DESERT EXPLORER

California Desert trips, interesting

places to visit: ghost towns, old mines,

lost treasure, personalities and bits of

the old west

Dusty Road

The places described below are special and worth visiting provided you know the story. That's what this is all about. Now I have tried as best I can to be factual but sometimes you hate to let facts get in the way of a good yarn.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

General Patton and the King’s Throne………………………………………………. 2

Fig Tree John …………………………………………………………………………………….. 4

Wyatt Earp’s Happy Days…………………………………………………………………… 7

The Greenwater Heist ……………………………………………………………………….. 9

Initial Point San Bernardino Baseline and Meridian………………………….13

Death Valley Mines, The Story of Warm Springs………………………………16

Saline Valley Salt Tramway……………………………………………………………….20

The Mc haney Gang……………………………………………………………………………24

The Ghost of Llano Del Rio………………………………………………………………..28

Robber’s Roost…………………………………………………………………………………..32

Tom Schofield’s Lost mine………………………………………………………………..34

Lake Mojave’s Hidden Channel………………………………………………………….38

Pegleg Smith’s Lost Gold…………………………………………………………………..40

General Patton and the Kings Throne

A while back I was surfing Google Earth and happened to remember

something about a spot in the desert that was called “The Kings

Throne”. It was related somehow to General Patton’s desert training

camp during World War II. I checked my copy of the official history of

The Desert Training Center and found this reference:

“His hill called by some of his men ‘The Kings Throne’, deserves

mention. It was a lone elevation between the Orocopia and the

Chuckwalla Mountains and separated from both. The General [Patton]

used to sit or stand up there, scrutinizing critically the line of march

of tanks and motorized units below him. He would watch tanks line up

in the manner of two football teams, with their support slightly

different on either side, behind them like backfields, charge together

while the backfield of one swerved and made an end-run. Detecting a

mistake or a way to improve, he would shout instructions into his

radio.”

So, with this bit of information, I moved the cursor down an enlarged

section of Google Earth between the Orocopia and Chuckwalla

mountain ranges mentioned in the report. As I did this, I noted a

number of small isolated rock pediments rising above their

surroundings. About ten miles south of Interstate 10, I spotted one

that had a road circling from top to bottom. I also noted the faint

suggestion of a road leading directly to it from the north. I figured this

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had to be the Kings Throne.

A few weeks later a friend and I drove to the base of the hill and

walked to the top along a narrow road. It was plain to us that from

this point, Patton and those commanders who followed him were able

to observe the action of tanks and other armored vehicles across the

wide desert plain below. For those interested in visiting the Throne,

the following short history might prove helpful.

At the start of World War II, The War Department decided that a large

open area with varied terrain would be needed, “for the purpose of

training mechanized units to live and fight in the desert, to test and

develop suitable equipment, and to develop tactical doctrines, and

training methods.”

Maj. Gen. George S. Patton, Jr. was given the job of finding an area

that would meet the army’s training needs. After extensive study and

personal inspection of large open areas throughout the country, he

recommended an area that included a large portion of both the

Mohave and Colorado deserts of California with extensions into

Arizona and the Las Vegas Valley. His recommendation was approved

and in April, 1942, he was given full command of the Desert Training

Center. His headquarters (Camp Young) was located at Chiriaco

Summit, on the north side of Interstate Highway 10 where the Patton

Museum now stands.

Patton’s 1st Armored Corps conducted exercises south of the highway

generally in the area between the two mountain ranges mentioned

above. His stay was short-lived. By the fall of ‘42 he and his unit were

on their way to North Africa to take part in operation code named

“Torch”.

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In the four months from April to the first part of August, General

Patton spotted significant problems facing desert warfare and issued

directives for improving tactical deployment of armored divisions

emphasizing rapid advancement against an enemy across desert

terrain.

Operations at the Center lasted from April,’42 to April, ’44. During

that two year period, tens of thousands of officers and enlisted men

passed through on their way to action in both Europe and the Pacific.

They lived in camps spread across the desert with names like Ibis,

Iron Mountain, Granite and Hyder. There were eleven isolated camps

in all. The troops rotated in and out along with the Commanders and

all but one advanced to command troops in the European Theater.

he Kings Throne is located on private land in Section 23, T. 7S, R.

14E, SBBM The hill rises 40 feet above its base and provides 360

degree view of the surrounding plain. To get there, take Interstate 10

to Red Cloud Mine Road then south on Gas Line Road about 6.5

miles(See AAA map). At that point look to your right and you will see

it – pretty hard to miss. You can drive along a wash to the base and

walk up the little road that spirals to the top. At the top, you’ll find a

wooden pole. We assumed that the pole held a radio antenna for

communicating with field units. Good place to have lunch.

Figtree John

Now I’m not one to put much stock in stories about lost mines or buried treasure, but I

figure any tale about Fig Tree John whether true or not is worth telling. The story that I

am about to give you is not well known and except for a few early articles in Desert

Magazine has not, to my knowledge, been published.

