present national park
boundaries) by the end of 1872."* Some officers and soldiers at Camp Independence
apparently became partners in Brady’s effort, and plans were developed to construct a
furnace. However, construction of the furnace could not be commenced until a road was
built to the isolated area. By 1873 the soldiers had only been able to construct a road to
the summit of the Inyos eastward from Big Pine.” That same year, the Waucoba Mining
and Smelting Company constructed a road to the area, thus paving the way for more
extensive development of the mines in the area. A summer camp was established near a
dry lake bed adjacent to the mines. Although the scattered remains of the camp,

15. “Report of a Scouting Expedition Made in the Region East of Owens Valtey, Cal., by Lieut. Chas. E. Bendire,
US.A., Camp Independence, Cai., May 26, 1867,” Silver Boxes, History - Death Valley, Box 1, Research Library,
Death Valley National Park, and Lingenfelter, Death Valley & The Amargosa, pp. 90-91.

16. William H. Michael, At the Plow and in the Harvest Field’: Indian Conflict and Accommodation in the Owens
Valley, 1860-1880" (Master's thesis, University of OMahoma, 1993), pp. 161-62. Also see W.A. Chalfant, The Story
of Inyo (Rev. ed., Bishop, Chalfant Press, 1933), p. 179, and Robert M. Utley, Frontier Regulars: The United States
Army and the Indian, 1866-1891 (New York, Macmillan, 1973; Reprint, Lincoln, University of Nebraska Press, 1984),
p. 23,

17, Inyo Independent, November 9, 1872, and Cragen, Bays in The Sky-Blue Pants, p. 123.
18. Chalfant, The Story of Inyo, pp. 293-94.
19. Inyo independent, April 5, 1873, and Cragen, Boys In The Sky-Blue Pants, p. 133.

12



CHAPTER TWO: MINING

during the 1890s was the Ratcliff (Radcliffe) Mine near the boom town of Ballarat jn the
Panamint Range west of Death Valley. During the tate 1890s and early 1900s, the
widespread use of cyanide for the treatment of gold ore sent many prospectors out
reworking old dumps in Inyo County, and formerly unprolitable mines were reopened,

The discovery of gold at Goldfield, Nevada, and at the Keane Wonder in the Funeral
Mountains in 1903, initiated a stampede to that area northeast of the Death Valley region
in early 1904. During the fall of 1904, this mining rush extended southward to Rhyolite
with the discovery of the Shoshone by Robert Montgomery, and soon spilled westward to
the Inyo and San Bernardino county areas. Within several years, the ephemeral boom
towns of Skidoo, Harrisburg, and Greenwater had sprung up in the Death Valley region.
In 1916 Goldstone, north of Barstow in the Mojave Desert, was perhaps the last mining
camp to be established on the coattails of Goldfield.

Nineteenth-century mining in the eastern California desert region concerned itself
primarily with the "Big Five minerals — gold, silver, copper, lead, and zinc. During the
20th century, however, non-metallic minerals have played an increasingly important role,
and have become Inyo County’s most plentiful mineral resource, It was actually the
discovery of nonmetallics in the region, initially of borax and later of talc, that ensured the
region's industrial tuture, for in time these commodities far outweighed the more sought-
after metallic elements in lasting commercial value. In addition to the Searles Lake borax
developments in San Bernardine County, borax was discovered at Monte Blanco,
Corkscrew Canyon, and old and new Ryan, salt in Saline Valley, tale at Darwin, sulphur
in the Last Chance Range, perlite at Shoshone, and epsom salts in the Owlshead
Mountains.* .

Not until the early 2900s did conditions become conducive to large-scale hard-rock mining
operations in the Death Valley region — conditions that were 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. One of the
primary instigators of this move was the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, which had
earlier negotiated passage of a law in California calling for the development and
Protection of water supply sources in the state’s deserts, The U.S. Geological Survey
contributed to this improved situation by surveying portions of the southeastern deserts
and subsequently publishing maps and studies showing existing trails and water supplies
as well as known minerat deposits.

A variety of metallic minetals were exploited in the Death Valley region during the early
1900s, including gold (Bullfrog Hills, Skidoo, Harrisburg, Ubehebe, Chloride Cliff, Funeral
Mountains, Black Mountains); antimony (Wildrose Canyon); copper (Greenwater, Black
Mountains, Ubehebe); lead, zinc, and silver (Ubehebe, Lemoigne Canyon, Galena Canyon,
Wingate Wash); and tungsten (Harrisburg, Trail Canyon). This activity resulted in the
establishment of several boom towns whose progress paralleled for a while the maturation

82. ibid., p. 2, and Wredenburgh, Shumway, and Haritill, Desert Fever, pp. 246-47, 254.

63. U.S. Department uf the Interior, National Park Service, Historic Resource Shudy: A History of Mining, Vol. , Pt
Lp.3.

42



CHAPTER TWO: MINING

After the discovery at Coso the French party, which quickly renamed itself the Coso Gold
and Silver Company, continued northward. On the journey, the party named Darwin
Canyon, located near a wash (later named Darwin Wash) that ran through the Argus
Range and entered the north end of Panamint Valley. The party also named Darwin Falls
{just inside the boundary of the new lands), the Panamint Range, and Towne Pass. In May
1860 the Darwin party retumed to Coso. Christening the camp “Silver Mountain,” the men
established the Coso Mining District on May 28, 1860.

A second group of Gunsight seekers from Visalia, was led by Samuel G. George, one of
the first physicians to settle in the San Joaquin Valley after serving as a hospital steward
in Company K, First Ohio Volunteer Infantry, during the Mexican War. George’s party
followed on the heels of the French party, crossing the Cosos to Darwin Spring and
Darwin Canyon, passing through Panamint Valley and over the Panamints to Furnace
Creek in Death Valley. Tracing the route of the “Forty-Niners” out of Death Valley, the
group camped at Wildrose Spring in December 1860. Three miles to the southeast, on
Christmas day, George and William T. Henderson, who would later become sheriff of
Inyo County, discovered a massive, silvery-looking lode more than 25 feet thick, which
they christened the Christmas Gift. Back in Visalia, assays showed the rock to be mainly
antimony sulphide, but there was enough silver in the ore that George and his partners
returned to the Panamints in April 1861. Crossing the Cosos, they became the first Euro-
Americans to view the hot springs that would later be developed as a resort. On the way
back to the Panamints, George found an Indian guide near Mesquite Flat. Together they
ascended a canyon, which George called Sheep Canyon, so named for the carcass of a
dead mountain sheep they encountered. Becoming suspicious of his guide, George did an
about-face, and returned to camp, marching the Indian, who became known as "Indian
George,” ahead of him with his rifle at the ready. During the 1870s, Sheep Canyon would
be renamed Surprise Canyon, the site of the famous Panamint silver strike. Meanwhile,
George and his associates collected one-quarter ton of ore, staked some more claims
around the Christmas Gift, climbed and named Telescope Peak, the highest point in the
Panamints, and formally organized the Telescape Mining District. Although the new ore
sample proved to be mostly antimony, George and his partners established the
Combination Gold and Silver Mining Company on july 24, 1661, to open and develop the
Christmas Gift, the first mine in the Panamints.

While engaged in sinking a shaft and starting a tunnel to tap the Jode at greater depth, the
Panamint Shoshone attacked the camp, killing the four miners at wark and burning the
company’s cabin, The Panamint and Shoshone throughout the desert country had been
tolerant of the first prospectors, but when the miners, beginning with the Coso rush,
began to have a major impact on their lives by taking over springs, cutting down pinon,
and hunting game animals, the Paiute and Shoshone throughout the Death Valley and
Amargosa country began sporadic attacks to drive the whites out. Henderson and others,
who had gone to Visalia for provisions before the attack, were driven away by the Indians
when they tried to return. A short time later, he led an attack on a party of Panamint
Shoshone, killing nine, including their leader, dubbed "Thieving Charley” by the miners.
The Christmas Gift, however, would not be reopened for more than a decade.

Despite these difficulties, prospecting continued in the Cosos. Ore found in 1860 by M.H.

Farley, a prospector in French's party, assayed over $1,000 per ton in silver and $20 per
ton in gold. By late June 1860 some 500 men had stormed into Coso as part of the first

46


Mining District/Areas Relating to the New Lands

in March 1899 to J. R. Dover and his son, both of whom were following his example by
developing their own mine, the Mountain Boy.

After lengthy litigation with his former parmers Charles Anthony gained control of the
Gold West mill. During the spring of 1898, he moved the mill down to the canyon floor
where he could get water, and started crushing ore again that summer. Although the ore
was refractory, the yield low, and the production erratic, Anthony reportedly took out
over $100,000 in gold before he sold out.

Although the Pleasant Canyon mines were Ballarat’s biggest producers, there were some
hopeful contenders in the neighboring canyons. The richest of these was the Oh Be Joyful,
discovered in February 1897 by Bob Montgomery and several] partners who named it for
their favorite whiskey. It was located near the mouth of the canyon now known as Tuber,
a corruption of fuba, the Shoshone word for pifton pine . Bob and his partners
systematically opened the lode, blocked out the ore to reveal its extent, made sample runs
on the custom mills at Ballarat to demonstrate its worth, and made $48,000 for their
trouble during the spring of 1899, before selling the mine to Flint and Stebbins. The new
owners put in a Bryan roller mill that fall, but it broke down after several months — the
rock was too hard — and was finally replaced by a six-stamp mill. By the summer of 1900
the Oh Be Joyful was turning out about $20,000 in gold bullion every month.

In neighboring Jail Canyon Jack Carran discovered claims that he developed into the Gem
Mine (on lands added to Death Valley National Monument in 1994), giving a half interest
to Ballarat storekeeper Charles Weaver in exchange for a three-stamp mill. The mill was
rigged up to min from a waterwheel — the first in the Death Valley country — and started
shipping several thousand dollars in bullion monthly during the winter of 1899-1900.

By 1900 there were nearly 300 men working in the mines around Ballarat. The Ratcliff,
World Beater, Oh Be Joyful, and Gem were tuming out bullion, and by the end of that
year their total production had reached nearly $500,000. Ballarat was at its peak, and its
citizens proudly proclaimed it “The Mining Camp of the Desert.”

After the discovery of silver at Tonopah, 150 miles north of Ballarat, during the fall of
1900 the new Nevada camp became the center of the largest mining rush the desert
country would ever see, The exodus of miners to the new camp in 1901 dealt Ballarat a
crippling blow, leaving it almost deserted. Then a series of natural calamities occurred. A
severe storm during the summer of 1901 caused extensive damage to Ballarat, smashing
houses, killing one woman, and destroying the Gem Mine mill in Jai! Canyon. A year
later, just as Ballarat was starting to recover, cyclonic winds wrought even more havoc,
tearing the roofs fram many buildings and leveling virtually every frame building that
was left. A rush of water poured down Pleasant Canyon, deruolishing Antheny’s mill,
which he had just sold to a Boston company, and flooding the battered town. But as the
mines resumed operations, Ballarat rebuilt again.

First to resume operations was the Ratcliff Consolidated Goid Mines, Ltd., in January 1902,
with owner William W. Godsmark replacing the departed Harrison as superintendent.
With a crew of 50 men, he soon had the mill running night and day, making it once again
the mainstay of the Ballarat area. By the summer of 1903 he had turned out another
$250,000 in bullion, bringing the total production of the mine to roughly $450,000. By then,

7S


Native American Renching Sites

Hungry Bill and his family had lived at the ranch for "perhaps thirty years." Hungry Bill
had “about fifty fruit trees" that bore “splendid fruit in July," and he raised “grapes,
potatoes, corn, peas and beans.” The ranch was "not of ordinary Indian type;" rather it
showed "evidence of being kept up."

After Philip Johnston visited Indian George’s Ranch in 1927 during an automobile tour of
the Panamints in 1927, he noted that the "oasis" was "rich in local color with its primitive
fences, ancient wagons, and simple hovels where a number of Shoshones live in a state
scarcely more civilized than that of their forebears.” A "sulphur spring” flowed “from the
mountainside nearby to a meadow covered with coarse grass" which supplied “provender
for a number of burros, who regard the passing visitor with a philosphic gaze."

In 1928 Indian George’s Ranch was established as an Indian Ranch Reservation or
“rancheria". By 1930 the ranch featured a large flock of Angora goats provided by the U. S.
Indian Service. Living on the ranch with Indian George, who was nearly 90 years of age,
were his sister, "Old Woman," a daughter, Isobel, and a granddaughter, Molly, who

herded the goats. Mike, the crippled son of Indian George, along with his three sons,
Leland, Dugan, and Buster, came to the ranch from their home in Darwin for periodic
visits. The ranch had a crude water system, consisting of flumes, that channeled water
from Hall Canyon to the ranch for irrigation and domestic purposes. The Warm Spring
vicinity, south of the ranch, was used for grazing the goats during the winter months.
During the late spring, Molly took the goats into the Panamint Range for summer grazing,
principally in the vicinity of the Stone Corral in Pleasant Canyon where the Panamint
Shoshone had established a summer camp for many years. Remnants of the corral are
located near the border of the lands added to Death Valley National Monument in 1994,
and the area around the corral features a number of sites associated with the Indian Ranch
residents’ summer encampments. At times, the goats were herded to the Junction Ranch in
the Argus Range for the summer. Indian George died around 1943, and the Indian Ranch
Reservation was terminated in 1958. The legal designation of the reservation, however,
was not formally rescinded until 1964.7" The Timbisha Shoshone Tribe is the modern
federally recognized tribe of descendent families and individuals of the Panamint
Shoshone.

262. Rhyolite Herald, March 12, 1910.
263, Philip Johnston, “To the Roof of the Panamints,” Touring Topics, X (October 1927), p. 23.

264. Hubbard, Bray, and Pipkin, Ballarat: 1897-1917, pp. 33-37; Iroquois Research Center, Land Use History of
Coso Hot Springs, p. 133; Sturtevant, ed., Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 11, Great Basin, pp. 278,
533; and Cartter, Twilight of the Jackass Prospector, pp. 10, 12. Also see Louise Werner, "We Climbed Telescape
Peak,” Desert Magazine, XVI (November 1953), pp. 7-8.

265, U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Death Valley — Ethnolistorical Study of the Timbisha Band
of Shoshone Indians, by John G. Herron, September 1981; Fowler, Dufort, Rusco, and the Historic Preservation
Committee, Timbisha Tribe, Residence Without Reservation; and the Timbisha Shoshone — Death Valley Land
Restoration Project, Timbisha Shoshone Land Restoration Commitive Report: Principles Related to Identifying Aboriginal
Homeland Areas for Restoration to the Tribe, presented to Study Group Two at the mecting of August 17, 1995, Death
Valley, California,

137



CHAPTER THREE: RANCHING/GRAZING

between the summit of New York Butte and the salt flat in Saline Valley. Hunter began
development of the Big Horn Mine in 1878, building a cabin and three arrastras in Hunter
Canyon to treat the ore. Processed ore was transported by pack mules over the crest of the
Inyos to the roadhead in Long John Canyon, from where it was transported to Owenyo in
Owens Valley for transfer to the railroad for shipment to smelters at Salt Lake City.

In 1875 Hunter married Carrie Duval of Virginia City, Nevada, and the coupie had five
children. He was elected Inyo County clerk in 1884, serving in that capacity for two years.
Later, he was appointed as a county supervisor. In 1886 the Hunters moved from
Independence to George Creek, south of Independence. Along with associates, he
continued to engage in mining activities, operating his Beveridge mines and conducting
periodic development work “on old claims at Hunter’s ranch” until his death on March 8,
1902. Prior to his death, Hunter filed claims in 1898-99 on the water rights for springs and
streams in the Hunter Mountain Ranch area, and a 1967 court decision upheld the validity
of those claims.”

Sometime after the turn of the 20th century, Hunter’s son, Beveridge, homesteaded a cattle
ranch in Owens Valley, using the Sierra Nevada for summer pasturage and the Hunter
Mountain Ranch area for grazing purposes during other seasons of the year. During his
early years, he grazed about 1,000 animals, including burros, cattle, and horses, on lands
that extended from Hunter Mountain eastward to Cottonwood Canyon. Later, he
concentrated on running cattle in the Hunter Mountain area and over to Death Valley and
the Koweechee Mountains of Nevada, south of Silver Peak, establishing the center of his
cow operations in the vicinity of present-day Scotty’s Castle. The Hunter Mountain Ranch
was used by Beveridge as a line camp during his annual grazing operations, and the
earliest structure in the vicinity (located just inside the pre-1994 boundaries of Death
Valley National Monument) is a rustic one-room pifion pine structure, generally referred
to as the "Hunter Cabin." According to Hunter family tradition and one National Park
Service historian, the cabin was constructed by a "packer" named John, who was
apparently one of Beveridge’s ranch hands, in 1910. However, Silas Ness, son of Jens Ness,
a Norwegian immigrant who was employed by Beveridge, and Rosie Sams, a Native
American who was born on the Saline Valley Indian Ranch, credits his father as the man
who built the cabin in 1906. Remnants of ranching activities in the vicinity of the cabin
include a spring (20 yards uphill) that was developed into a watering trough and a
primitive corral about 100 yards downhill to the northeast. A tin shack in the vicinity

246. Lester Reed, Old-Tiniers of Southeastem California (Redlands, California, Citrograph Printing Company,
1967), pp. 27-37; Perkins, Cowboys of the High Sierra, pp. 114-20; Chapter 183, Southern Inyo American
Association of Retired Persons, Saga of Inyo County, pp. 163-64; Dictionary of American History (Rev. ed., New
York, Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1976), Vol. IV, p. 415; and Inyo Independent, August 6, 1897, and March 14, 1902.
By the turn of the 20th century the Hunter Mountain Ranch area was crossed by a mining tail leading east
from Keeler ta the Ubehebe region. Traversing the Inyo Mountains south of Cerro Gordo, the trail crossed the
head of Panamint Valley and ascended “a superbly wooded and amply watered upland for many years known
as Hunter's Ranch.” From the vicinity of the present-day Lee Pump, tvails ted to Saline Valley to the
northwest, the Lee Flat area to the southwest, and to Furnace Creek to the southeast via Cottonwood Canyon.
Inyo Independent, March 30, 1906.

130


CHAPTER ONE: EXPLORATION, 1849-19305
General Land Office Surveys

The next surveyors to enter the Death Valley region arrived with contracts to run
township lines for the Department of the Interior's General Land Office and subdivide the
land into 160-acre quarter sections for settlers who might come someday. William Dentin
and his crew of axmen, chainmen, and a compassman surveyed the south end of Death
Vailey and the Amargosa in late 1856. At the same time, Allexey von Schmidt surveyed
Panamint Valley to the west. Early the following year, “Colonel” Henry Washington, a
self-styled colonel from Virginia, was hired to extend the surveys into the heart of Death
Valley and up the Amargosa until they reached what the surveyors judged to be the
California-Nevada boundary. The surveys, published in the surveyor general's map of
California in 1857, provided the first detailed topography of Death Valley, although the
valley itself was marked only as an unnamed “Dry Lake.” Denton’‘s survey of the curious
twin basins on the southwest edge of Death Valley, which appear to form the eyes and
face of an owl, gave rise to their present-day name, the Owlshead Mountains.

Although this map showed the topography of the Death Valley country better than any
that would follow for more than three decades, the surveys fell under suspicion and their
results were generally ignored by later mapmakers. The surveyors had contracted only to
subdivide land that was suitable for farming or ranching. Since they were paid essentially
by the number of acres they subdivided, the surveyors apparently could nat resist
stretching the definition of "suitable." Thus, they filed surveys of such unlikely farmlands
as salt flats, sand dunes, and steep, rugged mountainsides. Although Denton and von
Schmidt were more cautious than Washington, von Schmidt's subdivision of Panamint
Valley, a largely barren and sandy desert expanse, drew first lire in 1861, when Lhe
cartographer of the California Boundary Commission denounced it as a shameless
fraud.”

California Boundary Commission Surveys

During 1861, the United States and California Boundary Commission passed through the
Death Valley region. The discovery of rich mineral deposits east of the Sierra Nevada in
1859-60 caused Californians to become interested in determining the location of the eastern
boundary of the state, which had been defined by Congress in 1850 but never surveyed.
Under the command of Dr. J.R.N. Owen, an Oroville physician, amateur geologist, and
Coso mine owner, a 14-man party started from the Colorado River, working its way
northwest by way of the Potosi mines and reaching Resting Spring southeast of Death
Valley late in February 1861. An opportunist, Owen saw the reconnaissance as an
opportunity for a government-financed prospecting expedition. Thus, the men he selected
consisted of several Coso miners and an experienced assayer. The boundary survey was
left to two of the 14 men — an astronomer, j. M. McLeod, and a topographer, Aaron Van
Dorn, who became the unofficial chronicler of the expedition. By March 4 the party,
accompanied by three camels, had reached the lower edge of the Amargosa Desert, and
during the next several days they worked themselves down to Furnace Creek in Death
Valley. On March 11, they took a barometer reading on the salt flat south of Fumace
Creek, calculating that they were standing more than 377 feet below the level of the sea.

10, Lingenfelter, Death Valley & The Amargosa, pp. 82-83.

6



CHAPTER THREE: RANCHING /GRAZING

When his cattle were on the Hunter Mountain Allotment, Hunter followed a general cattle
management plan developed in consultation with the Bureau of Land Management. Four
sites on the allotment were monitored to evaluate forage readiness. Cattle were trailed to
the allotment when forage and water conditions appeared adequate. During his early
“season of use,” the Hunter cattle were grazed from Grapevine Canyon westward. As the
season progressed and the snow melted, some of the cattle were moved to Hunter
Mountain where they remained until herded back to the Wilson Ranch on Lee Flat. Then
they were trailed or trucked off to the allotment.”

t

we

Myers and Barker Ranches — Goler Wash

The Myers Ranch property is a 40-acre homestead located near Sourdough Spring in the
Goler Wash area south of Mengel Pass just inside the west boundary of the lands added
to Death Valley Nationa! Monument in 1994. The ranch site, which is an example of
“recreational ranching" in the area during the 1930s-1950s era, is reached by turning west
off the Wingate Road some 15 miles south of Ballarat on to Goler Wash Road. The latter
road passes by the remnants of the Lotus Mine, now generally known as the Keystone
Mine, which has gone through a series of private owners, including Carl “Peg Leg”
Mengel, a mining engineer trom San Bernardino who arrived in the Panamints during the
mid-1920s. Opening a mine at the head of Anvil Spring Canyon in Butte Valley, Mengel
developed Greater View Springs where he established his residence while pursuing
prospecting and mining interests in the area, When Carl died from a long bout with
tuberculosis in San Bernardino in 1944, he willed his interest in the Lotus Mine to his
friends, William (Bill) and Barbara Myers. .

The Myers, both of whom were graduates of the University of California, Berkeley, were
schoolteachers in the San Joaquin Valley, Beginning in 1926, Bill made exploratory trips to
the Death Valley region, visiting Wild Rose Canyon, Ballarat, Trona, and the Goler Wash
and Butte Valley areas. After their marriage in 1929 the Myers continued to visit the Death
Valley region, and during the early 1930s, after befriending Carl Mengel, they began
constructing a stone cabin near Sourdough Spring in Goler Wash. Mengel, Myers, and
other residents in the vicinity built the road into Goler Wash trom Butte Valley during the
early 1930s. The Myers regularly visited their new homestead during vacation periods,
continuing construction of the cabin and making improvements to the "ranch” regularly. In
1953 they purchased Wild Rose Station from Warren and Mary Pinney, operating the
“tesort" as a concession in Death Valley National Monument for the next five years.
During this period, the Myers continued to visit their Goler Wash "ranch," which was
patented in 1958. Improvements on the property included the cabin with an indoor water
supply fed from a spring by gravity, a stone garage and stone shed, fencing, a small
swimming pool, and a garden, grapevines, and some fruit trees. That year, the Myers sold
the Wild Rose Station business and moved to Fresno to provide a better educational
environment for their three children. The Myers family, however, continued to visit the
"ranch" regularly, and the Myers children still visit the site periodically.

249. U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, California Desert District, Ridgecrest
Resource Area, “Allotment Management Plan, Hunter Mountain Allotment (Dratt}, ca. 1985, n. p., and U.S.
Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, The California Desert Conservation Area Plan, Yol. F,
Appendix XIII, "Livestock Grazing,” pp. 23-24.

132


CHAPTER TWO: MiNING

Belshaw and Egbert Johnson, president of the California Paper Company, established the
Union Mines Company. Belshaw retumed to Cerro Gordo with A. B. Elder, his mining
companion from his Mexico mining days, and the two men began systematic development
of the peak that would soon be theirs.’

In July 1868 Belshaw graded a steep and winding eight-mile-long toll road, called the
Yellow Grade Road, from Owens Valley to Cerro Gordo, charging $1 for wagons and 25¢
for a horse and rider. The toll road finished, Belshaw started hauling machinery for his
second project, a smelter located near present-day Swansea on the east shore of Owens
Lake that reportedly would produce 4 tons of bullion per day.”

The blast furnace began operation in September 1868, and its output proved tp be so
efficient that the facility's production was increased to 5 tons of bullion per day. Regular
ore shipments to San Francisco yia Los Angeles began on December 1, 1868, each trip
from Cerro Gordo to Los Angeles and return taking a month. From Los Angeles, the ore
was transported to San Francisco via a three-day trip on the steamer Orizaba. In San
Francisco Thomas H. Selby smelted the silver ore further, sending the silver to the US.
Mint. The opening of Belshaw’s smelter caused the population at Cerro Gardo to swelt
from 200 to 700, as miners began flocking to the camp. By 1870 the Cerro Gordo boom
town had stage service connections with Independence in Owens Valley, and, a year later,
with Nevada, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.”

Victor Beaudry, a French Canadian who had come to Cerro Gordo as a merchant in 1866,
built a blast furnace in 1870 that was patterned after that of Belshaw, thus increasing
Cerro Gordo’s bullion output to 9 tons per day. Beaudry acquired numerous other mining.
claims in the vicinity, extending credit to miners with whom he did business. Among his
acquisitions was a one-half interest in the Union Mine, and in 1870 he and Belshaw, who
owned one-half of the Union as well, went into partnership. Within several years, the
town boasted a population of some 3,000 persons, a large number of shops and offices, an
ice plant, 12 saloons, and two brothels.”

Belshaw and Beaudry charged $50 a ton for reducing ore at their furnaces. The ore needed
to have a silver value of $100 per ton or higher in order to tum a profit. All of the silver
mines worked during 1872-74 became indebted to the furnaces on the sale of ores, and
many, if not all, slowly closed down as Belshaw and Beaudry came to contral the entire
peak.”

76. Robert C. Likes and Glenn R. Day, From This Mountain--Cerro Gordo (Bishop, Chatfant Press, 1975), p. 12

77. Elizabeth von Till Warren and Ralph J. Roske, Cultural Resources of the California Desert, 1776-1880: Historic Trails
and Wagon Roads, Prepared for the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, Desert Planning
Unit, Riverside, California, Contract No. YA-510-Ph7-47, 1981, p. 33.

78. Nadeau, City Makers, pp- 30-31
79. Likes and Day, From This Mountain, pp- 10, 15, 20.

80. Rossiter W. Raymond, Statistics of Mines and Mining in the States and Territories West of the Rocky Mountains
(Washington, Goverment Printing Office, 1875), p. 32

50



PREFACE

This special history shzdy has been prepared to satisfy in part the research needs as stated
in the project agreement (approved by Richard H. Martin, Superintendent, Death Valley
National Park, on November 5, 1996) concerning Death Valley National Park, Special
History Study (SHS), under Package DEVA No. 037. The purpose of this study is the
collection, presentation, and evaluation of historical research pertaining to the historic
events that have occurred in or near the Jands added to Death Valley Nationa! Monument
(hereinafter referred to as the "new lands") by the California Desert Protection Act of 1994.
Because many historic events overlap the pre- and post-1994 boundaries of Death Valley
National Park, as well as surrounding areas, this study includes material that relates
generatly to the Death Valley region. It is intended that the study will provide a data base
for the national park's historic resources that will enable park administrators to formulate
appropriate management policies to preserve, protect, and interpret those resources.

The specific purpose of this study is to provide a historical overview of the new lands to
establish historic contexts within which to evaluate the significance of historic properties
for their eligibility for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. The principal
historic contexts for the historic events that have occurred in the new lands include
exploration, mining, and ranching/ grazing. As part of this study, Steven R. Whissen, a
historian with the Denver Service Center, prepared National Register of Historie Places
nomination forms for Panamint City, the Gem Mine and Mill in Jail Canyon, and the
Barker Ranch.

A number of persons assisted in the preparation of this report, My special thanks extend
to Superintendent Martin and members of his staff, including Linda W. Greene, Chief,
Cultural Resources; Caven Clark, Archeologist; Mel Essington, Mining Engineer; Blair
Davenport and Marcia Stout, Museum Curators; and Niccole Mortenson, Museum
Technician. My thanks also go to Thomas D. Mulhern, Chief, Park Historic Preservation,
and Gordon $. Chappell, Senior Historian, Pacific/Great Basin Support Office, for making
historical materials available for research purposes and providing guidance on the nature
of research and the scope of work required for the project.

My thanks go to the staffs of the Inyo County Library, Recorder’s Office in the Inyo
County Courthouse, and Eastern California Museum in Independence, California, where I
conducted research for this study. In addition my thanks also go to Richard 5S. (Steve)
Smith, Daniel Fowler, Buzz Todd, and Katie Wash, staff members at the Bureau of Land
Management, Ridgecrest (California) Resource Area Office, for sharing their historical files
and knowledge relating to the project. My thanks also go to David Bybee of Los Angeles
and Sophia A. Merk of Ridgecrest for sharing their historical files from the materials
collected by the Saline Preservation Association and to Timothy Dahlia of Covina,
California, for providing historical information collected by the Saline Organization and
Kindred Spirits. Thomas $. Budiong of Los Angeles provided two heretofore unknown
historical photographs of the salt works in Saline Va)ley that he found in the collections of
Richard McCutchan of Diamond Bar, California.

My thanks also go to my supervisors at the Denver Service Center for providing
encouragement and administrative oversight for the project. These include Cynthia Young,
Chief, Resource Planning, and Pat O’Brien, Quality Leader.

Harlan D. Unrau
June 1, 1997

vii



Photographs

vertneih,

Photo 13: Main Street, Lookout, nd., Accession DEVA No. 1897, Box 9,
@ Museum Collection, Death Yailey National Park.

Maddock Purvecces, Panamint Volley and Pananrint Mountains
Leking Northerly. . : ate

Photo 14: Modoc Furmace/Mill, Lookout, n.d., Accession DEVA No. 1897, Box 9,
Museum Collection, Death Valley National Park.

169


As the nation’s principal conservation agency, the Department of the Interior has responsibility for
most of our nationaily owned public lands and natural resources. This inchides fostering sound
use of our land and water resources; protecting our fish, wildlife, and biological diversity;
preserving the environmental and cultural values of our national parks and historical places; and
providing for the enjoyment of life through outdoor recreation. The department assesses our
energy and mineral resources and works to ensure that their development is in the best interests
of all our people by encouraging stewardship and citizen participation in their care. The
department also has a major responsibility for American Indian reservation communities and for
people who live in island territones under U.S. administration. - >

Publication services were provided by Mary Ryan, visual information technician, Resource
Planning Group, Denver Service Center. NPS D-163, September 1997


Miscellanen

persons. Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s holidays attracted the largest crowds
of the year, some 200 people often arriving for large holiday festive celebrations.”

During the period from the late 1960s to the early 1980s, the Lower Warm Spring area
witnessed the layout of several rough aircraft landing strips, construction of a crude, rustic
cabin, deplayment of 12 quasi-permanent trailers, and installation of three pit toilets. In
1983 Rich Baldwin, who had lived at the site since the mid-1970s and had located the
"Lucky Rich mill site claim," filed a plan of operations for the site in August 1983 that was
approved by the Bureau of Land Management.TM By November 1984, however, Baldwin
had left the area, and the bureau commenced efforts to remove a 30-foot trailer,
automobile, camper, and other debris from the site.

Several months earlier, the bureau, which had initiated efforts to establish federal
government presence in the valley by installing signs and a temporary ranger station
during the Jate 1970s, authorized deployment of a year-round volunteer on-site to assist
the agency in managing and maintaining the Warm Springs area. In 1985 the bureau
designated the Warm Springs vicinity as a “Special Management Area” with a 180-day
camping limit. In September 1985 the bureau began efforts to enforce the 180-day camping
limit, removing the rustic cabin and the trailers and vehicles that violated the new
regulations, During the following year, the bureau established new regulations prohibiting
stays at the springs exceeding two weeks in length between October and April. These
efforts to regulate activity in the valley brought the bureau and users of the springs into
increasing conflict, because the latter wished to maintain the springs as a self-policing
community free from publicity and federal restrictions.**

The 1990 issue of The Hot Springs Gazette contamed a description of the features, facilities,
and lifestyles at Warm Springs in Saline Valley. The publication noted that the “dirt roads"
to the springs were "absolutely horrendous." On the “plus side,” however, there were two

293, Weiss, "Observations on User Management at the Saline Valley Warm Springs,” pp. 1-46; Hillsbery,
“Paradise Lost,” pp. 51-54, 102-05; Los Angeles Times, November 24, 1992; and Mara Smith, “Saline Valley Warm
Springs: A Place Like No Other,” Nude & Natural, XV (No. 4, 1996}, pp. 46-48.

294, Baldwin also helped stranded motorists in the valley, oversaw cleanup activities and initiated efforts to
preserve the peace at the springs, and established a citizen band emergency radio network for the isolated
valley. Don Dwiggins to Tom Evans, editor, Newsbeat, February 19, 1977, Sophia A. Merk Collection,
Ridgecrest, California. Automobile travel through Saline Valley continued to be hazardous. One notable event
occurred in August 1968 when two men and a teenage boy were found dead some 4 miles from where they
had abandoned their vehicle after transmission problems had caused it to break down on the Saline Valley
road in 120-degree heat. Inyo Register, August 14, 1968, and Daniel Cronkite, Death Valley's Victtars: A
Descriptive Chronology, 1849-1977 (Morongo Valley, California, The Sagebrush Press, 1977}, p. 39.

295. Tom Evans, "User Conflict Clouds Remote Saline Valley,” B.L.M. Newsteat, February 1977, pp. 1-10; U. 5.
Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, California Desert District, IMP Action Report,
"Occupancy and Recreation Use, Warm Springs, March 26, 1985, “WSA 117, Saline Valley, Rich Baldwin
Oxcupancy Use Records,” Mining Fites, Resources Management Division, Death Valley National Park; and Los
Angeles Times, November 24, 1992, In 1992 the Bureau of Land Management rejected a request to locate a mill
site at Lower Warm Spring for the purpose of cleaning quartz crystals removed from a nearby “rockhounding
pit.” U. S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, Impact to Wilderness Values, Evaluation
under Non-Impairment Standard, Ridgecrest Resource Area, Project — Defrain Crystal Mining Plan of
Operation (CAMC 241816), July 1, 1992, “WSA 117, 120, Crystal Mine and Millsite, Defrain Saline Valley Site,”
Mining Files, Resources Management Division, Death Valley National Park

157



Mining District/Areas Relating to the New Lands

Valley National Monument in 1994. Like Darwin, however, operations on Lockout
Mountain would impact mining activities in those lands.'”

Approximately two years after the discovery at Panamint and about five months after the
discovery at Darwin, rich silver-lead deposits were discovered on the north face of
Lockout Mountain on April 22, 1875. The discovery was made by B. E. Ball, J. E. *
Boardman, E. W. Burke, and Jerome S. Childs, reportedly while “looking for the Lost
Gunsight." Shortly after the discovery, the men sold their interest in the claims, which
would later be consolidated in the Modoc mining property, to the Modock Consolidated
Mining Company of San Francisco. One of the five directors of that company, which had
been established on August 9, 1875, was former U.S. Senator George Randolph Hearst,
father of newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst.'*

In 1876 the Minnietla Belle Silver Mining Company was established, and mining
operations on the Minnietta Mine, located on the south face of Lookout Mountain, began
under the superintendence of James Dolan. By the end of the year the mine’s shaft was
some 100 feet in depth, and Dolan calculated that the Minnietla contained at least 3,000
tons of ore valued at some $100 per ton. The silver content of the Modoc Mine ore ranged
between 100 and 300 ounces of silver per ton. The ore was packed by mule across the
Panamint Valley to the 20-stamp mill at Panamint City for crushing and treatment until
October 1876, when the first of two 30-ton furnaces at Lookout began operation. Each
furnace could produce 160 bars of bullion, weighing 80 to 85 pounds, per day. The
smelting process required the use of iron, which was obtained from the nearby Iron Cap
Mine.”

By the end of November 1876 it was reported that some $100,000 of bullion had been
produced by the Lookout furnaces, which required 3,000 bushels of coal per day to
operate. The coal and other supplies were hauled to Lookout by several hundred mules
that maintained an almost continuous parade maving to and from the Argus Range. In
late 1876 the Cerro Gordo Freighting Company began hauling silver bars from
Lookout.”

127. Norwood e¢ al., Crltural Resource Overview of the Eureka, Satine, Panamint, and Derwin Region, p. 137;
Wredenburgh, Shumway, and Hartill, Desert Fever, pp. 242-45; Mike Engle, "A Look at Loakout,” Desert Magazine,
XXXV (November 1972), pp. 18-20, 38; U. S$. Department of the Interior, Geological Survey, Bulletin No. 1299,
Geology of the Panamint Bustle Quadrangle, Inyo County, California, by Wayne E. Hall (Washington, Government
Printing Office, 1971), pp., 1-64; and State of California, Department of Natural Resources, Division of Mines and
Geology, Special Report No. 73, Economie Geology of tle Panamint Butte Quadrangle and Madoc District, Inyo County,
California, by Wayne E. Hall and Hal G. Stephens (Sacramenty, California State Printing Office, 1963), pp. 1-39.
Also see Jessica Kinchloe, "From Riches to Rags: A Historical Archaeological Perspective of Lookout,” paper
presented to historical archaeological class, University of Califomia, Los Angeles, june 12, 1997.

124, Paut B. Hubbard, Doris Bray, and George Pipkin, Ballarat, 2897-1917: Facts and Folklore (Lancaster, California,
1965), and Robert J. Murphy, Wildrose Charcoal Kiins (Bishop, Chalfant Press, 1972), p. 9.

129, California State Mining Bureau, Twelfth Report of the State Mineralogist, (Second Biennial,) Two Years Ending
September 15, 1894, p, 326; Raymond, Statistics of Mines and Mining in the States and Tervitories West of the Rocky
Mountains (1876), p. 32; and Murphy, Wildrose Charcoal Kilns, p. 89.

130. Murphy, Wildrose Charcoal Kilns, pp. 9-12.
67



Early Exploration, 1849-1870s

Descending into Death Valley via a steep trai] through Johnson Canyon, Bimnie’s party
turned northward and camped for two days at Bennett's Well. From there the party
crossed to the northeast over the old emigrant road to Furnace Creek where it awaited the
arrival of the rest of the party that had separated from it at Cafion Station and had moved
along the western foothills of the Panamint range to Willow-Tree Station on the Las
Angeles and Panamint Road via Pilot Knob. That party had occupied Brown’s Peak in the
southern Panamints for triangulation and topography work, before passing south of the
range by Leach’s Point and Owl Springs into Death Valley at Saratoga Springs.

The reunited party under Birnie moved northward, crossing the Amargosa Range and
desert to Bare Peak and Oasis Valley before reentering the northern portion of Death
Valley and camping at Salt Wells. Recrossing the Panamint Range through Cottonwood
Canyon, the party “reached water and a camping-place.” The day’s march had exhausted
the group’s animals, “two having to be left, unable to travel; one died almost immediately,
the other was brought into camp the next day." According to Birnie, the “water met with
had been sufficient only for ourselves, and riding animals and some of the pack-mules
had been without for forty-eight hours; and in this one encounters the difliculty of
traveling with more than a few animals. Besides the scantiness of the grazing, the springs
are too small to furnish sufficient water.”

Birnie observed that his party “passed along the stream of several miles in length, lined
with cottonwoods, and following a gocd trail, camped at springs near the summit of the
range and the head of the cafion.” Here, according to Birnie, the “uniformity of the ranges
is broken,” and “a spur that separates Panamint from Salinas [Saline] Valley juts out from
the Panamint range." The “highest portion of this spur, somewhat plateau in character, is
interspersed with springs, and good grazing is found.” A mule ranch [Hunter Mountain
Ranch] had been established in the vicinity, and after “occupying a triangulation-station
here, we passed along the spur and crossed the Cerro Gordo range by a very steep trail,
and came to the mining-town of Cerro Gordo on the eastern slope and near the

summit . . .” From there, the party traveled “by excellent wagon-road down the mountain
to Cerro Gordo landing, on Owens Lake.” The “country from Panamint to Cerra Gordo
was without settlers, except the small garden in the carion east of Panamint.”

After returning from an ascent of Mount Whitney in October members of the party made
several forays to occupy Cerro Gordo Peak, New York Butte, and Waucoba Peak in the
Inyo Mountains to establish triangulation stations. Birnie’s party was disbanded in
November 1875, and thereafter he reported to Wheeler that his party had been in the field
for 143 days during which time they had accomplished a number of projects:

.... A system of triangles was closed over an area of about 8,000 square miles of
territory, and the topography of this area, with about a third as much more
obtained by running meanders exterior to the system, was as far as practicable,
carefully studied and can be mapped.

The parallel ranges of mountains, with but 15 or 20 miles between their crests,
and these marked with well-defined points, afforded an excellent opportunity for
carrying on the triangulation.

21


Mining District/Areas Relating to the New Lands

meeting praised the peace officers and denounced the Workingmen’s Club for leading
Delahanty to his death, the club disbanded.”

As the Darwin boom began to decline, the 1878 gold rush to Bodie and Mammoth City
lured away many of the camp‘s prospectors and inhabitants. Additionally, excessive
freight costs and the depletion of high-grade ores hastened the decline of Darwin as its
smelters were forced to shut down. Although mining at Darwin continued sporadically
during the 1880s and 1890s, poor and expensive transportation, lack of modem facilities,
and litigation would continue to plague operations.”

As the easily mined ore had given out, the Darwin mines continued to be operated
sporadically by lessees until World War I. In 1915 the Darwin Development Company
consolidated the Lucky Jim, Columbia, Promontory, and Lane mines, and after several
inergers, the Darwin Silver Corporation consolidated these mines with the Defiance and
Independence mines in 1917. New development, including equipment, roads, and camps,
was initiated with the financial aid of E. W. Wagner for the purpose of reestablishing
Darwin as a major silver producer. This boom, however, was halted by a major decline in
silver prices following the war.”

In 1925 after clearing legal entanglements with the Wagner estate in the wake of his
suicide in 1921, the American Metals Company leased the Darwin properties and shipped
a considerable amount of ore for a one-year period. When lead prices struck a new low in
1927, the camp closed, In 1928 a tire destroyed the shaft and timbering of the Lucky Jim
Mine, thus making the largest mine in the district inaccessible until its repair in 1948.

in 1940 Sam Mosher, owner of Imperial Metals, operated the Darwin mining properties.
Several years later, in March 1943, the Darwin Mines Company took over the mining
operations, and in August 1945, the Anaconda Copper Mining Company purchased the
Darwin properties. That company turned the Darwin mines into the largest lead-
producing area in the State of California, producing two-thirds of the state's lead
production. Most of the lead was taken from four mines: Defiance, Essex, Independence,
and Thompson. Between 1875 and 1952, the Darwin district produced some $29,000,000 in
mineral wealth, with 80 percent of that production occurring between 1940 and 1952.
Anaconda closed its Darwin operations in 1957."

In 196? the Darwin mines were reactivated by the West Hill Exploration Company as a
result of the activities of William Skinner who believed the mines contained sufficient
lead, zinc, and silver to be profitable. The company signed a lease with Anaconda and

121. Richard E. Lingenfelter, The Hardrock Miners (Los Angeles, University of California Press, 1974), pp. 14142,
and W. A. Chalfant, Tales of the Pioneers (Palo Alto, California, Stanford University Press, 1942), pp. 106-09.

122. Kelley, “Geology and Ore Deposits of the Darwin Silver-Lead Mining District,” pp. 552-53, and Nadeau, City
Makers, p. 153.

123. Kelley, “Geology and Ore Deposits of the Darwin Silver-Lead Mining District,” p. 553.

124. ibid., pp. 552-53, and State of California, Department of Natural Resources, Division of Mines, Special Report
No. 51, p- 15.

65



Native American Runching Sites

Valley. The Indians used "the water for irrigation” and produced “garden veyetabdies the
year round.” "Watermelons ripen avout the beginning of April, and these and other
Produce are packed on ponies up and over the mountains to Cerro Gordo mining camp,
near the summit of the Inyo range.""7?

During the summer months, most of the people living on the Saline Valley Indian’ Ranch,
as well as their animals, moved to their traditional Hunter Mountain encampment area.
Only an intermittent or token presence was maifitained at the ranch. In the fail. after the
summer heat had abated, the people returned to the valley. The remains of their layover
corral may still be seen in lower Grapevine Canyon. In later years they made use of the
Hunter family corral located in Upper Grapevine Canyon.

The organization of the ranch was centered around the extended Tom Hunter and Caesar
families. Originally, Tom and Caesar, as faraily heads, functioned essentially as dual
“chiefs” of the enclave, although they had no official! status nor formal role. Upon the
death of Tom Hunter, his son Johnny assumed the ranch leadership role. Caesar’s heirs
and the succession within his family are unknown. Family members of former residents of
the ranch remember thet uuring the 1930s Johnny purchased a Town Car, hired a
chauffeur, and took Sunciay afternoon drives on the Saline Valley road. Earlier in 1892,
Caesar gained notoriety when he and several residents of the ranch captured an Indian
who had fled to Saline Vailey after killing five whites at Kernville, Caesar, Beveridge
Hunter, and a man named McDonough took the fugitive to Independence and turned him
over to the authorities for arraignment. As a result, Caesar became a celebrity aid was
invited to San Francisco to altend an awards banquet in his honor, but the large monetary
reward that he expected never materialized.?? -

During the 20th century, the Satine Valley Indian Ranch slowly declined. Euro-American
diseases, such as tuberculosis, influenza, and venereal disease, took their toll. The
construction and pavement of California State Highway 190 during the late 1920s that
extended fron Lone Pine/Olancha to Panamint Valley and on to Death Valley and the
east essentially cut Saline Valley from the mainstream transportation arteries in the area,
Mining ectivities declined, and the salt fram ceased operation in 1930, thus eliminating
mining-related jobs. The spurt in the area’s mining activities during the Depression years
of the 1930s consisted primarily of small opesations or individuals seeking their “pot-iaf-
gold" during difficult ecauurairc times, and did no! create jobs for local Deopie. The nearest
public school was in Darwin, some 50 miles distant. The valley children were boarded in
Darwin in order to obtain formal education, thus causing disruption to the close-knit
Indian. families, As a result, a number of families moved to Darwin and other
comnuiunities.

Other factors relating to the demise of the Saline Valley Indian Ranch were more subtle.
The valley had no modern amenities because of its isolation During operation of the salt
tram, electricity and phone service were available in the valley, and the telephone line

0 County: iy Lands, Water, Soif Climate, Mines, Scenery, and Other Resources, pp. 28-29

273. {Drafts Transcribed Ora! Interview of Siias Ness by Richard Potashin, March 26, 1991, ECM OH $4, and
iDra®) Transestbed Oral Interview of Silas Ness by Richard Polashin, Octaber 13, 1992, ECM OF{ 225, Eastern
California Museum, Independence,

14i


CHAPTER TWO; MINING

Stewart's willingness to deal with bandits persuaded Wells Fargo never to open up an
express office in Panamint City."”

Because Panamint City did not have an express office and the town had a reputation for
violence, the two senators resorted to molding the bullion from their mines into 400-
pound balls, each nearly a foot in diameter and worth about $6,200, as a deterrent to
robbery. The ingots were so heavy and unmanageable that thieves could not possibly get
away with one. In this condition the company eventually shipped more than one-third
million dollars in fine silver bullion down Surprise Canyon and on to Los Angeles as
ordinary freight, without a single guard.'”

During late 1874, a number of mining companies were established at Panamint because
the publicized interest of Jones and Stewart in the mines attracted a large number of
investors. On November 28, for instance, the Idaho Panamint Silver Mining Company was
organized with a capital stock of $5,000,000. The next day the Maryland Company of
Panamint was organized with $3,000,000 of capital stock. In December seven more
Panamint corporations were established with an aggregate capital of $42,000,000. Some 300
men, nearly half of whom were Chinese, were hired by the Surprise Valley Mill and Water
Company to open the mines, construct its offices, boardinghouses, and warehouses. The
workers built a company store, cut pack trails up the steep slopes to the mines, and
graded sites for the mill and ore concentrators under the direction of Henry A. Jones, the
senator’s brother, who was named superintendent, and Isaac G. Messic, an old gold rush
friend of the senator who was named manager. Because the Chinese worked for low
wages, they became the focus of racial and labor hostility and frequent victims of random
violence." -

Mining investors were attracted to Panamint not only because of the interest of Jones and
Stewari but also because its mines had the promise of becoming a second Comstock. The
mineral belt was 2-1/2 miles wide and 5 miles long, and a number of veins were
discovered that were wide enough that a wagon could be driven through them. The veins
could be traced for great distances, running parallel to Surprise Canyon, Some of the veins
were fractured, while others appeared to be unbroken. The silver ore came in two forms: a
rich, purer mineral near the surface, changing with depth to antimoniates of copper, lead,
iron, and zinc, with sulphuret of silver and water. The rich ore assayed more than $900
per ton from Stewart's Wonder, $350 per ton from Jacob's Wonder, and $600 per ton from
the Wyoming. The more common ore ranged in value from $12 to $85 a ton.’

100. ibid. For a somewhat sensationalized account of Wells Fargo’s relationship with Panamint and its backers,
see Lucius Beebe and Charles Clegg, U. 5. West —~ The Saga of Wells Fargo (New York, Bonanza Books, 1974), pP-
160-69.

101. Chalfant, The Story of Inyo, p. 286, and Wilson, Silver Stampede, pp. 125, 214

102. Wilson, Silver Stampede, p. 117. For mote information on issues relating to the use of Chinese workmen in
eastern California mining areas, see S, W. Kung, Chinese in American Life: Some Aspects of Their History, Status,
Problems, and Contributions (Seattle, University of Washington, 1962}, pp. 63-70, and Roberta Slarry, “California’s
Chinese Wall,” Desert Magazine, XXXII (April 1969}, pp. 10-23.

103, Raymond, Statistics of Mines and Mining in the States and Territories West of the Rocky Mountains, pp. 35-37.

58


CHAPTER ONE: EXPLORATION, 1849-19305

contribution to the knowledge of the West and cared him national recognition.”
Wheeler was still in his late twenties, a first lieutenant just launching his career, when he
came to the Death Valley region in 1871 as part of an exploration expedition covering
some 72,250 square miles, including portions of central, southern, and southwestern
Nevada; eastern California; southwestern Utah; and northwestem, central, and southern
Arizona. This was his first major expedition, coupling scientific investigations with
topographic surveys and mapping. Other objectives of the survey as detailed in
instructions from Brigadier General A. A. Humphreys, Chief of Engineers, included the
gathering of as much information as possible relating to the physical features of the
country; number, habits, and disposition of the Indians; selection of sites for military
operations or occupation; facilities for making rail or common roads; examinations for
mineral resources; and observations on the climate, geological formations, woodlands,
water sources, and areas valuable for agricultural and grazing purposes. At the close of
the expedition in December 1871, Wheeler prepared a “plan for a systematic topographic
survey of the territory of the United States west of the 100th meridian” that was approved
by the Chief of Engineers and the Secretary of War and sanctioned by Act of Congress on
June 10, 1872. Thus, the success of this expedition enabled him to obtain congressional
support for the extensive program of expioration that he would undertake throughout the
remainder of the decade.”

A special preliminary report of this expedition and survey was made to Humphreys early
in 1872 and published by departmental authority. A preliminary topographic map on a
scale of one inch to 24 miles accompanied the report, embracing a "skeleton of the general
topographic information collected, location of routes pursued, positions of mining camps,
etc.” A few copies, "expressly for office use, of a list of camps, distances, etc. of the
expedition of this year, were printed in oblong folio.” Because of the urgency of other
duties, "no regular annual report for the fiscal year 1870-71 was submitted to the Chief of
Engineers."

Wheeler started this survey at Halleck Station, Nevada, on the Central Pacific Railroad on
May 3, 1871. He had approximately 80 men in his party, including geologists,
mineralogists, and naturalists, as well as the necessary corps of topographers, surveyors,
astronomers, and meteorologists. Aware of the value of publicity, Wheeler took Timothy
O'Sullivan, a talented pioneer photographer, and Frederick Wordsworth Loring, a widely
heralded writer and poet from Boston who would contribute sketches to Appleton’s Journal
detailing some of his adventures with the expedition.

To cover more territory, Wheeler divided the expedition into two parties that
tendezvoused periodically. One party remained under his direct command, while the
other was commanded by Second Lieutenant David A. Lyle, a young artillery officer who
had recently returned from Alaska.

22. For more information on the Wheeler surveys, see Richard A. Bartlett, Gree! Surveys of the American West
(Norman, University of Oklahoma, 1962), pp. 333-72.

23. Report Upon United States Geographical Surveys West of the One Hundredth Meridian, In Charge of Capt. Geo. M.
Wherler, Corps of Engineers, U.S. Army, Vol. L - "Geographical Report," by George M. Wheeler (Washington,
Government Printing Office, 1889), pp. 31-32.

24. Ibid, pp. 30-35.

14


Scientific Expeditions: 1890s-1930s
Archeological Surveys

Although explorers, scientists, and area residents had found remnants and vestiges of the
region’s prehistoric past in the lands that would later be added to Death Valley National
Monument in 1994, the archeological potental of the region was never surveyed by
trained investigators until the early 1930s. Several years earlier, in 1927-28, Julian Steward
had commenced ethnographic studies of the Owens Valley Paiute in Owens Valley and at
Mono Lake under the auspices of the Department of Anthropology of the University of
California, Berkeley, thus focusing attention on the region’s rich cultural heritage and
attracting the attention of archeologists who were interested in surveying other areas of
the largely unknown region for its archeological potential. With the financial support
and encouragement of the Southwest Museum in Los Angeles and the Eastern California
Museum in Independence, the first archeological survey of the lands that would be added
to the nationa] monument in 1994, termed a "preliminary archeological investigation" of
parts of Owens Valley, Saline Valley, and the Coso Range, was undertaken by Clifford
Park Baldwin in 1931. Accompanying Baldwin was Carl E. Hegner, a photographer, and
Mark Kerr, who served as a guide in “locating, maping [sic], sketching and photographing
tTmuch material.” The report of the survey is noteworthy for this study since it includes
location maps, photographs, and sketches of archeological sites as well as a description of
the men’s harrowing automobile journey through Saline Valley, Hunter Canyon, and
Darwin.

According to a diary of the trip that accompanies the report, the men photographed and
sketched sites in Independence Creek and Swansea near Keeler in the Owens Valley
before traveling to Darwin in two automobiles on October 31, 1931. They were equipped
with “extra drums of gasoline (about 62 gallons),” and plenty of oi] and water. About 18
miles north of Darwin, probably in the vicinity of the Darwin Plateau and/or Lee Flat,
their automobile “was soon laid up with tire trouble . . . on a volcanic flat 6000 feet above
sea level.” "Due to the stony nature of the road,” it was necessary to keep their tires in
good condition, because after leaving Darwin for the Saline Valley there was no chance to
obtain supplies.

According to the diary, the road to Saline Valley was treacherous. It

winds up from the high flat valley above Darwin through a wash which, after a
heavy storm, may require some road building in places. Rising to nearly 7000 feet
before begining [sic] the desent [sic] downward for twelve miles to the floor of
the Saline Valley, you ate lulled somewhat into a sense of false security by the
beautiful heights. You are suddenly confronted with an abrupt change in the
landscape to that of a rough, and rugged country that quickly changes your
atitude [sic] to one of caution and respect for the elements.

There is one place in the canyon walt where the road is blasted out of a steep
cliff, making a sharp, winding decent [sic] of several hundred feet of rough, rocky
gorge. From here the road continues through a rough wash with the canyon walls
rising sheer above on both sides, until you reach the valley below. Now you can

45, Steward, "Ethnography of the Owens Valley Paiute,” pp. 243-350, and Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of
American Ethnology, Bulletin No. 120, pp. 1-10, #-49, 68.93

31



BLM Resource Management and Preseroation Efforts

and ranger patrols were established to ensure that the management prescriptions were
enforced.

Historic Mining Trail Network in the Inyo Mountains

In 1989 "Friends of the Inyo Wilderness" BLM volunteers began assisting Richard S.
(Steve) Smith, Chief, Recreation and Wilderness, in the bureau’s Ridgecrest Resource Area
office, with a multi-year project to map and evaluate the historic mining trails and
canyons in the Inyo Mountains immediately to the west of lands added to Death Valley
National Monument in 1994. Although these mining trails are outside of the park, they are
associated with mining operations in or near the expanded park boundaries. Prior to
establishment of this group and program, individuals and members of the Desert Peaks
Section and the Desert Survivors, organizations concemed with protection of desert
resources and the pursuit of desert recreation experiences, had begun exploring this
extensive, yet largely-forgotten network of trails traversing the Inyo Mountains, which
were part of a proposed 205,000-acre Inyo Wilderness area. The area would be formally
designated in the California Desert Protection Act of 1994. Thus, more resource-related
information was necessary for interim management and future wilderness management
planning. In addition the bureau wanted more information on the Inyos so that it could
Provide such data to the growing number of visitors who were requesting information on
access and backpacking opportunities in the area. Hence the volunteer organization
conducted a variety of projects, including trail condition inventories and evaluations,
alignment mapping. limited directional signing, and light maintenance work on some
segments. Several cabins, including the Beveridge, Frenchy's, Big Hom, and Keynot, were
stabilized, visitor use was documented, significant cultural and natural resource values
were recorded, and two cleanup projects at the Keynot Mine were conducted.

By July 1994 12 major trails in the Inyos, totalling approximately 112 miles in length, had
been identitied and inventoried. These trails included Daisy Canyon, Upper Hunter
Canyon, Long John Canyon, Burgess Mine-Mt. Inyo, Forgotten Pass (French Spring-
Beveridge Milisite), Upper Beveridge, Cove Springs, Snowflake, Union Wash, Keynot
(Saline-Forgotten Pass Trail), McElvoy, and Lonesome Miner. The later trail, which forms
the heart of the Inyo trail systeru, was given its name by volunteer Wendell Moyer, who
prepared the aforementioned history of the Saline Valley Indian Ranch. This trail, a 40-
mile historic mining trail which traverses the crest of the Inyos from a traithead near
Reward in Owens Valley to a trailhead in Hunter Canyon west of Saline Vailey, connects
most of the canyons and trails to form the 112-mile interconnecting network. Ongoing
work by the volunteers includes identification and inventory of other trails in the Inyos,
including the Union Wash Ridge-Mt. Inyo, Upper McElvoy Canyon-Lonesome Miner,
Beveridge Ridge-Snowflake Trail, and Trepier Mine?*

284. U.S, Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, Califomia Desert District, Barstow
Resource Area, Management Plan for Greenwater Canyon Cultural Area: An: Area of Critical Environmental Concern,
September 1988. A copy of this management plan may be found in the Reference Library at Death Valley
National Park.

285. Steven Smith, “Historic Trail Network, Inyo Mountains, Update Report.” Desert Sage, July 1994, pp. 14-16;
Memorandum, Steve to Lee fre Inyo Mountains Wilderness — Features and BLM Volunteer Management
Work], March 15, 1995; “Summary of Wildland Route and Trip Information, Bureau of Land Management -

151



CHapPTER TWO; MINING

complications. By May the pile of bullion had grown to 30,000 bars, and Belshaw and
Beaudry were becoming desperate.”

The two entrepreneurs approached Nadeau in hopes that he would once again accept the
bullion freighting contract. He agreed but stipulated that Belshaw and Beaudry join him in
establishing the Cerro Gordo Freighting Company and spend $150,000 in building a line of
stations a day’s journey apart between Cerro Gordo and Los Angeles and increase his
stock of mules to 8 teams, each containing 18 mules. After the negotiations were
completed Nadeau accepted the contract, and on June 6, 1873, he arrived once again in
Los Angeles with a Joad of Cerro Gordo’s bullion.®

By the fall of 1873 the Nadeau tears began catching up with the backlog of Cerro Gordo
bullion. Belshaw and Beaudry undertook some furnace remodeling, shutting down their
furnaces and allowing the freighters more time to catch up. In 1874 with enlarged
furnaces, the two mills produced a total of 400 bars a day, twice the output of 1871.

The Cerro Gordo mines required large amounts of lumber for fuel and mine timbers, and
wood supplies in the Inyo Mountains were becoming scarce by 1873. Thus, a Colonel
Stevens constructed a mill high in Cottonwood Canyon, west af Owens Lake in the Sierra
Nevada, with a flume 6 miles in length running down the canyon to the wagon road. The
mill began operation in 1873, and the fume was completed during the spring of 1874.
Although the mill tapped many square miles of scrubby forest growth, much of
Cottonwood Canyon was out of reach during the winter months because of deep snows.

In 1870 Belshaw attempted unsuccessfully to pipe water into Cerra Gordo. Three years
later, however, Stephen Boushey’s Cerro Gordo Water and Mining Company began
construction of a pipeline and a steam pumping plant that brought water to Cerro Gordo
from Miller Spring, some 10-1/2 miles northwest of the mining camp. When the water
system was completed in May 1874 at a cost of more than $74,000, the four-inch pipeline
extended 13-1/2 miles, falling 950 feet into the town. Although water that previously cost
7 to 10¢ per gallon was reduced to 1-1/2 to 4¢, the pipeline, because of leaks, was able
only to deliver about two-thirds of the water that passed through the pumping plant.

In 1874, John Simpson was employed by Belshaw and Beaudry to construct a 4,000-foot
tunnel under the town of Cerro Gordo to tap the Union vein and provide easier access to
the mine’s ore. While in their employ, Simpson refused to pay the toll price of the
Belshaw-controlled road up the Yellow Grade. With public opinion in his favor, Simpson
was successful in pressuring the Inyo County Board of Supervisors to reduce the toll
charges, an action that favored the Owens Lake Silver-Lead Company that used the road
to transport ore to its smelter at Swansea.

The two largest mines in the district during the early 1870s were the Union, owned by
Belshaw and Beaudry, and the San Felipe, or Omega (located adjacent to the Union),
owned by the Owens Lake Silver-Lead Company. The latter company brought suit in 1873
against the Union Mine and Belshaw’s company to force a point. The Owens Lake Silver-

$4. Likes and Day, From This Mountain, pp. 28-29, 35.
85, Warren and Roske, Cultural Resources of the California Desert, 1776-1880, p. 33.

32



Early Exploration, 1849-18705

he called ¢o him but received no answer, and supposed he had gone back to meet
me. Hahn must have followed after Koehler and the Indian that night, for we
found the three trails lower dawn and near the mouth of the cafion. This trail we
followed eagerly down a deep cafion, but scarcely had we proceeded half a mile
ere we came upon one of those falls of tilted slate which so often impede or
prevent one’s progress in these cafions. With considerable loss of time we
succeeded in reaching the arroyo below by climbing a bluff and going down a
steep incline of loose rocks and soil, but hardly half a mile more had been
traversed before we came upon another fall, about 30 feet high. This barrier
appeared at first sight to be impossible to surmount with our loaded pack-mules,
but to return was hopeless, for the mules were too weak to climb back around the
first fall. Our situation was indeed critical. Here we drank the last drop of water
that we had husbanded carefully, amounting to only a few swallows each. This
appeared rather to increase than alleviate our burning thirst. The party looked at
me in silence till I gave the order for unpacking and lowering the cargoes with
lash-ropes over the precipice. This was done cheerfully and without a murmur.
With much labor, patience, and coaxing we got the mules to clamber up the cliffs,
and slide down into the wash below, without the loss of a single animal.

{ cannot speak in too high terms of the admirable courage and cheerful obedience
of my little party during this trying day. Feeling little hope of meeting with
water, we moved silently down for several miles, when suddenly a cry of ‘water’
was heard from the men in front, who pointed to a small green patch on the
mountain-slope to the northwest.

At the mouth of this cafion — called Break Neck Cafion by the men — we left the
trail of the men who had preceded us, they having tured off to the right, and
made for the green spot over a perfect net-work of rocky ravines. The surface was
completely covered with broken volcanic rocks about the size of ordinary cobble-
stones. About sundown we reached it, and found water sufficient for our wants
by digging. Our joy at this discovery knew no bounds. This we christened ‘Last
Chance Spring.’ Distance made from last camp, nineteen miles.”

After a day of rest Lyle’s party made its way eastward some 22-1/2 miles to the fledgling
mining camp of Gold Mountain in Nevada, crossing the north end of Death Valley “over a
gravelly, sandy desert." There Lyle persuaded miner Thomas J. Shaw to go down to the
Amargosa to find Wheeler and guide him back ta Pigeon Spring at the north end of lhe
Last Chance Range, where Lyle would wait with provisions. By the time Wheeler reached
the spring, his party was suffering from lack of water and provisions, and when the men
finally returned to Camp Independence, Wheeler promptly gave command of Lyle’s party
to Daniel W. Lockwood, a fellow West Point classmate and topographical engineer.

On August 12, Wheeler set out again to explore Death Valley. Lockwood had left a few
days earlier for the south end of the valley, apparently traveling southward as far as the

25. “Preliminary Report of Expturations in Nevada and Arizona, 1871," by George M. Wheeler, Appendix B by D.
A. Lyle, pp. 77-80, in Annual Report of the Seeretary of War, 1872, Report of Chief of Engineers, Appendix DD,
"Report of Lieutenant G, M. Wheeler, Corps of Engineers, of Explorations and Surveys in Nevada, Utah, and
Arizona, 1872," U.S. Congress, Senate, 42d Cong,, 2d Sess., Senate Executive Document No. 65, 1872.

17


Native American Ranching Sites

With the establishment of Fort Independence in 1862, the U. 5. Army undertook a
Program to round up the Indians in Owens Valley and the surrounding region, including
Saline Valley, and relocate them to the Fort Tejon Reservation in southern San Joaquin
Valley. It is likely, however, that many Indians in the Saline Valley area escaped from the
military because of the region’s isolation and rugged terrain. Others eventually returned to
the area, and by the early 1870s they had reestablished their traditional valley settlements
and lifestyle.

As prospectors and settlers moved into the Saline Valley area as part of the Cerro Gordo
boom during the late 1860s and early 1870s, they brought with them the techniques of
organized agricultural practices which the Indians readily adopted. Thus, the Indians in
Saline Valley moved their principal valley settlement a mile or so to the north and west
where there was a relatively large area of fertile, level, tillable soil. The agricultural
Prospects of this land would be developed into the Saline Valley Indian Ranch, which at
its peak may have had 125 inhabitants. A simple but effective diversion dam and canal
system redirected the Hunter Canyon waters away from their historic channel across the
alluvial fan and back into a wash that then carried the water down to the new farm fields
and settlement. The water was collected and distributed by means of a system of catch
basins, reservoirs, and channels to irrigate the various fields and orchards. A secondary
channel system was constructed to tap the nearby Beveridge Canyon watercourse, a more
variable and thus only intermittent water source for the ranch.

William L. Hunter, whose mountain ranch land abutted the southeast comer of Saline
Valley, befriended the Saline Valley Indians. He introduced the Indians to horses and
mule breeding, and he shared his grazing lands with them to the exclusion of others. He
advised them in business matters, and initiated action on their behalf for obtaining from
the federal government a Homestead Land Grant to their ranch land in Saline Valley. On
June 30, 1892, a 160-acre land grant, consisting of two separate grants, was issued under
the signature of President Benjamin Harrison. One 80-acre grant was deeded to Tom
Hunter, head of the Indian Hunter family. As was customary at the time, Tom Hunter (the
Indian) and his family undoubtedly took the Hunter name out of respect for their friend
and benefactor. The other 80-acre parcel was deeded to Caesar, head of another family
and clan.”

269, Homestead Certificate No. 273, Application No. 463, signed by President Benjamin Harrison, June 30, 1892
(copy on file in Saline Preservation Association Collection, Los Angeles, California}. Also see, U. 5. Department
of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, Soil Survey of the Saline Valley Area, Inyo County, Catifornia, by
James C. Wardlaw, 1979, p. 26. In less than a century following American independence, Native Americans, by
a long series of treaties, ceded enormous tracts of land to the United States. The old Indian Country on the
Great Plains was reduced to the Indian Territory (later the State of Oklahoma), while the extinguishment of
Indian titles proceeded rapidly from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific coast. In 1969 a Board of Indian
Affairs was established to exercise joint control with the General Land Office of the Department of the Interior
over appropriations for Indian land cessions, and to control the ceded trust tands not a part of the public
domain, along with the reservations with their valuable natural resources. The Dawes General Allotment
(Severalty) Act, enacted into law on February 8, 1887, provided for the dissolution of Indian tribes as legal
entities and the division of tribal lands among individual members — 160 acres to each head of family and 80
acres to each adult single person, The government retained a 25-year trust patent on such lands; upon its
expiration, fult ownership would devolve upon the individual and U. S. citizenship would be conferred.
Morris, ed., Encyclopedia of American History, pp. 643-44.

139


Mining District/Areas Relating to the New Lands

side of the Inyos between Eureka and Saline valleys. During the trip, the men apparently
discovered gold. While the date of the discovery is not known, Chalfant in The Story of
Inyo states that a Colonel James Brady was actively at work at what would become known
as the Waucoba Mine by the end of 1872. Some officers and soldiers at Camp
Independence became partners in an effort to develop the mine. It was anticipated that a
furnace would be constructed to process the ore. However, construction of the furnace
could not be commenced unti a road was built to the isolated area. By 1873 the soldiers
had only been able to construct a road eastward to the summit of the Inyos above Big
Pine. That same year, the Waucoba Mining and Smelting Company constructed a read to
the area, thus paving the way for more extensive development of its mines in the area.

Despite its isolation, the Waucoba district was so promising that in July 1872 the Inyo
Independent anticipated that “ere the half of another decade passes away a majority of the
citizens of Inyo county will demand the location of its courthouse on the eastern side of
the Inyo range. Already Waucoba district bids fair to have the largest population within a
year of any in the county. The very first railroad to touch any part of this county will be
on that side; at least such is the present indication."

Prospectors scoured the Waucoba area, and by 1875 discoveries had been made 4 miles
south of the Waucoba Mining and Smelting Company's operations. In 1875 Brady, who
now listed himself as a mining engineer from San Francisco, reported on the Waverley
Mines, a group of 10 claims "situated in the southern portion of the Waucaba Mining
Dist." He noted that the mines were iocated on the eastern slope of the Inyo Mountains,
“twenty miles north of the celebrated smelting works and mines of Certo Gordo, twenty-
five miles east of Independence . . . and four miles south of Pownzina Creek, the camp of
the Wacuba Mining and Smelting Co." Each of the Waverley mines contained
“argentiferous galena except the Uncle Sam, the mineral of which is sulphuret of silver.”
He noted further:

The Waverley, after which the group is named, is a large lode of argentiferous
galena commencing on the crest of a ravine four miles south of Powzina [sic]
Creek. Where the work done has exposed the ledge it is from eight feet in width,
soft and very easy to work with the pick and assaying $60 in silver to the ton of
2,000 Ibs. and $0% in lead... .

The Delhi [mine] is a quartz vein richly charged with argentiferous galena and
bearing in it a solid streak of the metal six inches in width. It is situated at the
head of a cross ravine, and from it a nearly continuous series of quartz croppings
runs to the south for a distance of one and a half miles, widening in their course
until the Big Bell [mine] is reached.

This is a heavily-charged vein of quartz, carrying argentiferous galena to a width
of four and six feet. The galena is a very hard and solid mass and assay about
$20 higher in silver than the Waverley, and the normal percentage of lead. Along
the whole course of the vein from the Dethi to the Big Bell the quartz contains
galena, and wherever openings have been made, as in the Lucknow, General and
others, the galena is found in considerable bulk, assaying from $50 to $80 in

156. Chalfant, The Story of Inyo, pp. 293-4.


Photographs

Photo 9: Darwin Mining Camp, March 1936, Photographer — Frasher. File No. 3222, Historic Photograph
@ Collection, Research Library and Museum Collection, Death Vailey National Park.

No. 1468, Historic Photograph Collection,
Research Library and Museum Collection, Death
Valley National Park.

@ Phote 10; Monorail, Wingate Pass, ca. 1935. File

167


Historical Overview of Mining

Fueled by rumors of the Lost Gunsight, a stampede of praspectors scoured the Great
Basin, including the eastern California desert region, after the discovery of the Comstock
silver deposits in Nevada in 1858-59. Simultaneously, miners from Mexico began exploring
the California desert region during 1859-60 in an attempt to discover the vein that they
were convinced extended from the silver mines of Mexico to the Comstock.**

One of the more notable prospectors to explore the west side of the Panamint Range
during 1860-61 was Charles Alvord, a 60-year-old, college-educated New Yorker who had
an avid interest in horticulture and a book knowledge of geology, but no practical
experience in mining. Arriving in the Death Valley region to seek the Gunsight silver with
Asabel Bennett's party early in April 1860, he and William Stockton found what they
thought to be the silver lodes they sought near their camp at Anvil Spring. Tests,
however, showed that their find was refractory lead ore. With little food and water, a
Pick, and a shotgun, Alvord separated from his party and wandered alone in the
Panamints for several weeks. Returning to his party, Alvord reported that he had
discovered gold, Neither Alvord nor any of his companions, however, was able to relocate
the ledge which reportedly contained the gold.*

Charles C. Breyfogle was another notorious prospector to enter the Death Valley region. A
stout, balding New Yorker who had first arrived in California in 1849, Breyfogle had
turned to politics after a brief stint in the Yuba mines and a short farming effort in San
Jose. Elected Alameda County assessor in 1854 and county treasurer in 1856, he joined the
rush to the Comstock after shortages were found in county funds. During several
prospecting trips to the Death Valley region in 1864-66, he and his companions reported
the discovery of the gold iedge that the “Forty-Niners” had found years earlier. His trips to
the Amargosa-Death Valley region were tainted by bizarre events, however, and neither
he nor his companions could find the ledge. Although many concluded that his
“discovery” was a hoax, his reports gained widespread publicity and notoriety for what
would become known as the “Lost Breyfogle Mine."”

During the early 1860s, two groups of explorers, one led by Darwin French, the other by
Dr. Samuel G. George, discovered and named mountain peaks, a waterfall, a “volcano”
(actually Coso Hot Springs), an antimony mine in Wildrose Canyon, and gold and silver
mines in the Cose and Slate ranges. The over-promoted mines were worked until the mid-
1860s. Miners froin Aurora, Nevada, also traveled south to the White Mountains,
discovering prospects that would be developed into the White Mountain City mines in
1861.

Other stimuli to mining ventures in the eastern California desert region were discoveries
in nearby Nevada and Arizona during the late 1850s and early 1860s. In 1856 silver was
discovered in Potosi, Nevada, while gold was discovered in El Dorado Canyon, Nevada,

55, Vredenburgh, Shumway, and Hartill, Desert Fever, p. 273.

56. Norwood et al, Cultural Resource Overview of the Eureka, Saline, Panamint, and Darwin Region, pp. 119-20; Harold
O. Weight, Lost Mines of Death Valley (Twentynine Palms, California, The Catico Press, 1953), p. 48; Muriel Sibell
Wolle, The Bonanza Trail (Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 1953), p. 137; and Lingenfelter, Death Valiey &
The Amargosa, pp. 61-62, 69-72.

57. Lingenfelter, Death Valley & The Amargosa, pp. 73-79.

39


CHAPTER TWO: MINING

with gasoline engines. The Lila C. was reopened in the fall of 1920. A narrow gauge track
was laid back to the mine, and a Milwaukee gasoline engine hauled out ore for seven
more years. Another rich colemantite deposit was discovered in a gulch on Red Mountain,
2 miles from the railroad northeast of Shoshone, in January 1922. The mine, named the
Gerstley, shipped several carloads of ore per day until work stopped in the fall of 1927.
When the Ryan operations closed that year, the dormitories at Ryan were converted into
the Death Valley View Hotel that operated unti! 1930. In 1927 the borax company
converted the Spanish-style adobe structure at Death Valley Junction into the Amargosa
Hotel, but this resort also closed in 1930.

By 1927 more than $30,000,000 worth of borates had been extracted from the mines at new
Ryan, making it by far the largest and most profitable mining venture in the Death Valley
and Amargosa country. After the Kramer borax mines were discovered near Boron in the
Mojave Desert in 1927 the Pacific Coast Borax Company transferred its operations to that
area, closing down new Ryan in October. At the time of its closure, the ore mined in the
new Ryan vicinity was averaging 26 percent borax.’*!

Tenneco Mining Inc. of Lathrop Wells, Nevada, initiated open-pit borate mining
operations near new Ryan in Death Valley National Monument during the 1970s. The
Boraxo Pit was opened in 1970, and the Sigma Pit was developed in 1975. During the
same petiod, the underground Billie Mine, owned by Tenneco Mining and the U.S. Borax
and Chemical Corporation, was developed. The borate deposits were developed using
bulldozer-pushed scrapers and front-end loader/off-highway truck combinations to haul
the ore to a treatment facility. Colemanite was crushed to "-6 inches, washed, dried at 350
[degrees) F, then calcined at 800 [degrees] F with 100 tpd capacity." “Crushed {-6 inch)
ulexite or probertite” was "Raymond milled to customer specifications with a capacity of
1000 tpd."!2

Greenwater

The Greenwater Mining District was located in the Greenwater Valley, east of the
southern portion of Death Valley and nestled between the Black Mountains on the west
and the Greenwater Range on the east. The town of Greenwater was located on the
easter slopes of the Black Mountains, a small chain of lhe Funeral Range that form the

151, Lingenfelter, Death Valley & the Amargosa, pp. 390-91, 395-96; Paher, Death Valley Ghost Towns, pp. 14-17;
Gordon Chappell, “The First Ryan: A Borate Mining Camp of the Amargosa," in U.S. Department of the Interior,
Nationa] Park Service, Proceedings, Fourth Death Valley Conference on History and Prehistory, February 2-5, 1995, pp.
94-110; ibid., "Ryan, California: The Curious Case of the ‘Portable’ Borate Mining Camp Near Death Valley,” in
U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Death Valley to Deadwood; Kennecott to Cripple Creek:
Proceedings of the Historic Mining Conference, January 23-27, 1989, Death Valley National Monument, ed. by Leo R.
Barker and Ann E. Huston, September 1990, pp. 158-66. Also see Norman J. Travis and E, j. Cocks, The Tincal Trait:
A History of Borax (London, Harrap Limited, 1984); Harry P. Gower, 50 Years in Death Valley — Memoirs of a Borax
Man (Death Valley, California, Death Valley “49ers, 1969}; and George H. Hildebrand, Borax Pioneer: Francis Marion
Smith (San Diego, Hovel-North Books, 1982}.

152. James M. Barker, "Borate Exploration and Mining in the Death Yalley Region,” pp. 1-27, Paper Presented at
Annual Meeting of American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, Las Vegas, February 22-26, 1976,
Silver Boxes, "History - Mines,” “Gordon Chappell Research Materials,” Box 1, Research Library, Death Valley
National Park.

8


Photographs

Photo 17: Indian George's Ranch, Panamint Valley, September 1946.
Photographer — Alberts. Accession DEVA No. 1431, File No. 27003, Catalog
@ DEVA File No. 25802, Museum Collection, Death Valiey National Park.

Photo 18: Salt Field, Saline Valley, September 1912. Courtesy Richard McCutchan
@ Collection, Diamond Bar, California (Photograph supplied to author by Thomas S.
Budlong, Los Angeles).

171


Mining District/Areas Relating to the New Lands

The Surprise Canyon vicinity was originally a favorite hideaway for local bandits and
stagecoach robbers. Rumors of the Lost Gunsight Mine may have caused these
desperadoes to conduct some prospecting while holing up in the area. During December
1872, William L. Kennedy and Robert P. Stewart,” both of whom had arrived in the

Casos in 1860 and the Slate Range in 1862 and had prospected in the Panamints _
intermittently for the next decade, together with Richard C. Jacobs, discovered silver in a
litle valley at the head of Surprise Canyon. In February 1873 the Panamint Mining District
was established, and by June of that year 80 locations had been filed. Ore reportedly
assaying between $300 and $3,000 per ton had been extracted. As a result of the ensuing
mining rush, Panamint City had a population of 125 by March 1874.”

After securing a band on the largest mines in the Panamint vicinity, Eliphalet P. Raines, a
smooth-talking Southerner who had plied his skills most recently at Pioche, Nevada,
attempted to publicize and promote the district. Unsuccessful at first, he later received
newspaper publicity by displaying a half ton of Panamint ore at the Clarendon Hotel in
Los Angeles. The city’s businessmen were envious of San Francisco's flourishing economy
that was based in part on the mineral wealth that had been produced during the gold
rush of 1849 and was continuing to be stimulated by the Virginia City Comstock silver
mines. Thus, they agreed to undertake construction of a wagon road to Panamint,
replacing a crude trail that extended from Little Lake across the Coso and Argus ranges to
Surprise Canyon. After this success Raines traveled to San Francisco to meet John P. Jones,
a U. S. Senator from Nevada and a former mine superintendent in the Comstock. Jones
immediately loaned $1,000 to Raines, following the initial loan with an additional loan of
$14,000 when the two later met in Washington, D.C.*

Jones and his fellow colleague from Nevada, Senator William M. Stewart, were known as
the “Silver Senators,” because they had a wide range of mining investments, primarily in
the Comstock mines. In September 1874 the two political leaders quickly organized the
Surprise Valley Mill and Water Company with a capital stock of $1,000,000, and they
spent some $250,000 to purchase the most promising Panamint mining properties. With
Stewart came his partner in the mining promotion, Trenor W. Park, a fellow lawyer who
had first struck gold in the litigation over Frémont's Mariposa mines and who had built
on that by dealing in railroads and steamships. News that the two Nevada senators had
purchased the Panamint mines for approximately $250,000 sparked the largest rush that
the Death Valley country would see for the remainder of the 19th century.”

One of the Panamint transactions by Jones and Stewart involved men known to have
robbed Wells Fargo on more than one occasion. Senator Stewart arranged amnesty for the
mine owner, but only after making sure that the owner’s profit, amounting to some
$12,000 to $20,000, was paid to the express company to cover its losses. It is possible that

96. George R. Brown, ed., Reminiscences of Senator William Stewart of Nevada (New York, Neale Publishing Company,
1908), pp. 261-64.

97, Wilson, Silver Stampede, p. 59, and Chalfant, The Story af Inyo, p. 285.
98. Chalfant, The Story of Inyo, pp. 285-86.

99. Remi Nadeau, Ghast Towns and Mining Camps of California (Los Angeles, Ward Ritchie Press, 1972), p. 198, and
Chalfant, The Story of Inyo, p. 286.

57


Mining Districi/Areas Relating to the New Lands

eastern rim of Death Valley. Although portions of the Greenwater Valley were located in
Death Valley National Monument prior to 1994, extensive acreage in the valley was
included in lands added to the national monument that year."*

The first indications of copper in the Greenwater Valley region were discovered in 1880 by
Nicholas Kavanaugh, a miner from Resting Spring. He and a partner, remembered only as
Tony, dug out the little spring that slowly filled with green-tinged water and gave the
place its name. Several miles to the north, the men staked the first copper ledge and sank
a shallow prospect hole. But they soon realized the ledge was too remote even to sell, so
they let their claims lapse. The claims would repeatedly be discovered and located by
others.

Foremost among the }ater relocators was a trio from Ballarat — Frank McAllister, John
Wesley “Doc” Trotter, and Robert Warnock. They relocated the ledge on March 3, 1898, as
the Copper King and Copper Queen. Failing to find an interested buyer, however, they
too let their claims lapse. But one by one the prospectors returned to the ledge in
subsequent years.

During the spring of 1904, McAllister and a partner, Allen Cook, obtained a grubstake
from a Tonopah mining superintendent, Arthur Kunze — the man who would eventually
claim the title of “Father of Greenwater." They relocated the old ledges again as the
Copper Queen and Copper Glance on May 22, 1904, covering the ground with 16 mining
claims and five fractional claims.

In January 1905 Fred Birney and Phil Creasor, two men from Spokane who had traveled
to the southwestern Nevada boom camps to prospect, made further discoveries some 6
miles north of Greenwater Spring almost to the crest of the Black Mountains, staking six
claims on a ledge they called the Copper Blue. The property was incorporated as the
Furnace Creek Copper Company with a paper capital of $1,250,000, on May 15, 1905, by
Patrick Clark, a miner from Spokane who had developed mines in Butte, Montana, and
the Coeur d’Alene region of northern Idaho. Using mining engineers to tout his claims, he
began selling stock in the eastern mining exchanges, generating a frenzy of escalating
prices. The first outsiders to cash in on the excitement that Clark was generating were
Arthur Kunze and his partners. After opening a network of surface fractures with ore
shoots carrying up to 25 percent copper, Kunze sold his Copper Queen claims to steel
king Charles Schwab, fresh from his purchase of the Montgomery Shoshone at Rhyolite,
Nevada. Schwab quickly organized the Greenwater and Death Valley Copper Company
with a capital offering of 3,000,000 shares at $1 par, and the stampede to Greenwater
began during the scorching days of late July and early August 1906. By July 29 more than
70 men had gathered at the little spring to organize the Greenwater Mining District.
Within a month, there were nearly 1,000 men on the ground. Close behind, in autos
chartered at $100 a day, mining engineers and promoters arrived from Nevada mining

153. Vredenburgh, Shumway, and Hartill, Desert Fever, pp. 29-51; O. M. Boyle, “The Greenwater Mining District,
Cal.,” California Jowrnal of Technology, X (No. 1, 1907), pp. 29-32; "A Calico Print-Folio,” Calico Print, IX (January
1953), pp. 13-28; and Harold O. Weight, ed., Greenwater (Twentynine Palms, California, The Calico Press, 1969),
pp. 1-35. For a seriocomic history of Greenwater, see C. B. Glasscock, Gold in Them Hills: The Story of the West's Last
Wild Mining Days (Indianapolis, The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Publishers, 2932), pp. 264-86.

$1


CHAPTER TWO: MINING

survey and inventory, should be established to provide the basis for formulation of this e@
management policy so that it reflects an appropriate balance among concerns for visitor
use and safety, historic preservation, and interpretation.”

220. Ann Huston, "The Survey and Inventory cf Mining Properties," and Linda W. Greene, “The Need and
Procedures For Inventorying Abandoned Historic Mining Sites,” in U. S. Department of the {nterior, National Park
Service, Death Valley to Deadwood; Kennecott to Cripple Creek, pp. 16-19 and 20-23, respectively.

116


Technical Studies

2

___. The California Desert Conservation Area Plan: Final Environmental Impact Statement
and Proposed Plan. September 1980.

. Soil Survey of the Saline Valley Area, Inyo County, California, by James C. Wardlaw.

1979,

. California Desert District. Barstow Resource Area. Management Plan for Greenwater
Canyon Cultural Area: An Area of Critical Environmental Concern. September 1988.

. . Ridgecrest Resource Area. “Allotment Management Plan, Hunter
Mountain Allotment” (Draft). 1985. (Research Library, Death Valley National Park.}

. “A Sikes Act Management Plan for the Eureka Valley Dunes
ra of Critical Environmental Concem (ACEC) (CA-06-ACEC-3) and the Eureka Dunes
Wildlife Habitat Management Area (WHMA) (CA-06 9=.WHMA-3).” November 19, 1982.

. “& Sikes Act Management Pian For the Saline Valley Area of
Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC) (CA-06-ACEC-4) and the Saline Valley Marsh
Wildlife Habitat Management Area (WHMA) (CA-06-WHA-4).” October 22, 1982.

U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service. An Archeological Survey of a
Navy F-18 Crash Site, Hunter Mountain, Death Valley National Park, California, by Jeffrey F.
Burton. August 1996.

@ 1995.
. Death Valley — Etimohistorical Study of the Timbisha Band of Shoshone Indians,
by yobn G. Herron, September 1981.

. Compilation of National Park Service Laws of the 103rd Congress. Washington,

___. Death Valley National Monument Historical Background Study, by Benjamin
~~ Tevy. April 15, 1969.

. Death Valley National Monument’s Prehistoric Past: An Archaeological Overview,
by William J. Wallace. 1977.

. Death Valley National Park, California/Nevada, Officiat Map and Guide. [1996].

. . Death Valley to Deadtwood; Kennecott to Cripple Cripple Creek: Proceedings of the
Historic Mining Conference, Jariuary 23-27, 1989, Death Valley National Monument, ed. by Leo R.
Barker and Ann E. Huston. September 1990.

. Draft General Management Plan and Draft Environmental Impact Statement, Death
Valley National Monument, Inyo and San Bernardino Counties, California, Esmeralda and Nye
Counties, Nevada. March 1988.

. Final Environmental Impact Statenient for the General Management Plan, Death
Valley National Monument, Inyo and San Bernardino Counties, » California, Esmeralda and Nye
Counties, Nevada. September 19838.

____.. Historic Resource Study: A History of Mining in Death Valley National
Monument, by Linda W. Greene and John A. Lalschar, 4 vols. 1981

191


Historical Overview of Ranching

ieft his farm home in Pennsylvania and gone west after the Civil Waz, settling in central
Nevada and startin; the first ranch in Monitor Valley. But the Stainingers quickly earned a
bad reputation, killing a neighbor whom they accused of jumping their land, and then
suing the deceased's estate for title to the property. Thereafter, in 1880, the Staininger
brothers went their separate ways, Jacob moving to Death Valley where he started several
hay ranches — one near the hot springs in Grapevine Canyon, and the other a few miles
west at Grapevine Springs in Death Valley. Hoping for another mining boom, he patented
land in Upper Grapevine Canyon under the provisions of the Desert Land Act of 1871.
Here he raised mustangs and quail and tended a vineyard of native grapes, while
dreaming of the day when his hot springs ranch would become a “famous pleasure
resort.” He never saw that day, but long after his death his dream came true, when Walter
Scott’s (Death Valley Scotty) partner, Albert M. Johnson, purchased the ranch and
surrounding lands in northern Death Valley during the 1910s to construct Scotty’s

Castle.’

The largest and most profitable ranch in Death Valley, however, was the Greenland Ranch
at the mouth of Furnace Creek, started in 1883 as part of the extensive borax operation of
William Tell Coleman. Ultimately, this ranching operation would become known as the
Furnace Creek Ranch, providing tourist accommodations for park visitors.

Ranching in Owens Valley and Fish Lake Valley

While ranching operations were beginning in Death Valley and areas to the west and
north during the last several decades of the 19th century, Euro-American agricultural
settlers and stock raisers were also entering Owens Valley to the west of the Inyo
Mountains and the Mono Basin to the north of the Inyos and the Last Chance Range.
These ranching operations would impact some of the lands added to Death Valley
National Monument in 1994, because ranchers would use portions of the lands for
livestock grazing.

As miners, lumbermen, and travelers entered Owens Valley and surrounding basins east
of the Sierra Nevada, opportunities developed for more permanent types of settlement.
Visitors to the region noticed that the area could be used for agriculture and ranching, and
the influx of miners and mining-related workmen seemed to assure a market for dairy and
beef products and farm produce, as well as the services of craftsmen.

The first recorded Euro-American settlement in present Inyo and Mono counties occurred
in Antelope Valley in Mono County in the autumn of 1859, when Hod Raymond drove a
herd to feed in the valley. The following year, George W. Parker settled in the Adobe
Valley along the commonly traveled road between southern California and the mining

227. ibid., pp. 171-72, and U. S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Historic Structiere Report,
Death Valtey Scotty Historic District, Main House and Armex, Death Valley Ranch, Death Valtey National Monument,
California/Nevada, September 1991, p. 30-31. Historic documents and photographs at Scotty’s Castle illustrate
Johnson’s attempts to acquire land, water rights, and mining properties in northern Death Valley and the Last
Chance Range from the 1910s to the early 1930s.

228. Lingenfelter, Death Valley & The Amargos2, pp. 173-86, and U. S. Department of the Interior, National Park
Service, Historic Resource Study: A History of Mining, Vol. 1, Pt. 1, pp. 934 ff.

119


Scientific Expeditions: 1890s-1930s

on the mineral deposits can be made, with the exposition of some general principles of the
structure of the country."**

During the summer and fall of 1899, Josiah E. Spurr of the U.S. Geological Survey brought
his bride of a few months on an extended honeymoon through southern Nevada and
across Death Valley. Fresh from geological exploration of the Klondike in Alaska, he
sought to unravel the geological history of the region. Spurr visited virtually all of the
existing mining districts in lands that were added to Death Valley National Monument in
1994, including Beveridge, Cerro Gordo, Darwin, Deep Springs, Goldbelt, Independence,
Lookout, New Coso, Panamint, Saratoga, and Ubehebe. Although he traced most of the
geological formations in the area, he missed the rich mineralogical indications, thus calling
into question the thoroughness of his study.*

The rich strikes at Bullfrog, Nevada, and neighboring Death Valley districts during the
early 1900s attracted Frederick L. Ransome, Sydney H. Ball, S. F. Emmons, C. W. Hayes,
E. C. Eckel, and G. H. Garrey of the U.S. Geological Survey in the summer and fall of
1905. They studied the various ore bodies and the surrounding geology to attempt to
understand the relation between them. They picked out several areas where they expected
ore should be found, but these proved to be barren. In addition their subsequent reports
were of little value to potential investors, because promoters seldom let government men
into their mines. Thus, the government was forced to rely on the promoters’ estimates of
the size and richness of the ore deposits, and what independent appraisals they did make
were published too late.”

The Death Valley region’s borax and other saline deposits also attracted the attention of
geologists during the early 1900s. During the spring of 1900, for instance, Marius R.
Campbell of the U.S. Geological Survey made a hasty reconnaissance of the borate
deposits of the Death Valley and Mojave Desert regions, mapping out different deposits
and speculating on their origin and economic potential. He found that the region’s borax
industry was flourishing, and that refining plants had been established near Columbus,
Nevada, and at three locations in California: Searles Valley in San Bernardino County,
Resting Spring in Inyo County, and the mouth of Furnace Creek in Death Valley.

Traveling from San Bernardino, Campbell discussed his geological observations relating to
borax deposits at Cajon Canyon, Victorville, Daggett, and Borate, before entering the south

35. Harold W, Faitbanks, "Preliminary Report on the Mineral Depasits of Inyo, Mono, and Alpine Counties,” in
California State Mining Bureau, Twelfilt Report of the State Mineralogist (Second Bienmial}, Two Years Ending Septenrber
15, 1894 (Sacramenty, State Printing Office, 1894), pp. 472-76.

3%. US, Department of the Interivr, Geological Survey, Bulletin No. 208, Descriptive Geology of Nevada South of the
Forticth Parallel and Adjacent Fortions of California, by Josiah E. Spurr (Washington, Government Printing Office,
1903), Also see U. S. Department of the Interior, Geological Survey, Bulletin No. 507, The Mining Districts of the
Western United States, by James M. Hill (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1912), pp. 115-20.

37, US. Department of the Interior, Gevlogical Survey, Bulletin No. 303, Pretinrinary Account of Goldfield, Bullfrog,
and Other Mining Districts in Southern Nevada, by Frederick L. Ransome (Washington, Government Printing Office,
1907); Bulletin No. 407, Geology and Ore Deposits of tie Bullfrog District, Nevada, by Frederick L. Ransume, W.H.
Emmons, and G.H. Garey (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1910); Bulletin No. 285, “Notes on Ore
Deposits of Southwestern Nevada and Eastern California,” by Sydney H. Ball, in Contributions to Econamic Geology,
1505, by S. F. Emmons and E. C. Eckel (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1906); and Bulletin No. 308, A
Geologic Reconnaissance in Southwestern Nevada and Eastera California, by Sydney H. Ball (Washington, Government
Printing Office, 1907).

25



EMLoGur

guilty to one count "of defacing a known historic resource" for removing 14 tram wheels
and other pieces of equipment from the Saline Valley salt tram and paid a combined
$1,800 line.

Less than one month after the Saline Valley management plan was adopted, the Bureau of
Land Management approved “A Sikes Act Management Plan for the Eureka Dunes Area
of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC) (CA-06-ACEC-3) and the Eureka Dunes
Wildlife Habitat Management Area (WHMA) (CA-06-WHA-3) to protect the cultural and
natural resources and wilderness and scenic values of Lhe area. Prior to adoption of the
management plan, the bureau had closed the Eureka Sand Dunes to vehicular traffic to
eliminate motorized vehicle conflicts and to preserve the Eureka dune grass, an endemic
grass found nowhere else in the world. Subsequent to approval of the management plan,
the Eureka Sand Dunes were designated a National Natural Landmark in 1983 by the
Secretary of the Interior, thus identifying the 4,200-acre area as one of America’s unique
natural heritage sites. Extending over an area some 3.3 miles in length and 1.5 miles in
width and reaching a height of nearly 700 feet, the Eureka Sand Dunes, which censist of
both star-shaped and crescent-shaped dune configurations, is one of the largest and most
significant dune systems in the United States.

One of the more recent ACEC management plans adopted by the Bureau of Land
Management was the Management Plan for Greenwater Canyon Cultural Area: An Area of
Critical Environmental Concern approved in September 1988. As stated in the plans preface,
the Greenwater Canyon Cultural Area contains one of the “finest known collections of
painted (pictographs) rock art sites” in the California desert region. In addition the canyon
contains “excellent examples of carved (petroglyph) rock art sites, rockshelters with dry
deposits yielding basketry, surface sites with diagnostic artifacts dating to at least 8,000
years BP, and pack-rat midden sites ideal for environmental reconstruction back into the
Pleistocene Era.” According to the management pian’s introduction, the purpose of the
plan was to “develop management prescriptions for the Greenwater Canyon ACEC that
allow the cultural properties of the area to be recorded through nondestructive means and
to be preserved as long as possible for future scientific investigation and spiritual use by
Native Americans.” Accordingly, a number of management actions were prescribed,
including: (1) a documentation program for rock art sites; (2) a conservation program to
preserve deteriorating rock art panels; (3) continuation of motor vehicle exclusion from the
area; (4) prohibition of camping in the area; (5) erection of vehicle and pedestrian barriers
at cultural properties; (6) posting of identification, interpretation, and regulatory signs; and
(7) prohibition of use of chemical tire retardants in the area. A site monitoring program

282. Inyo Register, January 13, 1993.

283. U.S, Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, California Desert District, Ridgecrest
Resource Area, "A Sikes Act Management Plan for the Eureka Valley Dunes Area of Critical Environmental
Concem (ACEC\(CA-06-ACEC-3) and the Eureka Dunes Wildlife Habitat Management Area (WHMA) (CA-06-
WHMA-3), November 19, 1982. A copy of the management plan may be found in the "New Lands Files” in
Caven Clark's office in the Resource Management Division at Death Valley National Park. Also see, "Eureka
Sand Dunes National Natural Landmark,” Dedication ceremonies brochure, April 28, 1984, in Richard S.
(Steve) Smith Files, Bureau of Land Management, Ridgecrest (California) Resource Area, and Lew and Ginny
Clark, High Mountains & Deep Valleys: The Gold Bonanza Days (San Luis Obispo, California, Western Trails
Publications, 1987}, p. 95.

150



PHOTOGRAPHS

Photo 22: Tram Towers and Cable, Saline Valley Salt Tram, ca. 1930s-40s. Photographer — L.
Fox. Accession DEVA No. 2056, File No. 2508, Museum Collection, Death Valley National Park.

Photo 23; Saline Yalley Salt Fields, nd., Museum Collection, Death Yalley
National Park. Courtesy Leonard Brumund, Barstow, California.

174


Significance

and inconsistent management, contiguous Federal lands of essential and superlative
natural, ecological, geological, archeological, paleontological, cultural, historical and
wilderness values.”

SIGNIFICANCE

Death Valley National Park, the-largest unit in the National Park System in the contiguous
48 states, is noted as the lowest point in the Western Hemisphere and as one of the hottest
places on earth. It is a vast geological museum, containing examples of most of the earth’s
geologic eras. Plant and animal species, some of which occur nowhere else in the world,
have adapted to this harsh desert environment. Humans have also adjusted, as indicated
by the extensive archeological sites and continuing use by Native Americans; by historic
sites related to the influx of prospectors, miners, homesteaders, and ranchers; and by the
current resort developments and active mining and ranching operations. Nearly 1,000,000
people visit Death Valley each year to experience the stark and lonely vastness of the
park; the overwhelming silence; the panorama of rugged canyons and mountains; the
pleasures of the dry, warm climate; the challenge of the hot, arid summer; the cool relief
provided by the mountains; and the reminders of frontier mining, homesteading, and
ranching life.

in 1984 Death Valley was designated a part of the Mojave and Colorado Deseris Biosphere
Reserve (along with Joshua Tree National Monument [now Nationa! Park], Anza Borrego
State Park, and Santa Rosa Mountains Wildlife Management Area). Biosphere reserves are
designated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, and
they denote areas where ecological communities have been preserved in their natural
condition, providing a benchmark for the study of similar ecosystems around the world.

The size of the national! park and the diversity of its resources make the area difficult to
characterize. The salt pans of the main valley floor, the surrounding canyons and
mountains, the unusual plants and animals, and various historical, paleontological, and
archeological sites each represent an aspect of the national park, but no single feature
typifies the entire park. The assemblage of diverse natural and cultural resources, and the
legends and fantasies that have evolved about the pioneers, are ail part of the visitors’
park experience."

1. Material for the Introduction was collected from U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, The
Nationat Parks: Index 1995 (Washington, 1995), p. 26; U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Draft
General Management Plan and Drafl Environmental lmpact Statement, Death Valley Netional Monument, bryo and San
Bernardino Counties, California, Esmeralda and Nye Counties, Neurda, March 1988, pp. 3, 14, 105, 205-09; U.S.
Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Final Environmental Impact Statement for the General Management
Plan, Death Valley National Monument, Inyo and San Bernardino Counties, California, Esmeralda and Nye Counties,
Nevada, September 1988; U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Detth Valley National Park,
Catifornia/Newmda, Official Map and Guide [1996]; and U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service,
Compilation of National Park Service Laws of the 103rd Congress ([Washington, 1995), pp. 49-103.

xi



CHAPTER THREE: RANCHING/GRAZING

During the winter months, the families moved to a site about 15 miles south of Furnace
Creek in the vicinity of the Eagle Borax Works and Bennett's Well.”

When Lieutenant Birnie and his companions participated in the Wheeler Expedition
survey in 1875, the men took the trail leading from Panamint City eastward across the
Panamint Range to Johnson Canyon. Bimie noted that in the canyon “through which we
passed grass and a short running stream were found." In addition “a small culivated piece
of ground, where vegetables were raised with facility by irrigation."*°

During the Death Valley Expedition in 1891, Frederick Vernon Coville reported that he
saw about 25 Panamint Indians, all living "in the Panamint mountains, on the west side of
Death Valley." As this group of people was “now nearly exterminated and their customs
and language are little known,” he desired “to put on record” some “observations, made
among them while he was performing the duties of botanist” of the expedition. He stated
further:

At the mouth of Hall cafion, near Hot springs, at the west foot of the Panamint
mountains {where three Panamint families lived], and in Johnson cafton, 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 com, 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. Theit animal food consists principally of jack-rabbits, cotton-tail rabbits, and
quails, occasionally mountain sheep or deer, and sometimes wood rats, kangaroo
rats, white-footed mice, and a large lizard known as the chuckawalla. They are
seldom able, however, to obtain any of these in abundance, and they are
compelled to rely mainly on various indigenous food-plants.*

E. W. Nelson, another member of the Death Valley Expedition, also reported on the two
Panamint Indian ranches. One was “at the mouth of Hall’s cafion, a mile north of the Hot
Springs, on the east side of Panamint valley, close to the base of the Panamint mountains.”
The Indians obtained "water for irrigation from Hall’s Cafion creek," and raised “corn,
beans, melons, and squashes.” They were "starting a sma!) fruit orchard of peaches and
figs." On the east side of the crest of the Panamint inountains, at the site of the former
Johnson Ranch, “a series of three or four little patches of soil along the course of a steep
rocky caiion leading down into Death valley,” several families eked out a meager living,

252. U. $, Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Historic Resource Study: A History of Mining, Vol. 1,
Pt. 1, pp. 362-97; Lingenfelter, Death Valley & The Amargosa, pp. 20, 17}, 272, 291; and Smithsonian Institution,
Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin No. 120, pp. 92-93.

253, “Executive Report of Lieutenant R. Bimie, Jr," Annual Report of the Secretary of War, 1876, Report of Chief
of Engineers, Appendix J], p. 352.

254. Frederick Vernon Coville, “The Panamint Indians of California," American Anthropologist, ¥ (October 1892),
pp. 351-52. In pages 352-61 of the article, Coville discusses the Indians’ use of various plants and trees for
preparation of food, utensils, baskets, hunting equipment, facial paint, clothes, and glue.

134


CHAPTER THREE: RANCHING /GRAZING

extended to the Upper Beveridge Canyen mining carp. However, the ranch was not
connected to the "grid." Two world wars lured people away from the valley to obtain
good-paying “city jobs" and te serve in che armed forces. Thus, by the mid-1940s, the
ranch had dwindled to three or four families, aud the area under cultivation had
diminished to less than 40 acres.

During the post-“orld War If years of late 1940s, the Hunter Canyon Mill Site Claim,
consisting of the'tand at the mouth of Hunter Canyon through which all of the Saline
Valley Indian Ranch water flowed, was purchased by Colonel A. £. Montieth, a mining,
enthusiast from Los Angeles who wanted to develop ths property into a vacation retreat.
Montieth built two or three cottages on the property «ur use by and his Los Angeles
friends, and he empioyed a full-time cyretaker re ook after his place. Montieth obtained a
Domestic Use Water Rights Claim froin the Stat «i California for use of Hunter Canyon
water, which legally entitled him to caly 200 gillons a clay. Nevertheless, he believed he
was entitled to all of the water and he enhanced the ambience o7 his desert paradise by
damming up the flow of water to construct some ponds and peols, thus cutting off the
water to the Indian Ranch located a mile ar so down she hill. _—

The Indians legally owned the bulk of the Hunter Canyon water by virtue of the
California Scate Water Rights Grandfather Clause, based on proven ownership and use
prior to 1914, but Montieth ignored their claims. The Indians, led by Johnny Hunter and
his wife Sarah, turned to the Hunter family for help. Beveridge Hunter, and his son Roy,
reportedly opened Montieth’s sluice gates on several occasions, but Mohtieth and his
associates soon closed them, thus etfectively cutting the ranch off from its vital water

supply.

The situation festered for a period of time. Finally on January 26, 1952, two young Indian
boys, Phillip Hunter, the 15-year-old grandson of Johnny, and his friend, Irving Miller, age
13, took guns and walked to Monticth’s compound. Johnny Chavez, the 22-year-old
caretzker and the only person on the property, was shot by Hunter in the chest. After
Chavez retreated to a bunkhouse on the Montieth property, the boys set fire to the
building, resulting in the death of Chavez. The two teenagers were subsequently arrested,
tried, :nei convicted for what the Inyo Register called “the most heinous crime in the annals
of fs County.

Soon after this incident, ue remaining Indians left the ranch and moved out of Saline
Valley. The Caesar family’s 80-acre parcel was sold to Fred Rosser, an Inyo County
attorney who periodically purchased "distressed" properties, on September 19, 1952. By the
early 1990s Moyer owned 40 acres of this parcel. The other 80-acre parcel continues to be
owned by the descendants of the Tom Hunter Family. According to Inyo County land

27%. Imus Register, February 22, 1982, aad Inyo Independent, February 22, 29, 1952. Because of their ages, the ava
boys rece: relatively light jaii sentences. Phillip, for instance, was paroled alter some five years of

incarceration, and, as a condition of his parole, he was barushed from inyo County for the remainder of his
life.

142


BLM Resource Management and Preservation Efforts

looking lot and we did our best to appear ominous, and they moved on. We had
a kind of unexpressed feeling that we owned the valley and casual visitors didn’t

belong. . . -

The floor of the valley around Hunter’s camp was generally barren except for the
mesquite and some creosote bushes. There were wild flowers in the canyons and
some willows along the creek, But a litle farther south, near the cliff with the
petroglyphs, desert holly flourished, the biggest and healthiest bushes I remember

anywhere.

The lake at the lowest part of the valley, south of Hunter Creek, had water in it,
but was mostly a salt flat. Some of the trestles and platforms of the old tram from
the valley to Keeler were still standing and there were a lot of ceramic insulators
lying around and lengths of insulated wire... .

The road — or the track — to the hot springs took off to the east somewhere
between Hunter Creek and the lake, but was pretty nearly impossible for an
ordinary car. We went up there in the ranch pickup in 1941 and got to the second
spring [Palm Spring). The springs were running, mostly trickling off into the

’ bushes. We couldn't make in on the road beyond the second spring, and I have
never been to the third. Sometime later, maybe in the late 1950s, Johnnie Belle
and I took a chance on breaking an axle of the Volvo and went np to [Lower
Warm] the spring to camp. By that time somebody had hauled up a couple of
sacks of concrete and built a little poo] and a kind of drainage ditch that kept the
ground dry around the spring and conserved water. And later that night another
couple, from Califomia I think, came in and joined us camping there. We risked
the drive up to the springs partly because somebody had diverted the creek, and
it no longer served Hnnter‘s camp. Also hunters had set up barbed wire fences in
a V-pattern with a corral at the end so that they could drive burros into an
enclosure and easily get them on trucks for the dog-food market. Civilization had
started to move in...”

BLM RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND PRESERVATION EFFORTS
Areas of Critical Environmental Concern

Responding to the increasing public visitation and demand for expanded recreational
opportunities on public lands in the eastern California desert region, the Bureau of Land
Management initiated efforts to preserve the area’s natural and cultural resources while
simultaneously making provision for their recreational use. As part of the California Desert
Conservation Aren Plan: Final Environmental Intpact Statement and Proposed Plan (CDCA) in
September 1980, the Bureau of Land Management adopted special interim management
prescriptions for designated "areas of critical environmental concern [ACEC].” Among the
ACECs that would be included in the lands added to Death Valley National Monument in

1994 were:

278. “Saline,” ca. 1970s, pp. 1-6, Saline Preservation Association Collection, Las Angeles, California.

147



Historical Overview of Mining

shared the spotlight equally as the significant eastern California desert mining districts of
the 1870s.

The aforementioned Panic of 1873 resulted in a depression in the western United States. In
California the economic downtum was first felt when the Bank of California closed its
doors on August 26, 1875. Nevertheless, Panamint, Darwin, and Lookout survived this
dark period despite the decline in silver prices. The discovery of new ore bodies on the
Comstock in western Nevada in early 1874 served to bolster these desert camps, each of
which was considered a second Comstock. However, gold, traditionally strong during
depression periods, was beginning to be sought in Inyo County by the time the silver
camps were reaching their peak production in 1877. This search would lead to gold
discoveries at Beveridge on the eastern slopes of the Inyo Range in Hunter Canyon in
1877 and Ballarat on the east side af Panamint Valley approximately 15 miles south of
Wildrose Canyon in 1893.”

In 1878 goid was discovered in Mono County, north of Death Valley, initiating the mining
rush to Bodie and Mammoth City. That same year, production on the Comstock fell to
$20,000,000 (one-half its 1876 production), and Darwin and Cerro Gordo declined rapidly.
In spite of the re-introduction of a silver purchasing plan by the federal government under
the Bland-Allison Act of 1878, Inyo County silver mines could not recover. With their
high-grade ore bodies depleted, most fell into inactivity.”

As a result of continuing general prosperity in the United States during the 1880s and the
construction of railroads to the area, silver and gold mining ventures were stimulated in
the eastern California desert region, particularly in San Bernardino County. During this
period, however, only sporadic and limited mining operations were attempted in the
Death Valley region and its surrounding mountain ranges and valleys. The shill-limited
financial means of most miners left them little option — to either strike pay dirt
immediately to finance future operations, or else shut down. The exciting gold discoveries
in the Black Hills of South Dakota; Leadvilie, Colorado; Tombstone, Arizona; and
elsewhere in the West attracted many prospectors away from the Death Valley region,
particularly those who were already discouraged by inability to make paying propositions
of their remote and largely inaccessible mines.”

The provisions of the Bland-Allison Act were enhanced by the Sherman Silver Purchase
Act of 1890, requiring the U.S. Treasury to purchase an increasing amount of silver bullion
and coin it. Most European nations were on the gold standard and viewed the stockpiling
of silver as an indication of the instability of the American economy and of the nation’s
inability to stay on the gold standard. This problem and other economic conditions
culminated in the Panic of 1893, resulting in political decisions unfavorable to silver
interests, but these decisions inspired the discovery and working of signiticant gold
mining operations in Kern, San Bernardino, and Riverside counties in eastern California.
While mining in Inyo County remained sluggish, one of the leading gold mines developed

59. Vredenburgh, Shumway, and Hartill, Desert Fever, pp. 245, 274-76,

0. ibid, p. 246.

61. U, S, Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Historic Resource Stidy: A History of Mining, Vol. |, Pt.
Lp.2

41



INTRODUCTION:

LEGEND

Death Valley Nationa! Monument
{Pre 194 Boundary)
ms (Death Valley Nationa sth
(Post-1998)
ee a
Ne nel
a ee

Death Valley National Park, Special History Shady,
Lands Added to Park by
California Desert Protection Act of ]94

Death Valley National 1'atk
‘ron se Oxpesman tren Raat rng * MARI) A = (AC + Read

*

Map 1: Death Valley National Park, Special History Study, New Lands
Added to Park by California Desert Protection Act of 1994.


CHAPTER ONE: EXPLORATION, 1849-1930s

branched out to scout archeological sites in the Cosos, including Coso Hot Springs and
King’s Canyon.*

Although the Baldwin Expedition was the first archeological survey to report and
photograph rock shelters, rock circles, lithic scatters, artifacts, and other archeological sites
in Saline Valley, the information had limited scientific value because of the unsysternatic
manner in which the data was collected. More systematic data recovery and archeological
surveys would be conducted in the late 1970s and early 1980s as part of the data
inventory for the California Desert Conservation Area Plan.”

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES
EVALUATION STUDY

Further study should be given to the ruins at the site sometimes known as the "soldier’s
camp" in the Waucoba Mine vicinity preparatory ta a determination as to whether to
proceed with future National Register evaluation work.

46. Clifford Park Baldwin, “Archeological Exploration and Survey in Southem Inyo County, Cal.” 1931, Silver
Boxes, Archeology - Death Valley, Research Library, Death Valley National Park.

47. U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, “A Survey of Archaeological Resources in the
Saline-Eareka Valley Area,” by Carole Rabarchek (UCR), Oclober 1972, pp. 1-27; Francis C. Berg and M. Suzanne
Crowley, Draft, "Notes on Selected Historical Sites in the Saline Valley,” Presented at Annual Meeting of Society
for Califomia Archaeology, San Luis Obispo, California, April 6, 1979; Richard S. (Steve) Smith Files, Bureau of
Land Management, Ridgecrest (California) Resource Area Office; and Richard H. Norwood, Charles 5. Bull, Emma
Lou Davis, ané Ronald Quinn, A Cultura? Resource Overview of the Eurcka, Saline, Panamint and Darwin Region, East
Central, California, Prepared for the U. S. Depariment of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, California
Desert Planning Staff, Riverside, California, Contract No. YA-512-CT7-226, 1990, pp. 10-184

34


Recommendations for Inventory of Abandoned Mine Sites

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES
EVALUATION STUDY

At the present time, the only historic mining property in the new lands that is listed on
the National Register of Historic Places is the Saline Valley Salt Tram Historic Structure.
This historic property (portions of which lie in the new lands) was listed on the National
Register on December 31, 1974, because of its significance under Criteria A (properties
associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad paHerns of
American history) and C (properties significant as representatives of the manmade
expression of technology).

This study includes draft Nationa] Register nomination forms for listing of two other
historic mining properties in the new lands. These historic properties are Panamint City,
the only significant mining camp "ghost town" in the new lands, and the Gem Mine and
Mill, a well-preserved example of 1920s/30s-period, small scale, milling technology in Jail
Canyon in the west Panamints.

It is recommended that further study and evaluation be given to several other historic
mining properties in the new lands for the purpose of nominating them for listing on the
National Register. These include the Monarch Mine in the Spanish Spring area on the
northern flank of Hunter Mountain, the Black Magic Mine in the Owlshead Mountains,
and the Conn and Trudo Borax Works (portions of which lie outside the new lands) in
Saline Valley. Further study should also be given to two other historic properties
preparatory to a determination as to whether to proceed with Future National Register
evaluation work. These two properties include a mercury retort on the north side of Big
Pine Road in Hanging Rock Canyon near the Crater Mine area and the historic mining
trail system in the Grapevine Canyon-Spanish Spring-Hunter Mountain area, portions of
which are known to retain a high level of integrity.

It is also recommended that Saline Valley be evaluated for nomination to the National
Register as a rural historic landscape, because it appears to meet the criteria for such a
designation. National Register Bulletin No. 30, Guidelines for Evaluating and Documenting
Rural Historic Landscapes defines a rural historic landscape as a "geographical area that
historically has been used by people, or shaped or modified by human activity,
occupancy, or intervention" and “possesses a significant concentration, linkage, or
continuity of areas of land use, vegetation, buildings and structures, roads and waterways,
and natural features.”"”

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR INVENTORY OF ABANDONED MINING SITES

The existence of numerous historic and recently abandoned mining sites within the lands
added to Death Valley National Monument in 1994, and the relationship of those sites to
questions of visitor safety, interpretation, recreational use, and resource protection,
underlies the need for a comprehensive parkwide policy governing the management of
abandoned mineral iands. A program, consisting of documentary research and field

219. Carey Feierabend, “Histari¢ Mine Lands As Cultural Landscapes,” in U. S. Department of the Interior,
National Park Service, Death Valley to Deadwood; Kennecott to Cripple Creek, pp. 24-27.

115


Early Exploration, 1849-18705

@ sometimes referred to as the “soldier’s camp,’ are in ruinous condition today, a site
reconnaissance of the camp area by the Robertson family recorded in Wesiways in
February 1963 noted the following:

There was a blacksmith’s shamp where several hand-hammered rusty nails still
lay on the flat top: rusted hand-hammered horseshoes lay nearby. A short
distance away the hand-hewn log walls of an ancient building leaned half
tumbied, for the sod-and-log roof had fallen in. Hand-whittled pegs, still solidly
embedded in the log posts, were intact. Another small building that looked like it
had been a storehouse had fallen in upon itself. Several tog and stone corrals
stood south of the building and, ranging around the area, we also discovered
several large glory holes with copper-stained specimen dumps.

There was also evidence of an Indian habitation site. At the northeast and south
ends of the smali dry lake were scattered obsidian objects. Under the pinyons on
the north slope were a number of stone house-tings. The lake edge was scattered
with black-red garnets and pink-white crystals. Other objects found included
delicate bird-points, one spearhead, one three-inch hide scraper, and several blue
trade beads and a quarter-inch pierced shell bead.”

Maps compiled by some of the scouting parties from Fort Independence provide
information on early routes that passed through some of the lands that were added to
Death Valley National Monument in 1994. A map compiled by Captain A. B. MacGowan,

@ 12th Infantry, in 1874 shows two routes into Death Valley. One is called "Wheeler’s Trail”
and crosses east from Owens Lake to Panamint Valley where it splits, the so-called
“Eagan’s Trail” veering northeast apparently toward Cottonwood Canyon. The principal
trail appears to continue to Wildrose and Trail canyons. The “Eagan Trail" returns to the
“Wheeler Trail" in Panamint Valley just north of the mouth of Wildrose Canyon. The other
route entered the northwest arn of Death Valley at a spot named "Gov't Wells.” The
routes east from Death Valley extended to the Gold Mountains from the extreme north
end of the valley, apparently exiting via Oriental Wash. The other exit east appears to
have been through Grapevine Canyon.

Succeeding maps, although not easy to interpret, show three primary routes of access to
Death Valley from Camp Independence. These include the Hunter Mountain route via
Jackass Springs, Cottonwood Canyon, and Cottonwood Springs; the aforementioned
Wildrose Canyon route, and the Panamint route via Surprise and Johnson Canyons.”

George M. Wheeler Expeditions

George M. Wheeler’s extensive topographic and scientific surveys west of the 100th
meridian for the U.S. Corps of Engineers during the 1870s made an invaluable

@ 20. Dorothy Robertson, "Our Waucoba Adventure,” Westways (February, 1963), pp. 30-31.

21. U, S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Death Valley National Monument Historical Background
Study, pp. 88-89.

13



EXPEDITIONS and SURVEYS
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Contents

Photographs 178
Published Works 178
Books 178
Periodicals 182
Government Documents/Publications 184
Theses and Dissertations 189
Technica] Studies 189
Transcribed Oral Interviews 192
List of Repositories Consulted but Where Research Was Not Conducted 192

Map

Map 1: Death Valley National Park, Special History Study, New Lands Added to Park by
California Desert Protection Act of 1994 x

Figures

Figure 1: Map showing probable routes of the “Forty-Niners" parties 4

Figure 2: Map showing routes of major expeditions and surveys in Death Valley Region 7

Figure 3: “Mining Map of Inyo County,” by J. M. Keeler, 1883 37

Figure 4: Although somewhat inaccurate, this map, published in late 1906, shows the
relative distances between Greenwater and Rhyolite and Amargosa, its two principal
supply poinls 82

Figure 5: U.S. Geological Survey, October 27, 1912, Saline Valley 91

Figure 6: Map showing the location of the Saline Valley salt tram 96

Figure 7: Chart showing the Saline Valley salt tram profile 97

Photographs

Photo 1: Panamint City, ca. 1877 163

Photo 2: Mill, Surprise Valley Mill and Water Company, ca. 1877 163

Photo 3: Mill, Surprise Valley Mill and Water Company (West View), ca. 1877 164

Phote 4: Old and New at Panamint City, September 1946 164

Photo 5: Remnants of Mill, Panamint City, March 1960 165

Photo 6: Main Street, Greenwater, ca. 1906 165

Phota 7: Greenwater and Death Valley Mining Company, Copper Queen Mine, ca. 1906
166

Photo 8: Darwin Mining Camp, ca. 1916 166

Photo 9: Darwin Mining Camp, March 1936 167

Photo 10: Monorail, Wingate Pass, ca. 1935 167

Photo 11: Ruins of Chris Wicht’s Saloon, Ballarat, September 1946 168

Photo 12: Main Street, Ballarat (Looking North), September 1946 168

Photo 13: Main Street, Lookout, n. d. 169

Photo 14: Modoc Furnace/ Mill, Lookout, n. d. 169

Photo 15: Cerra Gordo, ca. 1930s40s 170

Photo 16: Cerro Gordo, ca. 1930s~40s 170



Historical Overview of Grazing

grazed in the area. The establishment of Death Valley National Monument in 1933
resulted in a reduction of the area’s land base available for range usage. Because of this
reduction and a decrease of some important forage species as a result of overuse and
possible climatic changes, the number of animals using the area was reduced from the
400-500 that had utilized it prior to the national monument withdrawal. Although it was
illegal after the establishment of the national monument, grazing of horses, burros, and
weaner calyes continued in nearby Emigrant and Cottonwood canyons and Hidden
Valley, After a lengthy period of litigation National Park Service officials stopped this
practice in 1964. Severe weather has sometimes impacted grazing in the Hunter Mountain
area. For instance, a severe drought during the 1880s and a lengthy hard freeze during the
winter of 1949-50 resulted in the deaths of many cattle.

Burros have had a significant adverse impact on grazing in the Hunter Mountain area in
recent years. Burros in the Saline Valley and Hunter Mountain areas may have different
origins. The majority of the burros on Hunter Mountain apparently come from stock
owned by Hunter, who acquired purebred animals from the Tagus Ranch in San Joaquin
Valley. These burros were released when the State of California contested Hunter’s
ownership to the area. Most of the burros on the Saline Valley floor, however, probably
come from a herd that was brought to the valley during the 1930s by Deep Springs
College for a two-to-three-year stay during poor feed conditions in Owens Valley.
Approximately 200 to 300 animals were taken to Saline Valley, and it was intended to
remove them the following year. However, the roundup took two years to complete, and
some animais undoubtedly escaped to isolated parts of the valley and its surrounding
foothills.

Wild horses and burros have accounted for most of the grazing use in the Hunter
Mountain Allotment in recent years, and are responsible for a majority of adverse impacts
caused by grazing. It is estimated that the equivalent of 1,000 to 1,500 burros lived in the
allotment on a year-round basis prior to the late 1970s. It is estimated that some 2,300
burros were removed from the Hunter Mountain-Saline Valley area between 1978 and
1985. By the latter date around 100 burros and 70 horses used the allotment at least part of
the year, Bureau of Land Management goals during the mid-1980s called for removal of
all horses and all but 30 burros that were to be maintained in the Lee Flat area southwest
of Hunter Mountain.“

Coso

The Coso Range area, southwest of the lands added ta Death Valley National Monument
in 1994, has been used for grazing purposes since the mid-1860s. Sheep were first
introduced on the Junction Ranch established by two Basques, Domingo Etcharren and
Jean Carricart, in the east Coso arca, but during the 1880s cattle were introduced after
Etcharren entered into a partnership with a cattleman named Reynolds. This operation ran
cattle in the area until the early 1900s. In 1914 Etcharren sold the Junction Ranch to
Sumner and Butler, whose main ranching headquarters were located at Big Pine in Owens

244. U.S, Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, California Desert District, Ridgecrest
Resource Area, "Allotment Management Plan, Hunter Mountain Allotment” (Draft), 1985, n. p., Reference
Library, Death Valley National Park.

127


Mining District/Areas Relating to the New Lands

is not so much a matter of prospecting as it is locating. Out of it all, however,
there is the prospect that capital will take the camp up and develop a great
district."

In the aforementioned Agricultural and Industrial Survey of Inyo County in 1917, Thalia
Weed Newcomb stated that many “silver-lead, zinc, copper and gold prospects” had been
discovered in the Saline Valley region, some “of them promising rich returns if the ore
were brought out.” The suryey predicted that operators of some of these claims would
“probably take advantage of the means afforded by the [salt] tramway, to convey their ore
to the smelters and railroad." In many instances the Owens Valley Salt Company,
according to Newcomb, had "been a large purchaser of ore and conveyed it out over their
tram line."”?

‘Two of the mines referred to by Newcomb included the Daisy, a lead-silver mine located
‘on the east flank of the Inyo Mountains overlooking Saline Valley, and the Blue Jay, a
copper and silver mine on the east side of Saline Valley. Owned by the Hercules Mining
Company of Wallace, Idaho, the Daisy was under development during 1915-16. Using
hand drills, four men had sunk a shaft on a vein to a depth of 100 feet. Several prospect
tunnels had been driven on the vein, which could be traced along the surface for several
thousand feet. By 1916 development work at the Blue Jay, which produced 20 tons of ore
that yielded 4,000 pounds of copper and 1,199 ounces of silver the previous year, included
a tunnel 100 feet in depth, a winze 35 feet deep, and a crosscut 25 feet in length on an
outcropping of malachite and chalcocite ore 60 feet wide and 500 feet long.’”

Copper and lead mines were also developed in the Nelson Range, lying between Saline
Valley on the north and Lee Flat on the south, during this period. The Anton and Pobst
Mine was reported to have produced 400 tons of ore, containing 82,000 pounds of copper,
in 1916, The Copper Queen-Lucky Boy Mine also produced copper, while the Cerrusite
Mine, located between the two copper properties, produced lead.’

In the Lee Flat area the Lee Mine (also known as the Emigrant Mine), which had
produced lead ore rich in silver during the early 1880s, was reopened in 1916 under lease
from its owners, Dr. I. J. Woodin and William Skinner of Independence, to J. R. Le Cyt of
Lone Pine. Le Cyr put two men to work on a zinc deposit exposed in old workings.”

During this period the Monarch Mine, located on the northern flank of Hunter Mountain,
was developed, and a small production of tungsten from huebernite was reported in 1915.
The mine developed a 2-inch by 6-inch quartz vein with six partly or wholly caved shafts

191, Inyo Independent, October 19, 1906,
192. Newcomb, "Agricultural and Industrial Survey of Inyo County,” June - July 1917, p. 98.

193. Clarence A. Waring and Emile Huguenin, “Inyo County,” in Califomia State Mining Bureau, Report XV of the
State Mineralogist, Mines and Minerat Resources of Portions of California (Sacramento, State Printing Office, 1919), pp.
71, 94, and State of California, Department of Conservation, Division of Mines and Geology, DMG Open-File
Report No. 88-2, p. 83.

194. State of California, Department of Conservation, Division of Mines and Geology, DMG Oper. File Report No.
88-2, p. 73.

195, Waring and Huguenin, “Inyo County,” pp. 99-100,
105


CHAPTER TWO: MINING

under the leadership of J. D. Fry on June 6, 1875, with $10,000,000 in capital stock, and
quickly obtained controlling interest in the Grand and Promentorio mines."

By 1875 the New Coso Mining Company had produced some 6,000 bullion bars worth
$100,600 from mines less than 100 feet in depth. In August 1875 the company’s 60-ton
furnace commenced operation. Each day the furnace, employing 23 men, could be fed 20
tons of ore, along with 1-1/2 tons of iron ore, 4-1/2 tens of slag, and 3 tons of lime. If
things went well and the ore was of sufficiently high grade, this 29-ton mixture would
reduce to 6 or 7 tons of bullion (150-175 bars} worth $2,000 in silver alane.

Running steadily, the company mill consumed water at a rate of 80,000 gallons per year.
The company spent another $3,000 monthly on coal and wood for the furnace. Operating
its mines without horsepower, the company employed four men on a windlass at each of
the firm’s five mining shafts. Eight to 10 sorters were employed to separate the high-grade
ore from that of the low grade, ensuring the efficient transport of good ore to the
furnace.’”

By the end of 1875 Darwin had become a boom town of some 700 inhabitants. In addition
to the New Cosa Mining Company's furnace, Pat Reddy, a prominent attorney in
Independence, began operation of his 100-ton per day Defiance furnace in 1875. A third
furnace, the Cuervo, with a 25-ton capacity, was under construction during the winter of
1875-76. The boom town featured 20 mines, 200 frame houses, 9 general stores, a brewery,
2 hotels, and a Wells Fargo express office. The Cerro Gordo Freighting Company extended
service to Darwin in 1875. Three more furnaces were constructed in 1876, and the town’s
population reached 1,000 by the end of that year!”

In 1877 Colonel Sherman Stevens built two adobe kilns in a wash just north of
Cottonwood Creek to produce charcoal for the Darwin furnaces, That summer, the Cuervo
Mine produced $45,000 from 13 toms of exceptionally high-grade ore, Nevertheless, the
early boom days were over for Darwin. While a business directory in the Coso Mining
News in September listed some 20 businesses in Darwin, including an attorney, doctor,
brewery, stables, two saloons, a lumberyard, and butcher shop, most wauld be gone
within several months. When the owners of the New Coso Mining Company reduced
smelter workers’ pay from $4 to $3 per day in 1878, the Workingmen’s Club of Darwin
called a lengthy strike. After the company atternpted to resume mining operations wilh
nonunion workers in May 1878, the Workingmen blocked the trail leading to the works,
and the superintendent called in the county’s deputy sheriff, constable, and two deputized
gunmen to escort the scabs. When the Workingmen refused to disperse, the sheriff's men
opened fire. One of the strikers, C. M. Delahanty, was killed by the first shotgun blast,
and the others quickly scattered. Violence flared again that evening wher the constable
killed another striker in an argument over the hrst killing. Two days later, after a citizens’

118. State of California, Department of Natural Resources, Division of Mines, Special Report No. 51, p. 15.

119. Raymond, Statistics of Mines and Mining in the States and Territories West of the Rocky Mountains (1876), pp. 25-
7.

120, Nadeau, City Makers, p. 112, and Cragen, Boys in the Sky-Blue Pants, p. 156.

64


CHAPTER ONE: EXPLORATION, 1849-19308

mouth of Redrock Canyon and then eastward along the Garlock fauit to Saratoga Springs @
and on to the Spring Mountain Range in Nevada. While Lockwood's trek was conducted
without incident, new trouble awaited Wheeler. He sent Lyle with the main party south
into the Cosos, then east to Darwin Canyon where they observed Darwin Fails, and across
Panamint Valley to Wildrose Spring, to wait till he arrived with a second party by way of
Cerro Gordo and Cottonwood Canyon, some 20 miles to the north. To aid his journey,
Lyle recruited a new guide, William Egan, a quiet, studious man from Cerro Gordo. Afler
several days’ wait at Wildrose Spring Lyle dispatched Egan to guide O’Sullivan and a
packer to Wheeler’s camp in Cottonwood Canyon to take some photographs and then
guide them all back to Wildrose. After the main party had moved over Telescope Peak
and across Death Valley to Ash Meadows and the remaining men from Cottonwood
Canyon had arrived without Egan, Lyle realized that Egan might be lost in the Towne
Pass area. As word of the disappearance of Hahn and Egan spread through Owens Valley,
four separate search parties formed to seek unsuccessfully for some trace of the two
guides, and in their wake came a wave of condemnation of Wheeler and the survey-*

Recounting his experiences during this second trip through the Death Valley country in
the summer of 1871, Lyle described the terrain that his men had crossed. He reported to
Wheeler:

Our next march was to the east of Owen’s Lake, some twelve miles, to a point
below Swansea; road very sandy; short alkali grass, very poor in quality; bad
water and no wood. We then moved southeast to near Arab Springs, in the Coso
Range, about sixteen miles. Here we had plenty of grass and wood, but very little @
water; though plenty of water was found at a large spring, five miles distant, in
east side of range. The next day we crossed a small, broken, desert valley, called
Tortoise Valley, and camped twenty-five miles out, near Egan’s Falls, in Darwin
Cafon; spring here suddenly rises near the foot of a high bluff, and quite a little
stream issues forlh; running a short distance, it is precipitated over several
cascades, from 12 to 80 feet high, formed by slate ledges. The cayion at this point,
and for some distance below, was impracticable, being only a narrow gorge cut
through the slate by Lhe water. The formation of this range is chiefly slate, granite
and volcanic rocks, with large mineral deposits in Granite Mountains. From here
we crossed a high mountain by a steep tail, and, passing to the north and west
of Granite Mountains, we regained Darwin Canyon, and following it down we
debouched from the Tortoise Range into Panamint Desert, a sterile basin, utterly
destitute of vegetation except a few thorny shrubs. This desert for some miles
was sandy, Then crossing a large alkali flat, till near the eastern side, our route
lay over low volcanic mesas whose surfaces were torn up and washed into deep,
rocky ravines by the terrific waterspouts which are of frequent occurrence in this
section. The trail was now extremely rough and rocky, rendering traveling very
difficult; reaching the foothilis we quickly changed our direction from southeast
to northeast, and proceeded up Rose Cajion seven or eight miles to Rose Springs,
about five miles northwest of Telescope Peak, on the western slope of the
Telescope Range, where we camped. The weather was extremely hot and animals
and men suffered greatly from thirst and fatigue.

26. For more information on Wheeler’s 1871 explorations, see Cragen, The Boys In The Sky-Blue Pants, pp. 93-110.

18


CHAPTER THREE: RANCHING/GRAZING

Saline Valley Indian Ranch

The Saline Valley Indian Ranch, located in the vicinity of the principal water course that
historically lowed approximately one mile from Hunter Canyon down to the salt marsh
in Saline Valley, is the most significant example of Native American ranching im the lands
added to Death Valley National Monument in 1994, Evidence of Native American
presence in the Saline Valley area can be found in scattered locations throughout the
valley and in the surrounding mountains. Habitation sites (“Indian rings"), stone tools and
implements, obsidian chip scatters, occasional arrowheads, rock structures and formations,
petroglyphs and pictographs, beads, baskets, and homemaking articles have been found in
numerous locations throughout the valley.

Wendell W. Moyer, a research chemist who purchased a 40-acre parcel of land that once
comprised a portion of the Saline Valley Indian Ranch, prepared a documented history of
the ranch during the early 1990s. According to Moyer, there were probably three
principal habitation sites in the valley. One was located im the northeast corridor
approximately 2 miles above Warm Springs, adjacent to a hill often referred to as Arrow
Makers Knoll. Another habitation site was located about 1-1/2 miles southeast of the
Warm Springs vicinity in an area of natural water seeps known as the Seven Sisters. The
third and largest of the three sites was located in the area of the principal valley water
course that flowed approximately 1 mile from Hunter Canyon down to the salt marsh at
the lowest spot of the valley between the salt lake marsh and the mouth of Hunter
Canyon.

The Saline Valley Indians were semi-nomadic hunter/gatherers, migrating from the valley
to the surrounding mountains and back, depending on the season and the changing food
sources. The valley habitation sites were occupied during the auhumn, winter, and spring,
while the hot summer months were spent in the nearby mountains, primarily in the
vicinity of Hunter Mountain to the south or Whipporwill Flats on the east flank of
Waucoba Peak to the north.”

During the summer months in the mountains, the Indians gathered pifion pine nuts. This
seasonal activity was described by B. H. Dutcher, a member of the Death Valley
Expedition of 1891 who accompanied Indian mail-carrier John Hughes and several other
Indians on a trek from Keeler to the Death Valley signal station at the east end of the
Nelson Range just south of Saline Valley in September. During the day and two nights
that he visited the temporary camp, five or six families harvested 1 or 2 bushels of
nuts."

266. Unless otherwise noted, material for this section has been obtained from Wendell W. Moyer, ‘The Rise
and Fall of the Saline Valley Indian Ranch,” The Album, XVUI (1996), pp. 30-44.

267. Richard A. Brook, "Inferences Regarding Aboriginal Hunting Behavior in the Saline Valley, Inyo County,
California,” Journal of California and Greal Basin Anthropology, MN (No. 1, 1980), pp. 60-79, and Smithsonian
Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin No. 120, pp. 76-80.

268. B. H. Dutcher, "Pinon Gathering Among the Panamint Indians," American Anthropologist, V1 (October
1893), pp. 377-80, and (Drait) Transcribed Oral Interview of Ted Etcharren by Richard Potashin, June 18, 1992,
ECM OH 162, pp. 29-31, Eastern California Museum, Independence.

138


Early Exploration, 1849-1870s

campfires, but not a trace of silver. A third trip was planned by Tumer, but aborted after
heavy snows fell in the Panamints.*

Tumer apparently gave up his search shortly thereafter, and Dr. French moved to Oroville
in northern California during the early 1850s. Thereafter, the Lost Gunsight Mine was
temporarily forgotten, although several Mormon prospecting expeditions to the region
may have occurred during the 1850s. While no records have been found concerning these
Prospecting expeditions that are said to have been made into Death Valley during the
period from 1851 to 1858 when the route between Salt Lake City and the colony of "Saints"
at San Bernardino was most frequented, it is likely that such expeditions were
undertaken.‘ Discovery of silver at the Comstock Lode in western Nevada generated a
silver rush throughout the Great Basin in 1859, reviving interest in finding the Lost
Gunsight. At the same time, miners from Mexico began exploring the California desert
region in an attempt to discover the vein that “surely” extended from the silver mines of
Mexico to the Comstock itself. During this period, French returned to Death Yalley in
March 1860 as a guide for the Butte Mining and Exploring Company. Excited by the
chance of discovering a second Comstock, French’s expedition crossed the Cosos from
Little Lake in Owens Valley to Coso Hot Springs, then traveled by way of Crystal and
Granite springs before finding the great aquifer that feeds the falls, which were afterward
to bear French’s preferred middle name, and the wash that led down to Panamint Springs
and Panamint Valley. After crossing the valley the party started up Towne Pass before
diverting south to Jayhawker Spring and descending down to Furnace Creek in Death
Valley by way of Emigrant Canyon. Affer roasting in the July heat of the vailey the group
retreated to the Cosos to continue prospecting. There the diligent prospectors were
successful, not in finding the Lost Gunsight Mine, but gold, resulting in a mining rush to
the Coso Mountains west of Death Valley.’

Railroad Surveyors

While a series of mining rushes would occur in the Death Valley region during the
remainder of the 19th and early 20th centuries, other exploration efforts were undertaken
to the Jargely unknown region. In the fal! of 1853 a party of 17 surveyors, financed by the
San Francisco-based Pacific and Atlantic Railroad Committee to survey a portion of a
transcontinental railroad route through eastern California and to find a suitable connecting
pass over the Sierra Nevada, was guided to the Death Valley region by "Major" John
Ebbetts, who had come to California in 1849 as captain of the Knickerbocker Exploring
Company. The chief surveyor of the party was Lieutenant Tredwell Moore, a 28-year-old
career army officer, apparently on temporary leave. He was assisted by a British artist,
cartographer, and amateur naturalist, George H. Goddard. Taking a wandering course, the

5. Ibid., pp. 59-60. Also see, Car) 1. Wheat, Pioneer Visitors to Death Valley After the Forty-Niners (San Francisco,
California Historical Society, 1939), pp. 3-4, and Joseph E. Doctor, Dr. £. Darwin French's Exploration of Death Vailey:
Keepsake No. 22 (Death Valley, The Death Valley Forty-Ninezs, 1952), pp. 3-10.

6. Wheat, Pioneer Visitors to Death Valley, p. 4.

7. Larry M. Vredenburgh, Gary L. Shumway, and Russell D. Hartill, Desert Fever: An Overview of Mining in the
California Desert (Canoga Park, California, Living West Press, 1981), p. 223, and Doctor, Dr. E. Darwin French's

Exploration of Death Valicy, pp. 11-13.



CHAYTER THREE: RANCHING/GRAZING

The newspaper article also contained a description of “Panamint Tom’s Ranch" in Anvil
Canyon {Warm Spring Canyon] “where a copious spring of lukewarm water makes a
small oasis in the wash, and right among the mineralized mountains."?”

During the 1880s and 1890s Panamint Tom, the last “chief” of the Panamint Shoshone,
established the aforementioned ranch wilh an orchard of some 150 fruit trees at Pabuna
near Warm Spring and the mouth of Hall Canyon in Panamint Valley. Tom, whose sister
had married Indian George, and his brother, Hungry Bill, pursued a somewhat
circumspect course with the influx of miners and prospectors to the Death Valley region
after an informal peace was reached between the Shoshones and Euro-American settlers
during the mid-1860s, However, the two men continued to make periodic raids to steal
horses from ranches near the passes to San Bernardino and Los Angeles for some years.
Horsemeat was a welcome treat in the Panamint villages when the pine-nut stores ran low
in late winter, and the brothers were generous with their spoils. Although Panamint Tom
was accused by whites of many murders in the Death Valley region, he was one of the
few Indians who braved the summer heat to try to rescue stranded prospectors. Although
he admitted to having killed three whites at one time or another during his life, many
more owed their lives to him.**

In: August 1897 a severe thunderstorm destroyed Panamint Tom’s orchard and garden and
swept away the wickiups that his family, consisting of 11 individuals, lived in. His
livestock were on “high ground,” however, and thus escaped the brunt of the storm. As a
result of the storm damage, Panamiut Tom and his family moved to Hungry Bill's
Ranch.”

At the same time, the Inyo Independent reported that "Panamint George [Hansen] has a fine
ranch, supplies the miners with fruit and melons and raises large crops of alfalfa.” It is
likely that he was supplying miners and prospectors at the recently-established boom
camp of Bailarat as well as those who were actively working claims in nearby Tuber, Jail,
Hall, Surprise, and Pleasant canyons.”

Another Indian who supplied Ballarat with fresh fruits and vegetables was “Indian Joe.”
He lived on Peterson Creek in the Argus Mountains before being pushed off the land by
John Searles, who had started a garden there in 1873, building a terraced plot where he
planted grapevines as well as fig, apple, and other fruit trees. After Searles left the area
Indian Joe retumed and began harvesting the produce which he sold to Ballarat
storeowner, Harry Robinson, for sale to miners.

During March 1910, two men, F. J. Busch and Pat Burke, took a trip through southem
Inyo County during which they visited Hungry Bill’s Ranch in Johnson Canyon. The
ranch, according to the men, "might well be called the western base of Telescope Peak.”

257, Inyo Register, May 14, 1896.

258, Lingenfelter, Death Vailey & The Amargosa, pp. 19-20, 31, 175-78, 198, 397-98.
259. ibid., p. 20, and Inyo Independent, August 13, 1897.

260. Inyo Independent, August 13, 1897.

261. Hubbard et al., Ballarat; 1897-1917, p. 91.

136


BIBLIOGRAPHY

Johnson, Allen, and Dumas Malone, eds. Dictionary of American Biography. New York, Charles @
Scribner’s Sons, 1960. Vol. IV.

Koenig, George. Beyond This Place There Be Dragons: The Routes of the Tragic Trek of the Death Valley
1849ers through Nevada, Death Valley, and on to Southern California. Glendale, California, Arthur
H. Clark Co., 1984, .
. “23” Skidoo and Panamint, Too! Death Valley, California, The Death Valley ‘49ers, 1971.
Krautter, Francis C. The Story of Keeler. Independence, California, 1959.

Kung, S. W. Chinese in American Life: Some Aspects of Their History, Status, Problems, and
Contributions. Seatile, University of Washington, 1962.

Likes, Robert C., and Glenn R. Day, From This Mountain—Cerro Gordo. Bishop, Chalfant Press, 1975.

Lingenfelter, Richard E. Death Vailey & The Amargosa: A Land of Hlusion. Berkeley, Los Angeles,
London, University of California Press, 1986.

. The Hardrock Miners. Los Angeles, University of California Press, 1974.
Loam, Jayson, and Majorie Gersh. Hot Springs and Hot Pools of the Southivest. N. p., 1994.
Long, Margaret. The Shadow of the Arrow. Caldwell, Idaho, The Caxton Printers, Ltd., 1941.

Morris, Richard B. ed. Encyclopedia of American History: Bicentennial Edition. New York, Hagerstown, e@
San Francisco, London, Harper & Row, Publishers, 1976. ~

Mullholland, Charles. Inyo County: Its Lands, Water, Soil, Climate, Mines, Scenery and Other Resources.
Los Angeles, Times-Mirror Printing and Binding House, 1893,

Murphy, Bob. Desert Shadows: A True Story of tte Charles Manson Family in Death Valley. Morongo
Valfey, California, Sagebrush Press, 1993,

Robert J. Wildrose Charcoal Kilns. Bishop, California, Chalfant Press, 1972.

Myrick, David F. Railroads of Nevada and Eastern California. 2 vols. Berkeley, Howell- North Books,
1963.

Nadeau, Remi. City Makers. Los Angeles, Trans-Angto Books, 1965.

. Ghost Towns and Mining Camps of California: A History & Guide. Santa Barbara, California,
Crest Publishers, 1965.

. Ghost Towns and Mining Camps of California. Los Angeles, The Ward Ritchie Press, 1972.
Paher, Stanley W. Death Valley Ghost Towns. Las Vegas, Nevada, Nevada Publications, 1973,
Palazzo, Robert P. Darwin, California. Lake Grove, Oregon, Western Places, 1996.

Perkins, Edna Brush. The White Heart of Mojave: An Adventure with the Outdoors of the Desert. New
York, Boni and Liveright, 1922.

180



Scientific Expeditions: 1890s-1930s

expedition was one of the first in a series of biological surveys of the West conducted by
naturalist Clinton Hart Merriam, chief of the department's Division of Ornithology and
Mammalogy in Washington, D. C., who initiated studies of the geographical distribution
of plants and animals in order to define life zones that could be used to assess the
suitability of land for farming and ranching. Merriam was particularly interested in the
Death Valley country, not for its dubious agricultural potential or for its “deadly
peculiarities,” but for the possibility of finding new species of life and for the unique
opportunity to study seven separate life zones in the short span from the valley floor to
the peaks of the Panamints. For the expedition, Merriam recruited ten young government
scientists, inctuding zoologists Vernon Bailey, Basil H. Dutcher, and Edward W. Nelson;
ornithologists Albert K. Fisher and Theodore S. Palmer; entomologist Albert Koebele;
botanists Frederick V. Coville and Frederick Funston; and an amateur naturalist, Frank
Stephens, who later founded the San Diego Natural History Museum. Eight hired helpers,
serving as teamsters and packers, a Chinese, who served as the cook, and 17 horses and
burros rounded out the participants in the expedition.”

The expedition entered Death Valley through Wingate Pass and Long Valley just north of
the Owlshead Mountains in mid-January 1891 and spent the next six months crisscrossing
the country froin Panamint to Pahrump and Saratoga Springs to Sylvania, collecting every
type of plant and animal that could be found. The scientists found the region full of life,
although much of it was nocturnal. They sighted hundreds of birds and animals; shot
sidewinders, coyotes, and mountain goats; trapped chuckwallas, horned toads, and
kangaroo rats; caught pupfish, frogs, toads, and a myriad of insects; and clipped or dug
up hundreds of varieties of plants. The expedition published two volumes on the wildlife
of the region, and it discovered more than 150 new species and two dozen new genera of
plants and animals, mostly insects. The new species included pupfish, poppy, and snail,
the latter named for Merriam, a toad and a mountain goat for Nelson, a frog for Fisher, a
lizard for Palmer, and a greasewood for Bailey.”

The expedition proved to be a great success, and, except for Funston‘s dog, which was
“parbroiled [sic] by the sun" in Saline Valley, all participants survived the six-month
exploration. Nevertheless, they had some harrowing experiences. With a sense of wit and
humor, Funston, for instance, characterized the earliest treks the expedition made during
the cooler weeks of winter as being pure “hell.” The starkness of the colors of the desert
rock formations, the sparseness of the usual types of vegetation, and the "flats of salt and
soda’ left an indelible impression on his mind. The members of the expedition visited
numerous areas throughout the region, sometimes breaking up into smaller units to
perform various scientific, as well as functional, tasks. On February 21, for instance,
Coville and Funston set out from Mesquite Spring in the Funeral Mountains for Panamint
City, the nearest post office, reaching that isolated mining town after encountering a major
snowstorm. During the eight-day trek, they crossed 178 miles of incredibly harsh terrain,
picking up the party’s correspondence and making their way back to the new camp at
Ash Meadows in Nevada. No trails existed in the area, and for four days they traveled
blindly through a major snowstorm to reach the post office. When they reached the
Panamint Range on the west side of Death Valley, they found such a difficult landscape

31, Lingenfelter, Death Valley & The Amargosa, p. 362.
32. Ibid, p. 364.

23


EPILOGUE

Following the Tate and La Bianca murders in the Beverly Hills section of Los Angeles on
the night of August 9-10, 1969, 26 members of the “Manson Family," including their
leader, were arrested at the Barker Ranch on October 10 and 12, 1969, pursuant to a
collaborative investigative effort by the National Park Service, Inyo County District
Attorney’s and Sheriff's Offices, and California Highway Patrol. Subsequently, those
arrested were incarcerated in the county jail in Independence, and after further
investigation seven members were charged with the nine murders. The extensive media
coverage of the murder investigations and the arrest of the “Manson Family" members, as
well as their conviction at the widely-heralded trial, focused world-wide attention on the
“counter-cultural” movement in southern and eastern California and the Death Valley
region.”

CALIFORNIA DESERT PROTECTION ACT OF 1994

After a lengthy 20-year political battle to provide increased federal protection to the desert
lands in southern and eastern Califormia, the California Desert Protection Act (Public Law
No. 103-433) was enacted into Jaw on October 31, 1994. Section 2 of the act stated that
Congress “finds and declares that —

(1) the federally owned desert lands of southern California constitute a
public wildland resource of extraordinary and inestimable value for this -
and future generations;

(2) these desert wildlands display unique scenic, historical, archeological,
environmental, ecclogical, wildlife, cultural, scientific, educational, and
recreational values used and enjoyed by millions of Americans for hiking
and camping, scientific study and scenic appreciation;

(3) the public land resources of the California desert now face and are
increasingly threatened by adverse pressures which would impair, dilute,
and destroy their public and natural values;

(4) the California desert, embracing wilderness lands, units of the Nationai
Park System, other Federal lands, State parks and other State lands, and
private lands, constitutes a cohesive unit posing unique and difficult
resource protection and management challenges;

(5) through designation of national monuments by Presidential
proclamation, through enactment of general public land statutes. . . . and
through interim administrative actions, the Federal Government has
begun the process of appropriately providing for protection of the
significant resources of the public lands in the California desert; and

(6) statutory land unit designations are needed to afford the full protection
which the resources and public land values of the California desert merit.

298, For further data on the "Manson Family,” see Bob Murphy, Desert Shadows: A True Story of the Charles
Manson Family in Death Valtey (Morongo Valley, California, Sagebrush Press, 1993).

100


BIBLIOGRAPHY

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Berberich, Frank J. “Idyll for Outlaws.” Desert Magazine, XXVIH (November 1965), pp. 8-9.

Boyle, O. M. “The Greenwater Mining District, Cal.” California Journal of Technology, X (No. 1, 1907},
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Boyles, J. C. “He Wimessed the Death Valley Tragedy of ‘49.” Desert Magazine, III (February 1940),
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Brook, Richard A. “Inferences Regarding Aboriginal Hunting Behavior in the Saline Valley, Inyo

County, California.” Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology, II (No. 1, 1980), pp. 60-79.

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Campbell, Robert F., and Ron Taylor. “Prospects of a Desert." Westuays, LX (November 1968), pp-
36-38,

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California.” Transactions, American Society of Civil Engineers, Paper No. 1304. May 2, 1917.

Chapman, Robert H. "The Deserts of Nevada and the Death Valley.” National Geographic Magazine,
XVII (September 1906), pp. 483-97.

Cole, O. N. “Panamint — City of Silver.” California Geology, (December 1975), pp. 278 79.

Coville, Frederick Vernon. “The Panamint Indians of California.” American Anthropologist, V
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Crouch, Thomas W. "Frederick Funston of Kansas: His Formative Years, 1865-1891." Kansas
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Cuppett, Annis M. “Cerro Gordo.” Desert Magazine, XXVIII (February 1980), pp. 17- 19.
Demes, Stanley. “Tempest in Silver.” Desert Magazine, XXX (February 1967), pp. & 11, 35.
Due, John F. “Carson & Colorado Railroad.” The Western Railroader, XOUI (May 1959), pp. 3-25.

Dutcher, B. H. “Pinon Gathering Among the Panamint Indians.” American Anthropologist, V1
(October 1893), pp. 377-80.

Engle, Mike. “A Look at Lookout.” Desert Magazine, XXXV (November 1972), pp. 18- 20, 38.

Evans, Tom. “User Conflict Clouds Remote Saline Valley.” 8.L.§M. Newsbeat, February 1977, pp. 1-
10.

182


Mining District/Areas Relating to the New Lands

several flows.” This water drained “into the southwest comer of the salt Nat and probably”
supplied "the pond of open water.” The "total flow from this spring, several hundred
gallons a minute” was “said to vary considerably with the rainfall in the mountains.”

Thus, Gale concluded that there was "little or no evidence from these tests of an important
segregation of potash in the residual solutions near the surface." Better results might be
discovered by drilling, but from "general considerations” it was not “now supposed likely
that a segregation of the potash would be found on a sufficiently large scale to justify
much expense in exploration.”""“*

Despite construction delays as a result of heavy fall and winter snowstorms, “which
constituted a menace to construction at all altitudes above 6,500 ft.,” and occasional
landslides during Lhe spring, the towers and control stations for the tramway were
completed by November 1912, but machinery still had to be installed at the loading and
discharge terminals. The tramway was ready for a preliminary test on June 10, 1913, but
electrical connections from the powerhouse of the Los Angeles Aqueduct in Cottonwood
Canyon on the west side of Owens Valley were not completed. Finally, the first salt
carried by the tram was delivered at Tramway on july 2. Before the processing facilities at
Tramway were fully operational, however, the salt was transported to the Albright Mill in
Bishop for packaging under the label “Tramway Salt.""”

As completed the 13.4-mile tramway system, commencing at the edge of the salt field in
Saline Valley, was divided into five sections which varied in length from 1-3/4 to 4 miles,
depending on the elevation reached by each section. Each section was in effect a separate
tramway at each end of which was a control station where both the carrier wires and the
traction wires terminated. Three sections of the tramway transported the salt from the
valley floor up precipitous Daisy Canyon to the summit of the Inyo Mountains, a distance
of about 7,600 feet. The tram crossed the summit saddle between 10,668-foot New York
Butte and 9,705-foot Pleasant Mountain. The other two sections carried the salt from the
summit dawn the west side of the Inyos across a series of brushy canyons and pock-
marked striated cliffs to the floor of Owens Valley to Tramway, approximately 5,100 feet
below on the east side of Qwens Lake. The maximum horizontal angle, about 30 degrees,
was at Controt Station No. i at the head of Daisy Canyon, while the vertical angle was as
much as 40 degrees in places. Separate control stations, each equipped with a telephone,
were constructed at each section of the tramway, and power was supplied to the endless
traction cable by 75-horsepower Westinghouse electric motors maintained at each control
station through a grip sheave § feet in diameter. The motors required 2,200 volts of
electricity to operate, the power being supplied trom the Los Angeles Department of
Water and Power’s Cottonwood Canyon power plant. The electrical transmission line that
paralleled the tramway was "of the usual pole construction, carrying copper wires for a 3-
phase circuit.” The voltage was 33,000, and the transformer stations were “of the out-door
type,” the voltage stepped down from 33,000 to 2,200 for use in the motors of the driving

166. Hoyt, Salt, Borax, and Potash in Saline Valley,” in U. S. Department of the Interior, Geological Survey,
Bulletin No. 540, pp. 418-20.

167. Horace Albright, 2 youth of 22 years, worked at the mill, but he would soon leave for Washington to become
an attomey for the Department of the Interior. After serving as Assistant Director of the National Park Service,
Albright would later become Director of the National Park Service from 1929 to 1933 and play a significant role
in the establishment of Death Valley National Monument

93



Native American Ranching Sites

raising “cori., melons, squashes, and a few peaches and grapes, with pine-nuts and grass-
seed in their season.”

Both groups of people, according to Nelson, lived in "square and dome-shaped” houses,
made with “wattled straw or brush laid over a frame-work.” They owned ponies, and the
men found periodic employment in the “mining camps of Panamint, Darwin, and’
elsewhere.”**

The references by Coville and Nelson to a ranch at the mouth of Hall Canyon north of
Warm Springs on the east side of Panamint Valley refer to “Indian George’s Ranch,”
located just outside but adjacent to the boundaries of the lands added to Death Valley
National Monument in 1994. Born at Ohyu in Death Valley about 1841, George Hansen
had watched some of the “Forty-Niner” parties struggle through Death Valley. Later, he
was startled during 1852-53, when he suddenly came upon a Mexican prospector on a trail
near Emigrant Spring. In his fright the youngster fled. Thereafter, his father called hiin
Bah-vanda-sava-nu-kee, or Boy-who-runs-away, Much later he carne to be known to Euro-
Americans as Indian George, after Dr. Samuel G. George hired him as his guide to
prospect the Panamints during the early 1860s. Indian George worked as a wood packer at
Panamint City during the mid-1870s, and he reportedly prospected throughout the Death
Valley region. Sometime after the tum of the century, the Indian Service gave him a last
name, calling him George Hansen. After living briefly in Sunavadu in Wildrose Canyon,
he started a ranch in Panamint Valley at the mouth of Hall Canyon. His ranch was a
welcome oasis for travelers and is now owned by Dugan Hansen of Ridgecrest.

In May 1896 an article in the Inyo Register described “Hungry Bill's Ranch” as a “garden
area" in Johnson Canyon. Noting that the ranch had been operated for more than 20 years,
the article noted:

- ++ just over the summit, and southeast of Panamint, was ‘Johnsan’s garden‘ in
the flush days of the rise and before the fal) 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 com. On the hillside George has graded away
a large space, and has material on hand for a regular house.

255, E. W. Nelson, "The Panamint and Saline Valley (Col.) Indians,” American Anthropologist, IV (October 1891),
pp. 371-72.

256. Lingenfelter, Death Valley & The Amargosa, pp. 20, 4345, 60, 125; J. C. Boyles, "He Witnessed the Death
Valley Tragedy of '49," Desert Magazine, If! (February 1940}, pp. 3-6; Hubbard, Bray, and Pipkin, Batlarat: 1897-
1917, p. 33; and (Draft} Transcribed Oral Interview of Dugan Hansen by Richard Potashin, March 19, 1992,
ECM OH 142, Eastern Califomia Museum, Independence.

135



CHAPTER TWO: MINING

silver, rendering it very safe to predict that it is a continuous silver bearing
fissure of extraordmary length.

The Uncle Sam [claim] is a quartz vein bearing sulphuret of silver in apparently
large quantities, but sufficient work has not yet been done to warrent (sic] any
further statement than that it will yield sufficient sulphuret to enrich the
argentiferous galena of the other mines as is so successfully done at Cerro Gordo.
The vein is in limestone and the minera!-bearing streak from 10 to 14 inches in
thickness as at present exposed. The mineral assays $300 per ton in silver.

According to Brady good wagon roads “have been and are still being constructed" from
Owens Valley to Pownzina Creek. From Pownzina to the mines, the country was “rolling
and the road can be completed at a cost of less than $1,000." Ten miles south of the Uncle
Sam was “Saline Lake, into which flows a large fresh water stream." In that region “of
perpetual summer, experiment has already demonstrated, that an abundant supply of
vegetables and tropical fruit, as well as those of a more temperate climate, can be raised.”
Brady concluded his report by recommending construction of a 15-ton furnace at the
Waverley.”

About the time that Brady was investigating the Waverley claims, William L. Hunter and
John L. Porter discovered two enormous copper ledges, the Piute and Cohee, northeast of
Wildrose. These ledges would later be consolidated as part of the Ulida Mine. On July 8,
1875, the Ubehebe Mining District was organized.'* That euphonious name still survives
on the neighboring peak and on the volcanic crater farther north. Although some of the
ore was rich in copper, averaging about 24 percent by weight, it could not be produced
economically enough to pay a profit. With the price of copper at 20¢ per pound, the ore
was worth barely $100 a ton, a sum that would not pay to ship from the isolated location.
Because of the shortage of wood and water, it would also not pay to smelt the ore locally.
Thus, little mining activity would occur in the area until the early 20th century.

During the Greenwater frenzy, a brief boom hit the Ubehebe area. One resourceful group
of promoters, led by A. D. Whittier, a cartoonist from the Bullfrog Miner who claimed to be
a nephew of the poet, happened upon the muins of several arrastras, a little ore roaster,
and some stone wails — the remnants of Hunter's earlier futile efforts. Taking claim to the
ruins and some nearby ground, the enterprising entrepreneurs announced that they had
discovered a fabulous “Lost Spanish mine” that had been sought for 50 years. Several
Ubehebe companies were established during the boom, including the Ulida Copper
Company which was organized by Salt Lake operators on Hunter's actual claims.
Ubehebe’s biggest operator, however, was Jack Salsberry from Greenwater. Arriving in the
area in August 1906, he tock up, according to some reports, as many as 500 claims. In
partnership with a Baltimore speculator, Henry G. Merry, he formed the Ubehebe Copper

157. “Report of The Waverley, Delhi, Big Bell, Rob Roy, Uncle Sam, Lucknow, and General Ord Mines, Comprising
A Portion Of The Property Of The Waverley Mining and Smelting Co. in Inyo County Of This Sate,” By James
Brady, Mining Engineer, San Francisco, 1875. "Waucoba Mining District," Subject Histury Files, Eastern Califomia
Museum, Independence, California.

158, State of California, Department of Natural Resources, Division of Mines, Special Report No. 42, Geology of
Mineral Deposits in the Ubehebe Peak Quadrangle, Inyo County, California, by James F, McAllister (Sacramento,
California State Printing Office, January 1955), pp. 1-63.

86


Government Pubtications/Documents

U. 5. Department of the Treasury. Report of the Director of the Miit Upon the Production of the Precious
Metals in the United States During the Calendar Year 1885. Washington, Government Printing
Office, 1886.

Ver Planck, W. E. “History of Borax Production in the United States.” California Journal fh Mines and
Geology, LII July 1956), pp. 273-91,

Waring, Clarence A., and Emile Huguenin. “Inyo County,” in California State Mining Bureau,
Report XV of the State Mineralogist, Mines and Mineral Resources of Portions of California.
Sacramento, State Printing Office, 1919, pp. 29-134.

Yale, Charles G., and Hoyt S. Gale. “Borax,” in U. S. Department of the Interior, Geological Survey,
Mineral Resources of tie United States, Calendar Year 1911, Part If — Nonmetals. Washington,
Government Printing Office, 1912.

. “Borax,” in U. S, Department of the Interior, Geological Survey, Mineral Resources of the
United States, Calendar Year 1913, Part If — Nonmetais. Washington, Government Printing
Office, 1914.

Wright, L. A., et al. “Mines and Mineral Deposits of San Bernardino County, California.” California
Journal of Mines and Geology. XLIX {January-April 1953), pp. 49-259.

THESES AND DISSERTATIONS

Flint, Delos E. “The Geology of the Beveridge Mining District, California.” Master's thesis,
Northwestern University, 1941.

Michael, William H. "At the Plow and in the Harvest Field’: Indian Conflict and Accommodation
in the Owens Valley, 1860-1880." Master’s thesis, University of Oklahoma, 1993.

TECHNICAL STUDIES

Baldwin, Clifford Park. “Archeological Exploration and Survey in Southern Inyo County, Cal.”
1931. (Silver Boxes, “Archeology - Death Valley,” Research Library, Death Valley National

Park.)

Barker, James M. “Borate Exploration and Mining in the Death Valley Region.” Paper Presented at
Annual Meeting of American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, Las Vegas,
February 22-26, 1976. (Silver Boxes, “History - Mines,” “Gordon Chappell Research Materials,”
Box 1, Research Library, Death Valley National Park.)

Berg, Francis C., and M. Suzanne Crowley. Dralt, “Notes on Selected Historical Sites in the Saline
Valley,” Presented at Annual Meeting of Society for California Archaeology, San Luis Obispo,
California, April 6, 1979. (Richard S. (Steve) Smith Files, Bureau of Land Management,
Ridgecrest (California) Resource Area Office.)

189


CHAFTER ONE: EXPLORATION, 1849-19305
|

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MAP SHOWING
PROBAGLE ROUTES OF FORTY MINER PARTIES
THROUGH

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Figure 1: Map showing the probable routes of the "Forty-Niners" parties. Drawn by William 8. Wheeler, April
1939. Alternate route alignments based on research by Matthew H, Ryan and John E. Wolff. U.S. Department @
of the Interior, National Park Service, Death Valley National Momsment Historical Background Study, by
Benjamine Levy, April 15, 1969, Historical Base Map No. 3.



CHAPTER TWO: MINING

in the main the product to be shipped will be gathered by scraping on the surface of the
smooth salt.” When Hoyt visited the site, “a great amount of salt had been piled in stacks
ready for transfer to the tram for shipment" when it would be completed. Hoyt gathered
samples “of the undisturbed salt in these stacks” with “the intention of making a
representative avetage sample of the salt on the ground.” Portions were “taken from the
inner part of six of these stacks from various parts of the field, and these were combined
and later mixed, quartered, and analyzed” by R. K. Bailey, a chemist with the Geological
Survey in Washington. The composition of the “average salt sample" from the stacks
revealed that the salt was 98.52 percent pure sodium chloride.

Gale observed that the salt sample proved to be "of rather exceptional purity for an entire
natural product.” One of the "principal factors in its favor" was the “absence of soluble
salts of magnesium or calcium, which would, if present as chlorides, tend to make the salt
subject to caking on account of the attraction they have for moisture.” With the exception
of a "small insoluble residue, which is doubtless dust blown in by the wind," the sulphate
{sodium sulphate 1.02 percent) was the “only impurity."

According to Hoyt, little was known about the thickness of the salt deposit, since “no
satisfactory drilling” had been undertaken. "Shallow holes dug in the surface of the white
salt crust for the purpose of obtaining samples of the underlying brines,” however, had
shown "a surface thickness of 4 inches of a loose-textured, porous white crystalline salt,
below which is a layer of dark-greenish or almost black saline mud several inches thick.”
Other {ayers of hard salt were encountered below this mud, making it “difficult to dig the
deposit with an ordinary shovel, not only on account of its hardness but also because the
pit immediately fills with the freely owing brine.”

Hoyt noted further that the "ground water stands so high that either the salt crust is
barely submerged or water or brine will fil] any hole dug in the salt almost at once, rising
practically to the surface level.” Thus, the "salt crust” was “not so hard as it would be on a
dry surface” and was readily worked. The salt on the surface of the salt flat was “gathered
by raking or scraping it into heaps while in a wet or slushy condition.” The “crystals”
dried in the stacks and were “benefited if washed by an occasional rain.” The “outer
surfaces of the stacks" became “sunbumed’ or somewhat darkened on exposure,”

“probably due to the dust swept over them by the wind.”

Although "the principal harvest” would be "the natural salt crop, which continuously
replaces itself,” a series of “evaporating vats" had been built “about the southwest margin
of the salt flat and pond, where by evaporation of the liquor of the lake or recrystallization
of the less pure salt from the area surrounding the white salt, the production” could be
"increased."

Gale also took six samples (marked Nos. 43-48 on the map on the preceding page) of the
ground solutions at several points around the “salt flat, with the special object of testing
them for potassium compounds.” The results of the tests, however, "were practically
negative.” Samples Nos. 43-47 showed various potassium compounds ranging from .78 to
2.47 percent. All of the samples, with the lone exception of No. 48, were “brines collected
in the salt flat.” No. 48, which showed potassium compounds of only .05 to .10 percent,
was a "sample of the natural flow of lukewarm water from the large spring above the salt
company’s camp, taken in the center of the open stream just below the junction of the

92


Published Works
Gray, Fred. “Memories of Ballarat.” Westways, XXXII (September 1940), pp. 8-10.

Greenwalt, Robert O. “We Hiked the Inyo Bucket Brigade.” Desert Magazine, XXII (August 1959),
pp. 19-21,

. “We Hiked the Inyo Bucket Brigade.” Desert Sage, (March 1995), pp. 28-30.

Harcourt, Carmen. "Death Valley and the Mojave Desert.” Overland Monthiy, XXXI (Second Series,
No. 186, June 1898), pp. 488-91.

Hillsbery, Kief. “Paradise Lost.” California Magazine, (September 1983), pp. 102-05, 151-54.

Howell, Phil. “Surprise Canyon: Surviving the Road to Panamint City.” 4WD Sport Utility,
(November 1993), pp. 60-65, 76-77.

Jahns, Richard H. “The Epsom Salts Line — Monorail to Nowhere.” Reprint from Engineering and
Science Monthly, April 1951. Published by the California Institute of Technology.

Johnston, Philip. “To the Roof of the Panamints.” Touring Topics, X (October 1927), pp. 20-23, 37-38,
40, 42, 44.

Lambert, Florin. “Ballarat.” Desert Magazine, XV (November 1964), p. 36.
Lawlor, Florine. “Seldom Seen — Except in Ballarat.” Desert Magazine, XXX (November 1967}, p. 14.

Leadabrand, Russ. “Let's Explore a Byway . .. A New Road into Death Valley.” Westways, LV
(April 1963), pp. 22-25.
. "Mines of Mojave.” Westways, LIV (October 1962), pp. 37-41.

MacMurphy, F. “Geology of the Panamint Silver District, California.“ Economic Geology, XXV June
1930), pp. 305-25.

Mining and Scientific Press, LVI January 12, 1889), p. 28; LVIII (April 6, 1889), p. 248; LVIII (une
15, 1889), p. 436; LIX July 6, 1889), p. 4; LIX (December 14, 1889}, p. 450; LX (February 22,
1890), p. 180; LX (March 9, 1890), p. 148; LX (April 5, 1890), p. 232; and LXI (November 29,
1890), p. 348.

Mitchell, Roger. “The Legend of Lookout.” Desert Magazine, XXX1 (April 1968), pp. 28-29.

Moore, Gary. “Scenes Behind the Scenes in Death Valley.” Desert Magazine, XXVII (November 1964),
pp- 29:32.

Moyer, Wendell W. “The Rise and Fall of the Saline Valley Indian Ranch.” The Aloum, XVIII (1996),
pp. 30-44.

Nelson, E. W. “The Panamint and Saline Valley (Col.) Indians.” American Anthropologist, IV (October
1891), pp. 371-72.

“Panamint District.” Mining and Scientific Press, XXX (January 9, 1875), p. 2.

Parfit, Michael. “California Desert Lands: A Tribute to Sublime Desolation.” National Geographic,
CLXXXIX (May 1996), pp. 54-79.

183


Mining District/Areas Relating to the New Lands

vi Sto for Secs. STF
f (ond Moros, g0rH SECOND)

SALINE Vatuey Satr Company Fie
TRAM PROFILE

i

et
ingle & Contra { Direction Cnonge)
F- Curved Rail (Breoh-Ovse Stotiont)
& Anchorage & Teosion Curved Rail
| Conteet

J+ Bischorgs arming? @

é

he

OUNTAINS =,

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Horde Saunt

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” Figure 7: Chart showing the Saline Valley salt tram profile.
Chart by Norton Allen/Desert Magazine, August 1959.

1918, several tens of thousands of tons of salt were produced, more than one-half the total
production from Saline Valley.”

By 1920 US. Steel, which had purchased the Trenton Lron Company during construction
of lhe tramway, had become owner of the salt fields and tram, and in that year, the
corporation leased the salt operations to the Taylor Milling Company. Under the direction
of George W. Russell of Pasadena, the salt works were revived, but the venture lasted
only one year. While the tramway lay idle for several years, efforts were initiated to
provide more efficient transportation to the remote salt fields. During 1925-26, a new toad
into Saline Valley from the south was constructed by White Smith under contract to Inyo
County. Thomas Hancock superintended the crews that constructed the new road — a
herculean engineering project that would be delayed by at least one major washout. The
new road to the valley, which was formally accepted by the county in May 1926, extended
from the Keeler-Darwin road by way of Lee Flat and Grapevine Canyon.”

170. State of California, Department of Natural Resources, Division of Mines, Bulletin No. 175, p. 118.

@ 17. Inyo independent, May 3, July 26, September 13, 1924, and March 28, August 1, 1925, and Chapter 183, Southem
Inyo American Association of Retired Persons, Sage of Inyo County (Covina, California, Taylor Publishing

Company, 1977}, p. 111.
97


BIBUOGRAPHY

- Bulletin No. 507. The Mining Districts of the Western United States, by James M.
Hill. Washington, Government Printing Office, 1912.

Bulletin No, 580-L. Safines in the Owens, Searles, and Panantint Basins of Southeastern
California, by Hoyt S. Gale. Washington, Government Printing Office, 1914.

. Bulletin No. 1299. Geology of the Panamint Butte Quadrangle, Inyo County, California,
by ‘Wayne E. Hall. Washington, Government Printing Office, 1971.

. Bulletin No. 1708-A. Mineral Resources of the Inyo Mountains Wilderness Study Area,
Inyo County, California, by Edwin H. McKee, James E. Kilburn, J. Howard McCarthy, Jr, James
E. Conrad, and Richard J. Blakely. Washington, Government Printing Office, 1985.

. Bulletin No. 1709-B. Mineral Resources of the Greenwater Valley Wilderness Study
Area, Inyo County, California, Augustus K. Armstrong, Michae} T. Garrison, James G. Frisken,
and Robert C. Jachens. Washington, Government Printing, Office, 1987.

. . Mineral Resources of the United States, Calendar Years 1889 and 1890, by David T.
Day. Washington, Government Printing Office, 1892.

. Open-File Report No. 84-560. Mineral Resources and Mineral Resource Potential of the
Saline Valley and Lower Saline Wilderness Study Areas, Inyo County, California, by Chester T.
Wrucke, Sherman P. Marsh, Gary L. Raines, R. Scott Werschky, Richard J. Blakely, and Donald
B. Hoover, U. S. Geological Survey, and Edward L. McHugh, Clayton M. Rumsey, Richard S.
Gaps, and J. Douglas Causey, U. S. Bureau of Mines. 1964.

- Open-File Report No. 84-638. Mineral Resources and Resource Potential of the Hunter
Mountain Wilderness Study Area, Inyo County, California, by Edwin H. McKee, James E. Kilburn,
James £. Conrad, and J. Howard McCarthy, U. S. Geological Survey, and J. Douglas Causey,
David A. Benjamin, and Clayton M. Rumsey, U. 5. Bureau of Mines. 1984.

- Open-File Report No. 64-678. Mineral Resource Potential of the Panamint Dunes

Wilderness Study Area, Inyo County, California, by George L. Kennedy, James E. Kilbum, and
James E. Conrad, U.S. Geological Survey, and Andrew M. Leszcykowski, U.S. Bureau of

Mines, 1984.

. Open-File Report No. 84-755. Mineral Resources and Resource Potential of the
~Oulshead Mountains Wilderness Study Area, San Bernardino County, California, by Richard D.
Koch and Jay A. Ach, U. 5. Geological Survey, and Arel B. McMahan, William L. Rice, and
Michael Sokaski, U. S. Bureau of Mines. 1954,

- . Professional Paper No. 368. Geology and Ore Deposits of the Darwin Quadrangle,
Inyo County, Catifornia, by Wayne E. Hall and E. M. MacKevett, Jr. Washington, Government
Printing Office, 1962.

. Professional Paper No. 408. Geology of the Cerro Gordo Mining District, Inyo County,
Cali lifornia, by C. W. Merriam. Washington, Government Printing Office, 1963.

. Water Supply Paper No. 224. Some Desert Watering Places in Southeastern California
and Southwestern Nevada, by Walter C. Mendenhall. Washington, Government Printing Office,
1909,

188



Mining District/Areas Relating to the New Lands

recorded a production of more than 300 “short” tons of manganese ore averaging 34.8
percent manganese in 1942, and smal! shipments were made in 1953, 1954, and 1957. An
air concentrator, now removed, was installed at the mine in 1958, although it is unlikely
that concentrates were shipped. The New Deal Mine-produced about 4,000 tons of ore
between 1916 and 1956 that averaged from 19 to 43 percent manganese. By 1978 the Elie
Iron Mine had produced some 250,000 tons of ferruginous material, and during 1981-82 its
production was approximately 7,000 tons. On the west side of the Owlshead Mountains,
the Kennedy Boys Lead Mine had been developed by 1984, tapping a vein that contained
19,000 tons of ore, averaging 2.6 percent zinc, 2.3 percent lead, 0.29 percent copper, 0.3
ounces of silver per ton, and traces of gold.”*

By far the most widely publicized of all the ill-fated salt ventures in the Death Valley
region was an epsom salt mine located in the low, lavender Crystal Hills south-southeast
of the old borax road in Wingate Pass and to the west of the Owlshead Mountains (within
the boundary of the lands added to Death Valiey National Monument in 1994). The salt
deposit was discovered during the fall of 1917 by Jasper Stanley and two other amateur
prospectors from Los Angeles, who found alum — potassium aluminum sulfate — and
staked nine placer claims that they called the Aluminum group. it was not until the
summer of 1919, however, that an acquaintance of Stanley, Thomas H. Wright, found that
the deposit was actually richer in magnesium sulfate, or epsom salt, commonly used as a
bath salt and a laxative. Wright, a Los Angeles florist, purchased a controlling interest in
the claims, organized the grand-sounding American Magnesium Company, and began
selling shares. A railroad to the deposit appeared to be the only economical means to
develop the discovery. The high cost of roadbed grading, however, persuaded Wright to
adopt a monorail system. Work began on the monorail in the fall of 1922, beginning at
Magnesium siding on the Trona Railroad, 6 miles south of Trona in Searles Valley. From
there the rail ran east across the south end of Searles Lake, up torturous Layton Canyon
and over the Slate Range, northeast across the tip of Panamint Valley, through Wingate
Pass, and down the wash to the salt deposit at Crystal Camp. The 28-mile monorail was a
single steel rail spiked to a 6-inch by 8-inch riding beam supported on an A-frame trestle
about 3 feet high. The specially-designed locomotives and cars ran on two wheels, like
motorcycles, with steel cutriggers hanging down both sides to form another A-frame.
They rode like pack saddles astride the track with carefully balanced cargo strapped low
on both sides. Rollers mounted under the outriggers ran on wooden guide rails tacked to
the sides of the trestle to help stabilize Lhe swaying cars as they skimmed just inches
above the ground. Construction of the creative transportation link took almost two years
and cost roughly $200,000.

When an engineer made the 28-mile trip with a full load of salt in one hour shorily after
the line opened, the Epsom Salts Line was heralded as the “fastest moving monorail in the
world.” During the next two years, Wright’s American Magnesium Company produced a
small tonnage of hydrated magnesium sulfate that was shipped over the monorail to
Magnesium siding and on to Wilmington near Los Angeles Harbor for refining.

216. U. $. Department of the Interior, Geological Survey, Open-File Report No. 84-755, Mineral Resorerces and
Resource Potential of the Owlshead Moustains Wilderness Study Area, San Bernartino County, California,” by Richard
D. Koch and Jay A. Ach, U. 5, Geological Survey, and Arel B. McMahan, William L. Rice, and Michael Sokaski,
U.S, Bureau of Mines, 1984, pp. 7-8, 11-14.

113


CHAPTER Two: MINING

summer of 1875 the town boasted some 5,000 inhabitants, 6 general stores, and 12 saloons.
Three stage lines provided almost daily service, and there was daily mail service from
Lone Pine in Owens Valley as well as Jones and Stewart’s "Panamint Pony Express” to Los
Angeles. In addition the town boasted two banks, three doctors, four lawyers, butcher
shops, barbershops, bakeries, booteries, apothecaries, assayers, and jewelers.'”

On June 29, 1875, the Surprise Valley Mill and Water Company's 20-stamp mill began test
operations, and it went into full production on August 27. Built with one-half million
bricks at a cost of $210,000, the mill had four Hendy concentrators and a Stetefeldt
furnace. Tests showed that the mill recovered up to 96 percent of the value of the most
fractious ore on hand and produced bullion that was 98 percent pure silver. Running
around the clock, it processed about 15 tons a day of $90-a-ton rock, turning out bullion at
a rate of $1,300 a day, $40,000 a month, or $500,000 a year. Ore averaging $80 to 5100 per
ton from the Wyoming and Hemlock mines was transported down the mountain by
means of a 2,600-foot wire aerial tramway to a mill constructed by Daniel P. Bell. Wood
consumption in the mili’s furnace amounted to three cords per day. Each cord cost $12,
and miners and mill workers received wages ranging from $4.00 to $5.50 a day.”

Inadequate transportation to the remote location of Panamint City, however, continued to
pose serious problems for the success of the Panamint mines. The road from Independence
to Panamint, running south by way of Little Lake and Indian Wells, curving east through
Panamint Valley, and then taking a northward route to Surprise Canyon, took four days
to traverse. Prosperity in Owens Valley during the 1870s was directly related to the
mining camps of Cerro Gordo, Panamint City, and Darwin, and residents feared that slow
traffic between Panamint and Independence would prevent most of the bullion from the
Panamint mines from passing through Owens Valley. Accordingly, the residents of
Independence and Lone Pine petitioned the Inyo County Board of Supervisors to construct
a new, more direct route from Owens Vailey to Panamint. The board responded by
awarding a contract for the new road to John Shepherd, a wealthy rancher living on
George Creek, some 6 miles south of Independence.

Completion of the new road from Independence to Panamint was a partial success,
speeding up the flow of goods and people between the two locations. For example,
Rothschild and Company of Independence became oue of the major suppliers of lumber,
liquor, and food to residents of Surprise Canyon. The new road, however, did not solve all
of the transportation problems of the isolated Panamint area, as demand continued to
outdistance supply, thus contributing to an extremely high cost of living in the town.”

By the spring of 1875 the first flush of the Panamint boom was past, as the scarcity of both
water and high-grade ore began to take a toll on the mine operations. The camp had
settled back to a population of approximately 600, nearly half of whom worked for the
Surprise Valley Mill and Water Company and its subsidiary mines. William Ralston’s

107. Chalfant, The Story of Inyo, p. 287; Wilson, Silver Stampede, p. 117; and Nadeau, Ghost Towns and Mining Camps,
pp. 199-200.

108. Nadeau, Ghost Towns and Mining Camps, p. 199, and Raymond, Statistics of Mines and Mining in the States and
Territories West of the Rocky Mountains (1876), p. 24.

109. Cragen, Boys i the Sky-Blue Pants, pp. 150-57, 173.

60


CHAPTER Two: MINING

contracted with Skinner’s Brownstone Mining Company to revive the Defiance and
Thompson mines. Within a year, some 100 men were employed in the mines.”

Today the ghost of old Darwin is a collection of crude shacks amidst the confines of an
active mining town ~— few if any of them traceable to the 1870s. The Defiance smelter,
with its scattered and rusted machinery, remains the one prime recognizable landmark of
the old town, After Anaconda sold its Darwin mining properties subsequent owners have
included Quintana Minerals and Blue Ridge Mining. The current mining activities are
operated by the Darwin Project, Inc.

Although known principally for ils lead and silver mining operations, the Darwin area has
also been a major tale producer during the 20th century. One-half of all known talc
deposits of commercial interest in eastern California lie in Inyo County. Until the 1940s,
the Talc City Mine, 6 miles northwest of Darwin, provided nearly all the steatite-grade talc
in the United States. During the 1940s the Warm Spring Mine produced most of the
nation’s steatite-grade talc.

Originally known as the Simmonds Mine, the Talc City Mine was operated by the Groah
Mineral Company of San Francisco prior to 1915. Later mine operators have included the
California Talc Company (1915-17), the Inyo Talc Company (1917-22), and the Sierra Talc
Company (1922-present}. The mine first provided talc for use in the manufacture of
insulating cores for Hotpoint stoves. Later, during the mid-1930s, the tale was used for
manufacturing high-frequency electrical insulations. By 1950 the total production from the
mine was approximately $250,000.

During the 1917-20 period, the Zinc Hill Mine, 6 miles northeast of Darwin and just
outside the boundary of Death Valley National Park, was the largest zinc producer in
California. During World War II, the mine produced some 2,500 tons of zinc ore. The site
of a mill and mining camp that once serviced the mine is iocated between Darwin and
Panamint Springs. A packtrai! extended from the mill to the mine, and several shafts had
iuclined tramways and aerial tram lines that connected them to the pack trail.”

Lookout

Prospectors have discovered dozens of silver mines in the Panamint and Argus ranges,
but few have claimed to find the legendary Lost Gunsight, and fewer still have believed
those who so claimed. If it was found at all, most historians believe the mostly likely
location for the Lost Gunsight Mine would be one of the mines on Lookout Mountain on
the east slope of the Argus Range overlooking Panamint Valley some 1,500 feet below.
Lookout, a mining camp associated with the rise of Darwin, is located several miles south
of Panamint Springs and several miles east of Darwin outside the lands added to Death

125. Inyo Independent, July 12, 1968.

126. State of California, Department of Natural Resources, Division of Mines, Special Report No. 51, p. 15, and
Norman and Stewart, "Mines and Mineral Resources of Inyo County, California,” pp. 83, 113-15, 119.

66



CHAPTER ONE: EXPLORATION, 1849-19305
Charles E. Bendire Expedition

The search for a route between Silver Peak and Pahranagat east of Death Valley in
Nevada brought another expedition through the region during the spring of 1867. This
party was led by Ist Lieutenant Charles E. Bendire, 1st U.S. Cavalry, from Camp
Independence, a garrison that had been established in Owens Valley on July 4, 1862, to
protect the growing Euro-American mining and agricultural settlements in that area from
Indian attack.’* The camp had been dismantled after nearly 1,000 Indians had been
temoved from Owens Valley to the Fort Tejon Reservation in the southern San Joaquin
Valley in 1863. When conflicts between the Indians and whites resumed in 1865, the camp
was reopened and remained in operation until 1877. With the reopening of the camp,
however, most of the Indian attacks ceased. Travelers in the valley still needed an escort
in 1864, but the function of the military steadily shifted away from protection against
Indians, Thereafter, the soldiers stationed at Camp Independence, while providing a
military presence to protect the settlements if needed, increasingly engaged in exploration,
road-building, mapping, and prospecting activities in the Sierra Nevada to the west of the
fort and in lhe Inyo Mountains and the Death Valley region to the east."*

13. Charles Bendire emigrated to the United States from Germany, and possibly to learn English, enlisted on June
10, 1854, in Company D of the 1st U.S. Dragoon Regiment. "Dragoon" was an earlier term for cavalry in the US.
Anny. Before the end of his first five-year enlistment, Bendire was promoted to corporal. He apparently left the
Army at the end of his enlistment, but on June 8, 1860, reenlisted, this ime in Company D of the relatively new
Ast Cavalry regiment, where he quickly moved through the ranks to corporal and sergeant. On August 3, 1861,
Congress redesignated and renamed the mounted units in the Army, and the Ist Cavalry became the 4th Cavalry.
Soon thereafter, Bendire obtained appointment to the responsible position of regimental hospital steward. By that
time, the Civit War was in progress, and Bendire continued to serve in that capacity until September 9, 1864; word
apparently was stow in reaching him that on May 18, that year, he had been awarded a commission as a 2d
lieutenant in the 2d U.S, Infantry. During the three and one-half months after his commission was awarded, either
he or superior officers must have written the Adjutant General’s Office, because when on September 9, 1864, he
actually assumed the role of 2d lieutenant, it was not in the 2d Infantry but in his original dragoon regiment, now
known as the Ist U.S. Cavalry. During wartime, promotions can occur rapidly, and Bendire became a 1st lieutenant
on November 12, 1864. His promotion may have been a consequence of casualties in the regiment, because on
November 11, Bendire had participated in the Battle of Trevilian Station, one of the notable cavalry battles of the
Civil War, for which he was awarded a brevet, But in the following year, the war ended, and Bendire faced the
long, slow climb in rank in a minuscule “peacetime” regular Army. He was still a Ist lieutenant when he scouted
the Death Valley region in 1867, and would not reach the rank of captain until February 21, 1873. He served a little
over 13 years in that rank, and subsequently would receive another combat brevet for his participation in the Battle
of Canyon Creek with the Nez Perce Indians in 1877, Bendire retired from the Army on April 24, 1886, and died
February 4, 1997. Francis B. Heitman, Historical Register and Dictionary of the United States Army From its
Organization, September 29, 1789, to March 2, 1903 (2 vols., Washington, Government Printing Office, 1903), Vol. 1,
p. 209.

14. Colin 1. Busby, john M, Findlay, and James C. Bard, A Culture Resource Overvirw of the Bureau of Land
Management Coleville, Bodie, Benton and Owens Valley Planning Units, California (Oakland, California, Basin Research
Associates, June 1979, pp. 54-58; U. S$, Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Death Valley National
Monument Historical Background Study, p. 83; and Dorothy Clora Cragen, The Boys in the Sky-Blue Pants: The Men
and Events at Camp Independence and Forts of Eastern Califontia, Nevada and Utah, 1862-1877 (Fresno, California,
Pioneer Publishing Company, 1975), pp. 67-72, 78-82, and Chapter 8. For more information on the broader context
of the conflict between the Indians in California and Euro-American civilization and the impact of the latter on
Native American culture, see §. F. Cook, “Conflict Between the California Indian and White Civilization,” in R.
F. Heizer and M.A. Whipple, comps. and eds., The California Indians: A Source Book (2d ed., Berkeley, Los Angeles,
London, University of California Press, 1971), pp. 562-71; Edward D. Castillo, “The Impact of Euro-American
Exploration and Settlement,” in William C. Sturtevant, ed., Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 8, California
(Washington, Smithsonian Institution, 1978), pp. 99-127; and Carling 1. Malouf and John M. Findlay, "Euro-

10


EPILOGUE

of ash were strewn over a wedge-shaped area 3/4 mile by 1/2 mile in extent north of the
impact site.”

Warm Springs — Saline Valley

Although events surrounding the early recreational use of the Warm Springs in Saline
Valley are somewhat obscure, local Euro-Americans had begun visiting and soaking in the
springs by the early 1940s. For instance, Gordon Newell, a sculptor living in Darwin,
made repeated visits to the Warm Springs during the 1940s.” Although other area
residents probably visited the springs, Newell observed that no one was at the springs
during his visits. According to current users of the springs, a young man named Walt
(nickname Wizard} and a companion who were roping burros in Saline Valley chased
several burros up an arm of the valley in 1947. Riding their horses over a rise, the men
found a green area of relatively lush vegetation near the springs. Thus, they
"rediscovered" the lower of three warm springs (about one-half mile above Lower Warm
Spring is Palm Spring, sometimes referred to as Middle Warm Spring, and approximately
3 miles farther up the canyon is Upper Warm Spring). A concrete tub, approximately 2
feet deep and 4 feet in diameter, had been constructed at the Lower Warm Spring,
presumably by a cattleman or a sheepherder, to catch the runoff. As of 1947, there were
reportedly no other improvements at the springs and no “signs” that anyone was visiting
or using them.

During the post-World War II era, people began visiting Lower Warm Spring
intermitiently to camp and soak in the warm water. Like other remote unpatrolled areas
in the desert, the warm springs slowly became “trashed.” Some visitors built fire rings
indiscriminately and left their trash lying on the ground when they left. Other visitors
routinely soaked and washed their dishes in the source of the water for the springs -- the
natural pool from which the water for the Lower Warm Spring flowed.”

Despite the gradual "trashing" of the Warm Springs vicinity, some visitors wrote accounts
describing the natura! beauty of the area. In an article in Westways in April 1961, for
instance, Dorothy Robertson described the adventure of a three-vehicle caravan from
Olancha to Saline Valley. After a lengthy journey through the barren desert Robertson
noted:

Suddenly ahead of us we saw Lower Warm Springs, its two natural hot springs
fringed with date palms. One of the pools was much too hot for comfort, while
the other was a pleasant 85 degrees. A small man-made pool caught the overflow.

288. R. W. Koch, “The ClA’s Death Yalley Albatross," Air Classics, pp. 69-73, 98, Richard §. (Steve) Smith Files,
Bureau of Land Management, Ridgecrest (California) Resource Area Office, and U, $. Department of the
Interior, National Park Service, An Archeological Survey of a Navy F-18 Crash Site, Hunter Mountain, Death Vatley
National Park, California, Jeffrey F. Burton, August 1996, pp. 1-2. Another Navy plane crashed in Saline Valley
in June 1997 during preparation of this study.

289. Kief Hillsbery, “Paradise Lost,” California Magnzine (September 1983), p. 102

290. Unless otherwise noted, material for this section on the Warm Springs area has been extracted from
Joseph M. Weiss, “Observations on User Management at the Saline Valley Warm Springs, Ca.,” Senior Thesis,
Spring 1982, pp. 1-46. (Copy on file in Saline Preservation Association Collection, Las Angeles.)

154


CHAPTER TWO: MINING

stations. The normal tramway’s capacity was 20 tons of salt per hour, and the salt was
transported along the aerial wire-rope tramway in 286 cylindrical-shaped buckets that
were suspended from wheels that ran on the carrier wires and were attached to the
traction cable by friction grips. The suspension was designed so that the buckels hung
horizontally regardless of the angle of the carrier wire. Each bucket, coated to prevent
corrosion and rusting, carried 12 cubic feet (800 pounds) of sait.

When the tramway began operation, two men were employed at each of the control
stations, and two workers manned each of the terminals. Four line riders performed the
maintenance work on the tramway. A foreman exercised supervision of the entire line.
The cost of labor and power for salt transported was 4.6¢ per ton-mile. One of the critical
problems that confronted initial operation of the tramway was the weight of the salt —
planners had designed the tramway based on their estimate that air-dried salt weighed
approximately 60 pounds per cubic foot. After operation began it was found that most of
the salt carried by the tram was of "the wet variety,” weighing in excess of 80 pounds per
cubic foot. After several years of experimentation new grips, known as Universal Wico
grips, were installed. The improved grips were capable of holding the heaviest bucket plus
the weight of one line rider.

A small settlement developed around the unloading and processing facilities at Tramway.
Besides the unloading terminal and processing structures, including a 70-ton mill for
drying, grinding, and sizing the salt, the company built five houses for employees. The
last of these buildings collapsed from weathering in the late 1980s, but a cement
foundation for the oil burning drier is still visible. In addition to the housing at Tramway
a six-room residence, which would remain intact until the 1960s, was constructed for the
operator of the summit control station. Water was hauled to the summit station and stored
in a tank under the tram for use of the operator. No homes were built in Saline Valley.
The workers, most of whom were reportedly Mexicans and Indians, apparently lived in
tents, tent hauses, or the nearby Saline Valley Indian Ranch.

Preparation of the sait in Saline Valley for transport over the bamway was "mostly a
natural process.” Fresh water from the spring at the salt marsh that reportedly produced
55 miners’ inches was carried in wooden pipes to flood the salt fields. The fresh water
dissolved the salt rapidly. Dikes were used to control the spreading water. The valley’s
temperatures, which often reached 120 degrees in summer, provided the necessary heat to
evaporate the water, leaving essentially pure salt crystals in brine ready for harvesting.
The workers shoveled the dried salt into piles, 3-1/2 feet in diameter and 2 feet thick.
Each pile contained 400 to 500 pounds of salt. The piles were arranged in rows
approximately 12 feet apart, the spacing between the piles being 6 feet. Each worker could
pile 8 to 10 tons of salt per day. The salt remained in the piles until the brine had drained,
because this “mother liquor" contained the majority of the impurities. The salt, however,
did not drain freely and remained damp for a considerable period. The prime harvesting,
season was May to October. From the piles, the salt was loaded on specially built steel
and galvanized iron “buggies,” with 12-inch-wide (20 inches in diameter) rear wheels and
front wheels that were 16 inches in diameter with a 4-1/2-inch face. The buggies had beds
3 feet wide, 8 feet long, and 6 inches deep, and each was capable of carrying up to 1,000
pounds of salt. The buggies were pulled across the surface by 3/8-inch cables from a
gasoline-powered winch. At the dumping point, the buggies were pulled up an inclined
plane unti? they assumed an angle of approximately 44 degrees, at which slope lhe "moist"

94


Early Exploration, 1849-1870s

Although the expedition had been carefully planned, it was poorly timed, converging on
Death Valley at the peak of ihe summer heat in July. The two parties divided again at
Belmont, Nevada. Wheeler circled east by way of Pahranagat, then back to the Amargosa
to cross Death Valley to the next rendezvous at Camp Independence in Owens Valley.
Lyle, hiring the aforementioned Charles Frederick Reinhold Hahn as a guide, headed west
through Silver Peak and the new mining camps in the Fish Lake and Deep Springs valleys
north of Death Valley after which he crossed the White Mountains into Owens Valley.
Reaching Independence on July 18, well ahead of Wheeler, Lyle initiated an ill-conceived
endeavor that would take him through much rugged and largely unknown terrain in the
Death Valley region, including many of the areas that were added to Death Valley
National Monument in 1994.

Lyle described this "reconnaissance" in an appendix that was attached to Wheeler’s
"Preliminary Report, Exploration in Nevada and Arizona, 1871.” In his lengthy report to
Wheeler Lyle stated the intended purpose of this excursion:

Immediately upon my arrival at Camp Independence I fitted out a small party of
picked men and carefully selected animals, to run a reconnaissance line to what
was known as the head of the Amargosa. The object of this line was to determine
whether or not a passage could be found directly to the eastward over the sterile
deserts and mountains intervening between the Amargosa and Owen's Rivers
that was practicable for a large train of men and animals; to procure data for
constructing an accurate topographical map of that unknown area; to make
collections in natural history, mineralogy, and geology; and lastly, to form a
junction, if possible, with your line, and, if a practicable route was discovered, to
lead your large train to our rendezvous camp in Owen’s River Valley. This party
consisted of one topographer, two civilian assistants, two soldiers, a guide, a
packer, an Indian, and myself, with four pack-mules.

Lyle noted that before starting out on his reconnaissance, he “could get no detinite
information concerning the country to be traversed, and from every quarter received the
most discouraging accounts of the dangers attending such a trip through a country
entirely destitute of water, as far as known, after crossing the Inyo Range.” Nevertheless,
he “was enabied to take the field again within three days after" his arrival, with his
"animals re-shod, and the party supplied with forage and rations” by the soldiers at Camp

Independence.

About noon on July 21, Lyle’s small party left Camp Independence, ascending the Inyo
Mountains through Mazourka Canon. Lyle described the journey:

.... Fifteen miles up we camped at an excellent spring; grass and wood pienty,
Next day crossed the range and camped in a deep, rugged canon filled with
blocks of granite, and very narrow, which we called Wheeler's Canon. Here there
was plenty of wood and water, but very little grass. Below us, and to the
southward, lay Salianas [Saline] Valley, a small interior basin, about twelve miles
Jong, and from five to eight miles wide, containing salt-beds near its southern

extremity, .. .

15



Mining District/Areas Relating to the New Lands

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 war, as did uranium
Prospecting.

Throughout the history of mining in the Death Valley region, as weil as the eastern
California desert area, the search for and mining of metallic resources has generally been
Sporadic. This is due to its dependence on the fluctuating selling price of a certain
commodity, which in many cases 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 obtained economic significance. Most nonmetallic mineral deposits,
except for the major borate deposits still being worked, have been of marginal importance,
detrimentally influenced 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. Additionally, all mining in the region has been subject to shifts in
National and international monetary policies and market controls and to stiff competition
with foreign vendors.

MINING DISTREICTS/AREAS RELATING TO THE NEW LANDS

The boundaries of the lands added to Death Valley National Monument in 1994 were
drawn to exclude virtually all active mining operations and most significant mineable
mineral reserves. For instance, the California Desert Protection Act provided for a
boundary adjustment to exclude the Porter Mine, an active operation in the west
Panamints. Thus, the new lands generally contain only the remnants of small or modest
inactive mining sites. Nevertheless, historic prospecting activities and mining operations in
the new lands are associated with significant mining districts/areas that include lands
both inside and adjacent to the new park boundaries.

Caso

Darwin French, who had aided Turner in the search for the Lost Gunsight almost 10 years
earlier, returned from Oroville in northern California to the Death Valley region in March
1860 as a guide for the Butte Mining and Exploring Company, excited by the chance at
discovering the Lost Gunsight or a second Comstock. French’s expedition included among
others, Dennis Searles and James Hitchens, whose names, along with that of French,
would be permanently identified with the geography of the desert region. The expedition
was successful, not in finding the Lost Gunsight, but silver as well as gold ore, resulting in
a mining boom camp at Coso located approximately 11 air miles northeast of Coso Hot
Springs in southern Inyo County. Coso, a Paiute word meaning fire, was the name given
to the thermal hot springs used by Shoshone and Paiute groups for medicinal reasons. The
hot springs, as well as the mining camp, are located in the Coso Range within the present-
day boundaries of the U.S. Naval Air Weapons Station at China Lake southwest of Death
Valley National Park.

68. U.S, Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Historic Resource Study: A History of Mining, Vol. 1, Pt.
1, pp. +5.

45



CHAPTER TWO: MINTNG

other teams, quartered at the camp, to haul to the summit for unloading. The camp teams e
could make three trips in two days. The total weight of material hauled from the railroad

to this camp was estimated to be 1.1 tons of grain, 5.4 tons of hay, and 23.2 tons of water

for each 70.3 tons of material required for the tramway construction.

No tram construction could be undertaken on the precipitous east side of the Inyos until a
trail could be built for access up and down Daisy Canyon. Because heavy machinery could
not be moved by pack animals, it was necessary to construct temporary, double-cable,
reversible tramways as well as a "go devil." The latter was a device consisting of a timber
frame supported on an axle 8 feet !ong which passed through two heavy wheels to
transport materials from the summit down to the east side of the tramway construction.
During 1912, a trail was constructed that followed the route of the tram from the Saline
Valley floor up Daisy Canyon to the crest of the Inyos at an elevation of 8,720 feet. Hoyt S.
Gale, a geologist with the U. S. Geologicat Survey, observed that the trail, popularly
referred to as the "Zig Zag Trail," was "a remarkable rock-cut trail, picturesque in the
extreme from its ruggedness and the precipitous gorges and rocky slopes it discloses.”
After the trail was completed some 375 tons of material were hauled from Big Pine via
Waucoba Canyon into Saline Valley. A temporary tram, operated by a gasoline-powered
“donkey engine," was built in the lower half of Daisy Canyon to haul materials to the
levels above. Above that point, everything was hauled by mules on the newly-constructed
trail or let down by ropes from the summit above. When the trail was in good condition,
the trip from the Saline Valley floor to the summit could be made in one strenuous day.
The towers and structures were constructed on concrete foundations, and the water
required for making the concrete was hauled in tanks or packed by mules for distances e@
ranging from 1 to 7 miles.'*

While the Saline Valley tramway was under construction, Gale examined the salt deposit
on October 27, 1912. The purpose of the scientific examination was the procurement of
“samples of the salt for analysis to determine whether or not" it contained “soluble potash,
and for such incidental data as might be obtained bearing on the deposition of desert-
basin salines.”

Based on his investigation, Hoyt (see a copy of Hoyt’s map accompanying his report on
the following page) reported that the "salt deposits of Saline Valley” occupied “the Jowest
part of the depression, which, like other desert basins" was “completely inclosed by high
drainage divides” having "no outlet.” Surface and ground waters “derived from this area”
owed "toward the central depression, which had probably been submerged, though
perhaps only by shallow depths and for short epochs,” "No terraces or traces of upper
shore marking” were observed by Gale. The “central or playa deposit of salts and mud,
lying almost flat at the bottom of the valiey," occupied “approximately 12 square miles.”
Of this total, “only about 1 square mile” was “composed of a smooth, while, salt crust
containing a small pond of salt water.” The “white salt from this surface” was the

165, Carstarphen, "An Aerial Tramway,” pp. 712-13, 716-27; DeDecker, White Smith's Fabulous Salt Tram, pp. 13-16;

and Hoyt S. Gale, “Salt, Borax, and Potash in Saline Valley, Inyo County, California,” in U. 5. Department of the ©
Interior, Geological Survey, Bulletin No. 540, Contributions to Economic Geology (Short Papers and Preliminary Reports),

1912, Part L Metals and Nonmetals Except Fitels, by David White (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1914),

pp: 416-17,

90


Scientific Expeditions: 1890s-1930s

Welis Valley, Tecopa, Upper Canyon Beds, Owl Springs, Salt Springs, the Saratoga borax
beds, and the Amargosa River. Bailey noted that to "give a list of the springs carrying
noticeable quantities of salt” in Inyo County “would be to name nearly every spring in the
desert portions.”

Significant niter beds in the Death Valley region included those at Tecopa, Confidence,
Upper and Lower Canyon Beds, Salt Springs, Saratoga Spring, and Owl Springs.”

During March 1902, the California State Mining Bureau coliected data from county, state,
and federal records for a comprehensive publication entitled Register of Mines and Minerals,
Inyo County, California. This publication was accompanied by a Map of Inyo County,
California showing the location of the mines.”

Topographical Exploration

From 1905 to 1907, Robert H. Chapman and half a dozen other surveyors from the U.S.
Geological Survey mapped most of the Death Valley and the Amargosa regions, covering
an expanse of more than 10,000 square miles. They produced the first reliable topographic
maps (1:250,000) of the region ~~ the preliminary Amargosa Region sheet issued in July
1906, the Ballarat and Furnace Creek quadrangles in March 1908, and the Lida quadrangle
in June 1908. In a speech to the National Geographic Society on March 24, 1906, Chapman
described the physical rigors associated with traveling in the region to conduct the
mapping work, concluding his talk by observing:

Great mountains are a joy to the lover of nature; they are an inspiration to the
artist, and express grandeur and nobility. The desert has no such spirit, but has a
wonderful fascination, born of the impressiveness of magnificent distance,
limitless sky, and the infinite patience of an unbreakable calm."

In 1909 Walter C. Mendenhall, who would later become director of the US. Geological
Survey, issued a guide to the “watering places” throughout the entire desert country of
eastem California and southern Nevada. Using the notes of Bailey and Chapman and
perhaps others, his publication entitled Some Desert Watering Places in Southeastern
California and Southwestern Nevada provided detailed information and maps on the main
routes of travel and the location and description of irrigating and artesian waters and
springs in the region. The maps and guidebook were invaluable to later travelers and may
have saved many lives in the isolated and desolate region.

39. California State Mining Bureau, Bulletin No. 24, The Saline Deposits of California, by Gilbert E. Bailey
(Sacramento, State Printing Office, 1902}, pp. 44-50, 62-63, 72-76, 80-82, 116-20, 130-32, 171478. A decade later, Hoyt
S. Gale, a geologist with the U. S, Geological Survey, would conduct an extensive survey of salines in Owens,
Searles, and Panamint vaileys. U. S. Department of the Interior, Geological Survey, Bulletin No. S80-L, Satines in
the Owens, Searles, and Panamint Basins Southeastern California (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1914).

40. California State Mining Bureau, Register of Mines and Minerals, Inyo County, Catifornia (San Francisco, 1902), and
ibid., Map of Inyo County, California (San Francisca, 1902).

41. Robert H. Chapman, “The Deserts of Nevada and the Death Valley," National Geographic Magazine, XVII
(September 1906}, pp. 983-97, and Lingenfelter, Drath Valley & The Amargosa, pp. 366, 553.

27



PHOTOGRAPHS

Photo 1: Panamint City, ¢a. 1877. File No. 5130, Historic Photograph Collection,
Research Library and Museum Collection, Death Valley National Park.

Photo 2: Mill, Surprise Valley Mill and Water Company, ca. 1877. File No. 3581,
Historic Photograph Collection, Research Library and Museum Collection,
Death Valley National Park.

163


CHAPTER THREE: RANCHING/GRAZING

Valley. They soon became the largest cattle operators in the Coso area, bringing 1,000 head @
of cattle from Long Valley and establishing their winter range between Centennial Flat,
Mountain Springs Canyon, and the Junction Ranch and their summer range in Monache
Meadows in the Sierra Nevada. Sumner and Butler, in partnership with Peter and Norman
Mairs, later ran some 2,800 cattle on the range extending from Coso Village, Coles Spring,
and China Gardens to Coso Peak, Louisiana Butte, and Coso Hot Springs. Mark Lacey,
one of the initial partners of the Sumner and Butler enterprise, later established an
independent cattle operation at Olancha with approximately 1,000 head, and he used
portions of the present-day U. S. Naval Air Weapons Station at China Lake for winter
pasturage. Sometime after the mid-1910s, Beveridge Hunter ran about 750 to 1,000 head
on the range with Reynolds and several other cattlemen. Approximately 100 horses used
the Cactus and McCloud flats areas in the northern portion of the Coso Range during a
six-month grazing season from the early 1900s until the 1950s. Joshua and Upper
Centennial Flats, in the same area, were used from about 1885 to 1900, but those areas
have been used sparingly since the turn of the century. Bart Bellows filed a preemptive
claim on Haiwee Meadows in 1870, and some years later he imported 8,000 Angora goats.
Bellows operated what became known as the Goat Ranch until the early 1900s, but Angora
goats were reported as having been herded in the area below Silver Mountain as late as
the mid-1920s.">

Panamint Valley

Panamint Valley, a sandy desert expanse located south of the Hunter Mountain area
between the Argus and Slate ranges on the west and the Panamint range on the east, has @
been little used for grazing activity. The range above Searles Lake in the Homewood

Canyon area was used as early as 1915 by a catileman named Shuey. Grazing continued

until the early 1960s, when it was terminated because of range management problems

involving private holdings. The North and South lake areas in the valley were used for

grazing until the late 1940s, but competition with burros caused the eventual withdrawal

of cattle. By 1980 burros were making heavy use of most of the available forage in the

valley.

A table in the aforementioned appendix provides data on the estimated five-year use of
grazing allotments in the California Desert Conservation Area. Information on four
allotments, portions of which were located in lands that would be transferred from the
Bureau of Land Management to the National Park Service in 1994 under the provisions of
the California Desert Protection Act were:

5-YEAR AVERAGE S-YEAR AVERAGE AVERAGE NUMBER
Amat Unit NUMBER OF Head IN TOTAL
ALLOTMENT NAME Montus {AUMS) LIVESTOCK SEASON OF LSE — OPERATION
Hunter Mountain 1,105 150 Cattle 11/20 - 6/30 300
Last Chance 3,267 1,790 Cattle Not Known Not Known
Lacey-Cactus-McClond 3563 585 Cattle N/1-S/31 Not Known,
Deep Springs (later to become 1,250 250 Cattle Not Known Not Known

part of Eureka Valley}

245, Iroquois Research Center, Land Use History of Coso Hot Springs, pp. 122-27.
128


Early Exploration, 1849-2870s

Bendire’s exploration expedition was among the activities to be conducted by the soldiers
at Camp Independence, He set out with 29 men, including four private citizens who
served as guides and packers, on April 6, 1867, under orders to scout the country east of
Coso, through Emigrant Canyon (now Redlands Canyon) in the Panamints and across
Death Valiey to the Amargosa and beyond, returning by way of Silver Peak. During the
six-week trek, the party, with the guidance of Charles Frederick Reinhald Hahn, a veteran
Prospector from Cerro Gordo, explored portions of the Death Valley country and much of
southern Nevada, mapping a practical, if circuitous, route from Pahranagat to Silver Peak.
Finding Emigrant Canyon impractical for pack mules, Bendire dispatched Sergeant Neale
and nine men through the difficult canyon, while he took the main party south through
Panamint Valley and Windy Gap {now Wingate Pass) at the southern end of the
Panamints just west of the Owlshead Mountains. On his trek, Neale camped at Anvil
Springs, where he found an anvil, wagon tire, and “considerable old iron.” Rejoining
Bendire at the abandoned Salt Spring mine where they found the remnants of several
adobe miners’ houses, an old quartz mill, and a cistern, the reunited party followed the
Amargosa River until it headed east to Pahranagut. Returning to Camp Independence on
May 22 via Silver Peak, Fish Lake Valley, and Deep Springs Valley, Bendire reported that
his party had traveled 782 miles during its 47-day trek. Despite 110-degree temperatures,
long waterless treks, and “poisioncus” wells, Bendire lost only one animal out of 46 during,
the expedition. Although his men "behaved well," most of them returned “bare-foated."
After returning to the camp he observed:

After leaving Owen’s Lake I found the country to be nearly a continuous desert;
the mountains of volcanic origin, destitute of timber of any kind; water very
scarce in them in nearly every case. The springs at which I camped were
generally so insignificant that in most instances the party was put to considerable
labor, digging so as to get sufficient water. I believe that many are not permanent
but dry up during the summer. I am of the opinion that if the expedition had
started 2 or 3 months earlier there would have been far less difficulty in obtaining
water. The Telescope, Los Vegas, and Tinpinte Mountains, are the only ones that
have any timber on them, mostly Pinon. In the desert joining Death Valley
proper, there are a few mesquite brushes; they occur principally near the edges of
the Amargosa Swamp, where I found it excessively hot, the temperature being
about 110 degrees Fahrenheit.

Land suitable for agriculture, there is none worth mentioning. What litle there is,
is near the various small springs. Some of this is planted with corn by the
Indians. More than four acres suitable for agriculture I have not seen west of
Pahranagat Valley in any place. The Amargosa is a insignificant brook {at least it
was nothing more when I saw it) and does not deserve the name of a river.
During the summer months 1 suppose it dries up altogether.

More than half the way I made my own trail and saw no evidence of the country
having been previously traveled by horse or man. Four miles south of Elliot
Spring I crossed what I took to be Governor Blasdel’s trail going to Pahranagat.

American Impact Before 1870," in Sturtevant, ed., Haridbaok of North American Indians, Volume 11, Great Basin, pp.
499-516.

11



CHAPTER Two: MINING

gauge railway, known as the Tecopa Railroad, was hauling ore from the Gunsight and
Noonday mines to Tecopa station, where high-grade values were shipped over the
Tonopah and Tidewater to smelters at Murray, Utah.

Between 1912 and 1928, the Tecopa Consolidated Mining Company produced $3,000,000 in
silver and lead, becoming California’s leading silver-lead producer between 1917 and 1920.
By the time declining lead prices and ore values forced the Tecopa to shut down in 1928,
148,000 tons of ore averaging nearly $24 a ton were produced, two-thirds of which was
lead while the rest was silver with a trace of gold. By that date the Tecopa mines’
production had reached nearly $4,000,000, making them the biggest metal producers in the
Death Valley and Amargosa country. After World War If the mines, which had been
inactive during the Depression, were purchased by the Anaconda Copper Mining
Company. The mines were operated with a crew of some 45 men until March 1953, when
operations closed.TM

PanaminPanamint City

The Panamint mining rush that began in 1873 was another product of the search for the
Lost Gunsight Mine. The mining boom camp of Panamint City was established at the head
of Surprise Canyon, a secluded steep and narrow canyon tucked between Telescope Peak
and Panamint Valley on the west side of the Panamint Range at an approximate elevation
of 6,600 feet above sea level. Panamint City is significant for this study since it is the only
“ghost town" that is located within the boundaries of the lands that were added to Death
Valley Nationa? Monument in 1994. Accordingly, the National Park Service has
determined to nominate Panamint City for listing on the National Register of Historic
Places because of its historical significance, integrity of archeological remains, and research
potentiai.®

93, Myrick, Railroads of Nevada and Eastern California, Vol. Il, pp. 593-96. The Tonopah and Tidewater was
constructed northward from Ludlow on the Santa Fe. Crossing the "Salt Lake Route” at Crucero, the railroad went
northward through Soda Springs (present-day Baker) and Silver Lake, passing into the Amargosa Valley via
Amargusa Canyon. The rail line continued northward to Death Valley Junction from which point a branch line
was constructed tu Old Ryan. The railroad extended northward from Death Valley Junction to an eventual meeting
with the Bullfrog-Goldfield Railroad, thus giving it a connection to Goldfield and Tonopah.

94, Norman and Stewart, "Mines and Minera] Resources of Inyo County, California,” p. 80; j. Grant Goodwin,
“Lead and Zine in California,” California Journal of Mines and Geology, LILI July 1957), p. 511; Lingenfelter, Death
Valley & The Amargosa, pp. 355-59; and R. J. Sampson, "Mineral Resources of the Resting Springs Region, Inyo
County,” California Journal of Mines and Geology, XXXII (October 1937), pp. 264-73.

95, Information on Panamint/Panamint City may be found in Norwood et al., Cultural Resource Querview of the
Eureka, Saline, Panamint, end Darwin Region, pp. 128-33; Yredenburgh, Shumway, and Hartill, Desert Fever, pp, 233-
38; Lingenfelter, Death Valley & The Amargosa, pp. 113-34; Neill C. Wilson, Silver Stampede: The Career of Death
Valley's Hell-Camp, Old Panamint {New York, The Macmillan Company, 1937; Reprint, New York, Ballentine Books,
1974); Dane Coolidge, Death Valley Prospectors (New York, E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc., 1937}, pp. 77-64; George
Koenig, "23" Skidoo and Ponamtint, Too! (Death Valley, California, The Death Valley ‘49ers, 1971}; and F.
MacMurphy, "Geology of the Panamint Silver District, California,” Economic Geology, XV (June 1930}, pp. 05-25.
The Eastern California Museum in Independence, California, has a sizable collection of historic photographs of
Panatnint, and documentary records, titled "Panamint Mining District Records (1873-74), may be found in the
Recorder’s Office at the Inyo County Courthouse in Independence.

56


Historical Querview of Grazing

formed a happy group, a group that rambled about in the house as well as
romped beside the water of the spring. A few cattle grazed on the bunch-grass of
the valley that stretched away before the house, gray and desolate?

HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF GRAZING WITHIN OR NEAR THE NEW LANDS

Historical documentation on grazing activities in lhe lands added to Death Valley National
Monument in 1994 is scarce. Appendix XIII of the California Desert Conservation Area Plan:
Final Environmental Impact Statement and Proposed Plan, prepared by the Bureau of Land
Management in September 1980, contains “A Short History of Grazing in the California
Desert Conservation Area.” Although this historical sketch is brief, it provides pertinent
information regarding grazing activities on the lands added to the park. The following
information is a summarized version of the data presented in the appendix.*®

Livestock grazing in the lands added ta Death Valley National Monument in 1994 began
during the late 1860s and early 1870s and was first regulated in 1935 under the provisions
of the Taylor Grazing Act of 1934. Since passage of that law, grazing management has
been an ongoing program administered by federal agencies. Grazing districts were
established, defining allotment boundaries, seasons of use, and carrying capacity for
“public rangelands." The public rangelands established under the Taylor Grazing Act
include all unfenced lands, public and private, within allotment boundaries. Livestock
operators were given use of private lands concurrently with public lands because of the
difficulties of confining animals to particular areas, unless fenced by the landowner.
Outside of public rangelands, grazing occurred at landowner discretion and, as local
zoning reguiations and ordinances were passed, within any limitations set forth by local
jurisdictions.

Fish Lake Valley

Fish Lake Valley, north of the Last Chance Range and Eureka Valley and northeast of
Deep Springs Valley (and outside the park boundaries), was probably not extensively
utilized as early as some. of the more southern grazing areas. Grazing activity occurred
during the late 19th century, however, because the Piper Ranch was established by the
mid-1570s. After well drilling during the 1930s the range and distribution of cattle in Fish
Lake Valley increased. Overgrazing was inevitable, especially during the period when the
Lida Livestock Company atiempted to contro! the area by moving cattle into ranges
already stocked by other ranches. These attempts (the main idea being to force smaller
outfits out of business) placed severe pressure on the range and were particularly
prevalent prior to federal government management of grazing. In addition the valley was
impacted by numerous bands of sheep that aunually passed through the area from the
turn of the century until the mid-1930s.

242. Spears, Hlustrated Sketches, pp. 56-57.

243, Unless otherwise noted, information for this section is derived from U. $. Department of the Interior,
Bureau of Land Management, The California Desert Conservation Area Plan: Final Environmental Impact Statement
and Proposed Plan, September 1980, Vol. F, Appendix XIII, "Livestock Grazing," pp. 15-28, 109-13.

125


Mining District/Areas Relating to the New Lands

The survey noted that three mines along the east flank of the Inyo Mountains on the
western edge of Saline Valley provided significant amounts of high-quality steatite grade
talc by the mid-1950s. Access to these mines was via the Saline Valley road. The Bonham
{White Mountain) Mine, which ranked second in California as a source of high-quality
Steatite, had yielded several tens of thousands of tons. The White Eagle Mine in the
vicinity of Willow Creek, whose reserves were measurable in tens of thousands of ‘tons,
was first brought into production in 1941 and had produced some 3,000 to 4,000 tons by
the early 1950s and remained active. The Willow Creek Mine, located on the south side of
Willow Creek Canyon on the east slope of the Inyos, had produced about 1,000 tons,
obtained mostly during 1941-42. Other talc deposits that contained significant unmined
tonnages, but which were being held in reserve, included the Saline Valley and Grey Eagle
(Eleanor), the iatter being located just south of the White Eagle.

The survey also stated that lead-silver-zine deposits, such as those at the Big Silver,
Bunker Hill, and Monster mines on the eastern slopes of the inyos, had been explored
extensively. The Santa Rosa Mine, located north of the Talc City Hills in the southern Inyo
Mountains to the west of Lee Flat and the Darwin Plateau, was the eighth largest lead
producer in the state. From the time of its discovery in 1910 until 1950, the mine was
credited with a production of 36,854 tons of ore containing 11,990,792 pounds of lead,
487,347 pounds of copper, 4,105 pounds of zinc, 426,543 ounces of silver, and 478.7 ounces
of gold. in addition an 1,800-foot westerly trending crosscut adit had been driven in 1953
to explore and develop known veins at greater depth.*

By the mid-1980s the two largest tale-producing operations in the Saline Valley region
were the Nikolaus-Eureka and the Harlis-Broady mines in Eureka Vailey. Intermittent
operation of the former from 1945 to 1970 produced about 75,000 tons of talc for use in
casmetics and pharmaceuticals. The Harlis-Broady produced 31 tons of tale in 1957.7"

Individual prospectors also continued to look for elusive mineral treasures in the Saline
Valley area. During the early 1960s, for instance, a lone prospector named Rowan operated
along the east slope of the Inyo Mountains from his “Vega Camp" located near the spring
at the mouth of Hunter Canyon on the west side of the valley. Rowan, who welcomed
visitors at his little oasis home by the pool adjacent to the spring, posted a hand-lettered
sign along the Saline Valley road, asking travelers not to shoot his burros.*”

205. State of Catifornia, Department of Naturat Resources, Mineral Information Service, "Saline Valley Area, Inyo
County,” pp. 1-5; Norman and Stewart, "Mines and Mineral Resources of Inyo County,” pp. 79-80; State of
California, Department of Natural Resources, Division of Mines, Special Report No. 51, pp. 53-55; and Gary
Richardson, Researcher to Louis A. Boll, District Manager, Bureau of Land Management, August 29, 1973, “Saline
Valley /Salt Company — Salt Tram,” Subject History Files, Eastern California Museum, Independence. By 1979 the
White Eagle and the Grey Eagle mines had a combined production of some 50,000 tons of high-grade tale, the
majority of the production coming from the White Eagle. The White Eagle was the only active tale operation in
the area by 1988, producing some 2,000 to 3,000 tons a year for use in cosmetic and ceramic tile manufacture. The
Snowflake Mine, near the Grey Eagle, was discovered in the 1890s and was worked intermittently. In 1984 the
mine reportedly produced 5,000 tons of tale on a custam basis. U.S. Department of the Interior, Geological Survey,
Open-File Report No. 84-560, pp. 14-15, and State of California, Department of Conservation, Division of Mines
and Geology, DMG Open-File Report No. 88-2, pp. 55, 89, 92.

206. U. 5. Department of the Interior, Geological Survey, Open-File Report No. 84-560, pp. 14-15,

207. Dorothy Robertson, "At the End of A Back Country Trail,” Westways (April 1961), pp. 16-17, and ibid., "Three
Pools in the Desert,” Desert Magazine (February 1965), p. 2%

109


Mining District/Areas Relating to the New Lands

Adjoining the Crater Group on the south were the Praction and Southwest Sulphur claims,
comprising an 18-acre area on which a 6- to 12-foot sulphur vein was developed by the
Italio Sulphur Industries Company during the late 1930s. The sulphur was trucked to
three stone compartment ovens that produced sulphur in 175-pound cakes having 99.5
percent purity. Farther south, the Gulch Group included 10 claims located originally by
James Jacoby in 1918, One-half of the 20-foot-wide sulphur vein on this property consisted
of massive crystalline sulphur that was 90 percent pure. Production from the Gulch Group
is listed at 3,700 “long” tons of crude ore. Some sulphur was mined from an open cut in
this group in 1955 for use as an agriculturai mineral. Although the richness and extent of
the sulphur reserves in this area have been proven, their isolation and distance from an
adequate water supply for milling operations have discouraged extensive

development.”

By the mid-1950s the Crater Camp, as it came to be called, consisted of about a half dozen
buildings, and the mining activities were operated by the United Sulphur Company, a
subsidiary of Allied Chemical of Houston, Texas. In 1962 Inyo County completed a new
road, graded but unpaved, from a point 18 miles east of Big Pine to the northern part of
Death Valley National Monument near Ubehebe Crater. The new road passed near the
Crater Camp and thus provided a more direct route to the isolated mining area from both
Owens and Deatt valleys. The new road passed through Cowhorn Valley, skirted Saline
Valley and the Waucoba country, pierced the Saline Range, crossed Eureka Valley, and
climbed the Last Chance Range, before dropping down into the northern part of the
national monument.”

Mining operarions at the Crater Group were conducted by the Inyo Soil Sulfur Company
during 1963-67 and Magma-Minerals, Inc. during 1968-69. It is estimated that the
equivalent of more than 50,000 tons of 100 percent sulphur were produced in the Crater
area up to 1945. Since that time, mining operations have yielded only a few thousand tons
of 25-40 percent sulphur for use as a soil aid. By 1986 the main pit on the Crater claims,
which contain the remains of the old plant, had been enlarged to some 200 feet (north-
south) by 500 feet (east-west) and approximately 50-60 feet in depth.”

Although mercury prospects have been discovered at numerous places in the Last Chance
Range, the most prominent mercury (cinnabar) deposit in the area was discovered in 1966
at the El Capitan, some 2 miles north of the Crater Mine. Production from the El Capitan

and general exploration of other mercury deposits in the area took place in the late 3960s

when mercury prices were high ($536 per Nask in 1968). After producing 3,400 flasks of

210, Lingenfelter, Death Valtey & The Amargusa, p. 407; Tucker and Sampson, “Mineral Resources of Inyo County,
California,” pp. 490-91; Norman and Stewart, "Mines and Mineral Resources of Inyo County, Califomia,” pp. 112-
13; and State of California, Department of Conservation, Division of Mines and Geology, DMG Open-File Report

No. 88:2, pp. 87-68,

211. Russ Leadabrand, “Let's Explore a Byway ... A New Road into Death Valley,” Westiays, (April 1963), pp. 22-
2.

212. Mary Frances Strong, "Crater Camp,” pp. 12-13, "Death Valley,” Vertical Reference Files, Inyo County Library,
Independence, and State of California, Department of Conservation, Division of Mines and Geology, DMG Open-
File Report No. 88-2, pp. 54, 87-88,

111



CONTENTS

Photo 17: Indian George's Ranch, Panamint Valley, September 1946 171

Photo 18: Salt Field, Saline Valley, September 1912 171

Photo 19: Zig-Zag Trail, Daisy Canyon, Inyo Mountains, ca. 1912-13. Pack train of six
or seven mules can be seen descending near the top of the zig-zag 172

Photo 20: Boiler near Tram Loading Area, Saline Valley Salt Tram, ca. 1930s-40s 173

Photo 21: Tram Tower and Bucket near Bunkhouse and Office Area, Saline Valley Salt
Tram, ca. 1930s-40s 173

Photo 22: Tram Towers and Cable, Saline Valley Salt Tram, ca. 1930s-40s 174

Photo 23: Saline Valley Salt Fields, n.d. 174

Photo 24: Tram Towers, Saline Valley Salt Tram, n.d. 175

vi


(CHAPTER Two: MINING

Satine Valley Salt Works/Salt Tram, in 1864 a farmer from Owens Valley, whose
sumame was Smith, discovered the salt deposit covering a 12-square-mile area at the
southwestern edge of Saline Valley. Using horse-drawn teams, Smith scraped and
removed salt from the surface af several square miles of the salt marsh and transported
wagon loads of the product to Owens Valley, crossing the Inyo Mountains via Waucoba
Canyon on trips that took two days. He sold the salt to settlers who used it for table
purposes and for making butter. Because of the difficulties in transporting the salt out of
remote Saline Valley, Smith sold the product for a very expensive $20 per ton. Although
he never lacked customers because of the excellent quality of the salt, Smith eventually
abandoned the project because of the difficulty and cost of hauling.’

Although Smith discontinued his operations in Saline Valley, the presence of the mineable
salt deposit was "rediscovered" in 1902. The attractiveness of the commodity was
enhanced by the fact that the salt {sodium chloride) was found to be more than 98 percent
pure. The Saline Valley Salt Company, which had been incorporated in Arizona, was
established with L. Bourland as president the following year. After operating the salt
works on a small scale during 1903 and 1904, the activities of the company were halted
temporarily in 1905 when Bourland died, but two years later the company, under the
leadership of Bishop attorney White Smith, commenced an in-depth study of the
transportation problems involved in moving the salt from Saline Vailey to Owens Valley.
After Bourland’s death Smith, who had come to Bishop with relatives from Tennessee and
found employment hauling borax and supplies to and from Saline Valley for the Conn
and Trudo Borax Works, had taken over the Satine Valley Salt Company, together with his
brothers Fred and Eugene, also of Bishop, and determined to develop the salt works. The
Smith brothers had interested G. D. Ferrell from Humboldt, Tennessee, in the venture, and
after visiting Saline Valley he in turn had obtained further financial backing from other
Tennessee investors. The company determined that construction of a railroad would be
too costly and considered the idea of building a pipeline over the Inyo Mountains in
which the salt could be transported as a brine before settling on construction of an aerial
tramway, because it could be used not only to transport salt out of the valley but also to
ship supplies into the largely inaccessible area."

In 1908 surveys were begun by White Smith preparatory to construction of the tramway
which would link the salt marsh in Saline Vailey to a processing plant across the Inyo
Mountains at a railroad stop named Tramway — a siding on the narrow gauge railroad
northwest of the community of Swansea on the east side of wens Lake. It was estimated
that the tramway, designed to be the steepest in the United States, would reduce
transportation costs of the salt from $20 per ton to $4 per ton. A final survey was
conducted in April 1911 to determine the cost and suitable location for the tramway by W.
H. Leffingwell, a resident of Bishop and civil engineer of the Mono Power Company, and

162. State of California, Department of Natural Resources, Division of Mines, Bulletin No. 175, Salt in California,
by William E. Ver Planck, March 1958, pp. 25-26, 76, 116-18; H. G. Hanks, "On the Occurrence of Salt in California
and Its Manufacture,” in California State Mining Bureau, Second Report of the State Mineralogist of California From
December 1, 1880, to Octoher 1, 1882 (Sactamento, State Printing Office, 1882}, pp. 217-26; and "The Salt Marsh in
Saline Valley,” Inyo Magazine, 1 July 15, 1908), pp. 9-10.

163. State of Califomia, Department of Natural Resvurces, Division of Mines, Bulletin No. 175, pp. 116-17; Hanks,
“On the Occurrence of Salt in Califomia,” pp. 217-26; and Mary DeDecker, White Smith's Fabulous Salt Tram (Death
Yalley, California, The Death Valley ‘49ers, Inc., 1993) pp. 7-8.

88


(CHAPTER ONE: EXPLORATION, 1849-19308

see the Ubehebee [sic] Peaks on the right, across the valley, and salt sink straight
ahead.

The men’s first stop was at “the big rock with Pictographs and Petroglyphs on it about
half way up the wash to Hunter Canyon." After surveying the vicinity they drove into the
canyon to a spring from where they continued on foot to a cave which they photographed
and sketched.

After driving into Saline Valley the men passed the old salt works near which a well was
located. Beyond "the Salt Works and about half a mile up the wash from a road that skirts
the west side of Saline Valley," the men stopped at “a large granite boulder about 7 feet
high, 8 feet wide and 18 feet long beside the road." The rock had numerous pictagraphs
and petroglyphs and mortar holes on it, and rock circles, potsherds; and chips were found
in the vicinity. In a wash about one-half mile northwest of the rock, the men found "the
scattered residue of cremation, principally beads of the same trade type lying in the small
spaces between the rocks." Many of the beads were “burned and broken,” and a “fragment
of human skull and two shoulder fragments of porcelain doll were also found.”

After driving approxiinately 10 miles “over the bed of the old salt marsh to the north-east
side of the big valley,” the men found that the “road finnaly [sic] disappeared [sic] into
nothingness.” They "continued up the wash to Lower Warm Spring,” but darkness
overtook thei so they bedded down until daylight.

The next morning, the men reconnoitered the vicinity of Lower Warm Spring, viewing the
remnants of a “small wickiup" that had been intact when Kerr had photographed it eight
years before in 1923. It was a “small reed shelter about large enough to protect the head
and upper part of the body from lhe sun or wind.” It had “a smaller sort of shield to place
along the side of the body that the larger one did not cover.” After a three-mile hike
during which the men found few artifacis, they ieft for Upper Warm Spring:

Moming found us on our way again after a little reconnoiter by Kerr but the road
soon gave out again. From Lower to Upper Warm Spring we had to dodge from
one narrow wash to another going over boulders that, unless one were very
careful, would wreck a car. We had to stop about every fifty feet to roll them out
of the way, break down edges, and build our road for a distance of 2.8 miles.
This consumed seven hours of our time and meant a whole day lost for us.

The men reached Upper Warm Spring on the afternoon of November 2. Here they found
“several pools of water about the temperature of 110 degrees” among “mesquite trees.”
“Rock slabs in the center" surrounded “another such pool alinost entirely hidden by the
rushes that grow in the water." The "screw-shaped beans growing” on the mesquite trees
were still “picked by the Indians and ground into meal.” Early the next morning, the men
started “to look over the slopes west of our camp” covering an “area 1/2 a mile and
approximately a mile long.” Crossing over this area of light colored knolls and flats, the
men found them to be cut “by many small washes and gullies.” The "surface all about
showed signs of former hot springs that, in running over the surrounding surface, made a
yellowish hard crust." While walking about the surface of the knolls, the "ground sounded
hollow" beneath their feet. They soon found the cause "to be hollow cavers, one of which
had a smali opening 10 x 15 inches.” Investigating the hole through the small opening

32


EPILOGUE
Adopt-A-Cabin Program @

During the late 1980s, the Bureau of Land Management also initiated an "Adopt-A Cabin"
program, the purpose of which was to utilize backcountry cabins on public lands under its
administration as destination points for vehicular- and non-vehicular-based visitor
camping sites. The program was designed to set up memoranda of understanding with
individuals or organizations so that volunteers could maintain cabins which were selected
and approved for the program. The BLM would assist with materials and tools to help
with maintenance of the cabins.

Use of the cabins under the Adopt-A-Cabin program was on a first-come, first-served
basis with no reservation system. Users were encouraged to stay no more than three days
and two nights, but the standard maximum camping limit of 14 days for public land in
the California Desert Conservation Area was applied. Visitors were responsible for
Maintaining and cleaning the cabins after use.

By February 1994 maintenance/preservation activities under the program had been
initiated on several cabins in or near lands added to Death Valley National Monument
later that year. These structures included the Nelson Range Cabin located on the north
side of Lee Flat on the west slope of the Nelson Range; the Keynot Mine Cabin; the
Beveridge Ridge Cabin on the east side of the Inyo Mountains; and the Barker and
Neumana cabins in the Goler Wash and Goler Canyon areas on the west slope of the
southem Panamints. Cabins that were considered to have potential for the program
included the Hall Canyon Cabin located at the upper end of the canyon; the Panamint @
City cabin, a modern structure in Surprise Canyon near the historic Panamint City smelter
smokestack; the Inyo Crest Salt Tram Cabin, a 5-room historic cabin on the crest of the
Inyo Range; the Burgess Mine Cabin on the Inyo crest at the north end of the Inyo Crest
Road; the Jail Canyon Cabin at the upper end of the road in Jail Canyon; Frenchy‘s Cabin
in upper Beveridge Canyon; the Upper Keynot Cabin; and the Hunter Canyon Cabin.*

MISCELLANEA
The lands added to Death Valley National Monument in 1994 have also been the site of

events and activities that are associated with soine of the themes that have characterized
American history during World War II and subsequent decades.

Ridgecrest Resource Area, Inyo Mountains,” n. d., pp. 19-22; and Bureau of Land Management, “Lonesome
Miner Trail, Inyo Mountains Wilderness,” n. ichard S, (Steve) Smith Files, Bureau of Land Management,
Ridgecrest (California) Resource Area Office. At the present time, Thomas S. Budlong, a resident of Los
Angeles who has been involved with the volunteer trail program, is preparing a book on the historic mining
tails in the Inyo Mountains.

286. Memorandum, Steve Smith to Steering Committee, [re Ridgecrest Adopt-A-Cabin Program —~ Guidelines, e@
Status and Planned Actions] February 1, 194, Richard S. (Steve) Smith Files, Bureau of Land Management,
Ridgecrest (California) Resource Area Office.

152



CHAPTER THREE: RANCHING/GRAZING

strike at Aurora, Nevada. During the summer of 1861, the first Euro-American settlers
entered Owens Valley. A cattle-driving party, including A. Van Fleet and Henry
Vansickle, moved into the valley from the north in August, scouting lands as far south as
the present site of Lone Pine. Afier seeing no white settlers they returned to the north
edge of the valley to construct the first Euro-American dwelling, of sod and stone, near
the present site of Laws. About the same time, Charles Putnam constructed a stone cabin
on Independence Creek at the present site of Independence to serve as a trading post.
During the same period Samuel A. Bishop drove a herd of cattle from Fort Tejon, near the
south edge of the San Joaquin Valley, to Owens Valley and started a ranch southwest of
the town that today bears his name. In late November 1861 Barton and Alney McGee
herded some cattle into the present Lone Pine area from the San Joaquin Valley,
constructing the first residence in that vicinity.

Thus, by the end of the Kirst year of Euro-American settlement in Owens Valley, three of
the valley's four major town sites had been selected. During the next several years, the
fledgling communities became the nuclei of expanding agricultural and stock raising
enterprises. Independence, which was for a short time known as “Putnam’‘s” and "Little
Pine,” gradually grew, aided by the establishment of Camp Independence in 1862. The fort
was established to provide a military presence in the valley and thus protect the
expanding settlements against attack by the Indians whose ancestral lands were being
usurped by Euro-American homesteaders. Thomas Edwards and his family, travelling
with a large herd of cattle, moved into the vafley in 1863, purchased Putnam’s trading
post and stone cabin, and laid out the first official town at Independence. Lone Pine
prospered with the influx of miners to the region, and the community quickly attracted a
multi-ethnic population, In 1862 a group of cattlemen settled on George Creek, south of
Independence, to form a rural community. During the 1910s, the orchard town of
Manzanar would be established north of George Creek.

These embryonic communities were important because they formed the loci for later
setilement in the valley. Thus, the driving force of permanence in the valley, and the solid
bedrock on which the valley was to be developed during the next several decades, was
the settlement by farmers and ranchers during the eatly 1860s . The impulse for the rapid
increase of farmers and stockmen in the valley was in part due to the drought that
afflicted western Californian grazing and agricultural lands from 1862 to 1864. Searching
for adequate pasturage for their hungry stock, sheep and cattle raisers from the Central
Valley drove their herds into Owens Valley and the Mono Basin. Crossing over Walker
Pass, these men drove north through Owens Valley and into lower Mono County. Later,
in developing a route that remains in use today, herders would push their stock over
Sierra passes in Mono County into the northern part of the Central Valley, and complete
their circle of travel for summer pasturage. Some of these stockmen made their permanent
homes east of the Sierra, so that by 1870 the Mono County goverrument assessed more
than $100,000 worth of resident livestock. Others were so pleased with the pasturage east
of the Sierra that they continued making the summer journey on an annual basis, thus
providing a steady stream of traffic through the region.”

229. Busby, Findlay, and Bard, A Cuilure Resource Querview of the Bureau of Land Management Colevilie, Bodie,
Benton and Owens Valley Planning Units, pp. 48-50, and Chalfant, The Story of Inyo, pp. 139-43, 201-14.

120


Mining District/Areas Relating fo the New Lands

salt slid freely into a hopper above a car which was 30 inches wide, 4 feet, 6 inches long,
and approximately 30 inches high. The bottom of the car was hoppered both ways at an
angle of 45 degrees, so that its sides, instead of its ends, were used for doors. The wooden
cars ran on a double-track railway about 1/2 mile long, operated by an endless rope
haulage system operating at a speed of 200 feet per minute. A 10-horsepower gasoline
engine moved seven loads and seven empties on these tracks. The cars dumped into a
boot serving a drag conveyor that elevated the salt to a point sufficiently high to
command the 50-ton bins at the loading termina! where the tramway buckets were filled
by a lever chute. The buckets were dispatched from the loading terminal at the tap of an
automatic spacing gong. The rate established was 56 buckets per hour.to the loading
terminal, thus permitting the tramway to carry material continuously at the rate of 23 or
24 tons per hour.

During 1913, more than 5,000 tons of salt was shipped over the tramway, and by February
1914, the Saline Valley Salt Company was sending to market an average of 9 to 15 narrow-
gauge railroad cars of processed salt per week. Despite the success of the tramway
operation, however, construction costs for the tramway proved to be excessive, thus
forcing the lirm to lease its operations to the Owens Valley Salt Company in 1915. Under
the lease agreement, one-half of the revenue from the salt operations was to go to the
Saline Valley Salt Company, while the name of the product was changed to “White
Mountain Salt.”

W. J. Savage, whose office was in the American Bank Building in Los Angeles, managed
the Owens Valley Salt Company, while John A. Lewis was superintendent of the salt
works. In 1916 40 ment were employed in the salt fields during the harvest season that
extended from April to December. Seventeen men operated and maintained the tarnway
which operated only during the summer months, and 30 men were employed at the mill
at Tramway throughout the year. The mill processed approximately 30 tons of salt per day
at a cost of $2.75 per ton (harvesting salt in Keld, 50¢; tramming, $1.50; and milling, 75¢).
At the mill, the salt was shovelled into a bin that automatically fed into a large rotary, oil
burning, drying furnace. Subsequently elevated to rolls, the salt was crushed to the
desired sizes and passed over shaking screens to classify the different sizes. Five classes of
salt were produced, varying from natural crystallized rock salt to pulverized table salt. A
narrow gauge spur rail line was built to the mill to facilitate loading of the processed salt
on to railroad cars."”

After operating the tramway for three years the Owens Valley Salt Company, beset by
financial difficulties, internal dissension, and tawsuits from creditors, abandoned its
interests in the salt works, and the tramway ceased operation in 1918. Between 1913 and

68, Carstarphen, “An Aerial Tramway,” pp. 713-16, 727-28, 733-21; DeDecker, White Smith's Fabuloxs Salt Trani,
pp. 16-22; State of California, Department of Natural Resources, Division of Mines, Bulletin No. 175, p. 117; and
Gary B. Speck, “Exploring a Ghost Railroad,” Wester and Eastern Treasures, (March 1995), pp. 28-30. See the
following two pages for a map showing the location of the tram and a chart showing its profile.

169. California State Mining Bureau, Report XV of the State Mineralogist, Mines and Minerat Resources of Portions of
California, pp. 121-23; DeDeeker, White Smith’s Fabulous Salt Tram, pp. 20-22; and Thalia Weed Newcomb,
“Agricultural and Industrial Survey of Inya County, Calif. made by the Califomia Development Board of San
Francisco, Califomia at the Request of the Board of Supervisors of Inyo County,” June - July 1917, p. 98.

95



CHAPTER TWO: MINING

HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF MINING IN THE DEATH VALLEY REGION*®

Gold, freed from its matrix by erosion and deposited as nuggets and flakes, or fine
“colors” in streambed gravel, provided the first non-Native American mineral production
in California. These placer deposits, in what would later be known as Jackson Gulch and
Potholes in Imperial County in southem California, were worked for a brief period in
1780-81 by Spanish prospectors. Gold was also discovered and worked at Placerita Canyon
near Newhall, north of Los Angeles, in 1842, but neither discovery caused a world-wide
tush like that of James W. Marshail’s find an a branch of the American River in Eldorado
County in the lower Sacramento Valley in January 1848. The Mother Lode in northern
California served as a magnet drawing eager and adventurous young and not-so-young
men to Califormia in search of fortune. By the end of 1849, it is estimated, the California
population had been swelled by some 100,000 persons known as the “Forty-Niners."
Despite country-cousin comparison with the Mother Lode, the California desert region of
southem and eastern California soon had its share of visitors on their way to the northern
goldfields.”

The first mineral discoveries in present-day Inyo and San Bernardino counties, in which
the lands that were added to Death Valley National Monument in 1994 are located (only
the most southerly portion of the lands added to the national monument are in San
Bemardino County), were made during the winter of 1849-50.¥ In Inyo County, mining

48, For an indepth history of mining in the Death Valley region, see the four-volume study entitled, U. S.
Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Historic Resource Study: A History of Mining in Death Valley
National Monument, by Linda W. Greene and John A. Latschar, 1981, and State of California, Department of
Conservation, Division of Mines and Geology, Special Report No. 125, Miners and Mineral Deposits in Death Valley
National Montentent, California, by James R. Evans, Gary C. Taylor, and John S. Rapp, 1976.

49. Richard B. Morris, ed. Encyclopedia of American History; Bicentennial Edition (New York, Hagerstown, San
Francisco, London, Harper & Row, Publishers, 1976), p. 247, and Vredenburgh, Shumway, and Hartill, Desert Fever,

p. 272.

50, Various California state mining publications provide an overview of mining history in Inyo County. The most
pertinent publications include: W. A. Goodyeat, "Inyo County,” in California State Mining Bureau, Eighth Annual
Report of the State Mineralogist (Sacramento, State Printing Office, 1889), pp. 224-309; H. DeGroot, "Inyo County,”
i . Tenth Annual Report of te State Mineralogist (Sacramento, State Printing Office, 1890, pp. 209-18; "Mines
and Mining Products of Catifornia,” in ibid., Twelfth Report of the State Mineralogist, pp. 21, 23-25, 34, 135-41, 326,
333-34, 373-74; Clarence A. Waring and Emile Huguenin, "Inyo County," in ibid., Report XV of the State Mineralogist,
Mines and Mineral Resources of Portions of California (Sactamento, State Printing Office, 1919}, pp. 29-134; “Inyo
County,” in ibid., Report XVII of the State Mineralogist, Mining in California During 1920 (Sacramento, State Printing
Office, 1921), pp. 273-305; W. B. Tucker, "Los Angeles Ficld Division,” “Inyo County,” in ibid., Chapter of Report XX
of the State Mineralogist Covering Mining in California, Vol. 20, July 1924 (Sacramento, State Printing Office, 1924),
pp. 185-91; W. Burling Tucker, "Los Angeles Field Division,” "Inyo County,” in ibid., Chapter of Report XXII of the
State Mineralogist, 1926, Vol. 22, January 1926 (Sacramento, State Printing Office, 1926}, pp. 453-530; R. J. Sampson,
“Mineral Resources of a Part of the Panamint Range,” in ibid., Chapter of Report XXVIII of the State Mineralogist
Covering Activities of the Division of Mines inchiding the Geologic Branch, Vol. 28, October 1932 (Sacramento, State
Printing Office, 1933), pp. 357-76; W. B. Tucker and R. J. Sampson, “Los Angeles Field District,” "Mineral Resources
of Inyo County," California journal of Mines and Geology, Vol. 34, October 1938, pp. 368-500; Vincent C. Kelley,
"Geology and Ore Deposits of the Darwin Silver-Lead Mining District, Inyo County, California," Califormia fournat
of Mines and Geology, Vol. 34, October 1938, pp. 503-62; Edward D. Lenton, “Sulphur Deposits of Inyo County,

35