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JuanitoRazon (Little John) was a member of the Cahuilla group of Indians that, in early

times, lived throughout the Coachella Valley of Riverside County. As the “whites” began

to settle in the area, the natives were encouraged to move to reservations established by

the government. When the shuffle came, Little John decided that he was not going to

move and so remained on his plot of land located at the edge of the Salton Sea. He held

strong views regarding protection of ones private property. Those who happened onto his

land, for what ever reason, without permission could be faced by an angry Indian

threateningly waving an ancient unloaded Winchester rifle. They say his disposition was

generally friendly but unpredictable and a lot depended on how he viewed his situation at

a given time. If you needed help or wanted to do a little horse trading he could be

outgoing and friendly. He was always willing to give a helping hand to folks in trouble

especially if they needed to have their vehicle towed out of the desert. In these cases, for

a small fee, he’d hitch the vehicle to his mules and pull it into the town of Mecca where

repair services were available.

There is some dispute about his age. Most agree that he lived to be over 100 years of age.

He died in 1927 so that would place his birth date at around the1820s or 30s. He must

have witnessed a lot of changes in the settlement of the West including Spanish, Mexican

and early American periods of occupation. He may have been the native whom

Lieutenant Parke encountered in 1853 on his expedition across the South West to

determine the best route for the Southern Pacific Railroad.

Early maps including AAA (Riverside County 1922) and Blackburn (Imperial County

1950) show a small dot on the old highway and note it -- “Fig Tree John’s” His name

came from a fig orchard that he cultivated on his property near a spring: the only figs

grown in the valley at that time. Over the years, this isolated dot became a well known

watering hole for those traveling by automobile and needing to fill their radiator before

heading south to the Imperial Valley. The spring was located on the east side of highway

86, one mile north of the Riverside/Imperial county line at: lat 33.436 north; Lon 116.043

east.

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On special occasions and when greeting visitors at his home, he would dress up by

putting on a US Army coat with large brass buttons and a black silk stovepipe hat. It was

rumored that the coat was a gift from an army officer whom he befriended. For a pesso he

would pose for a picture and sometime he would allow his wife and children to be

included. They say the size and shape of his feet suggested that he had never worn shoes.

He was quite a sight, a real character and you can believe he knew it.

In 1905, the Colorado River broke through the gates that controlled the flow of water that

irrigated croplands in the Imperial Valley. As a result, the Salton Sea began to fill and

eventually the water reached Little John’s orchard and home forcing him to move his

family to a site three miles to the northwest at a place called Agua Dulce. He planted a

new orchard and remained at Agua Dulce for the rest of his life but he never gave up his

claim to the original Fig Tree Spring.

There were some who believed that Fig Tree John had a secret source of gold. Gene Hill,

owner of a general store in Mecca, said that Fig Tree John sometimes paid for his

purchases with raw gold. A local prospector stated that some of the elders among the

Cahuillas that he had talked to believed it. As you might expect, after John’s death the

story took on mythic proportions similar to many other lost gold cashes of the “Old

West.” Fig Tree John’s son, Johnny Mac, when asked about his father’s gold mine was

reported to have said, “maybe yes maybe no.” And that’s the way it stands –some

believed the story but most didn’t.

In 1903, H.E.W. Wilson prospected in the Santa Rosa Mountains and camped at a spring

called “Palm Oases” by the natives. He was searching for Pegleg Smith’s mythical stash

of black gold. Some believed that there was connection between the two lost treasures

and that these characters were actually partners.

In the 1930s, the famous desert artist and writer John Hilton ventured into the Santa Rosa

Mountains in search of Fig Tree John’s lost mine. He was accompanied by Ben Toro a

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Cahuilla Indian who’d grown up hunting bighorn sheep by following ancient Indian trails

throughout these mountains. According to Ben’s grandfather, Fig Tree John got water for

his mine from a palm spring called “Palm Oases” located in a canyon.

I believe the trail took Hilton and Toro up Barton Canyon located south of Rabbit Peak.

According to his story, as they round a bend in the canyon they abruptly arrived at the

palm oasis mentioned by Ben’s grandfather. After some searching for evidence of a mine,

Hilton’s attention turned to other interesting minerals that he found along the walls of the

canyon and surrounding area including garnets, graphite in limestone, and wollastonite.

A friend of Hilton’s told him about two prospectors that worked a claim near the spring.

The two had constructed a crude smelter near their camp. They kept to themselves and

didn’t divulge where their claim was located. On a later trip, Hilton returned with this

friend but they couldn’t find any evidence of the camp which they figured had been

washed away.

Well that’s the story of Fig Tree John’s lost gold mine as best I can tell it. I’m thinking of

taking a hike up Barton Canyon -- maybe next winter. John Hilton mentioned some other

surprises that might still be found around the Oases or farther up the canyon. You just

never know what a good flash flood down that canyon might uncover.

Wyatt Earp's Happy Days

It’s widely believed, and interesting to note, that if it hadn’t been for a woman reporter

who happened to be in Tombstone at the time, the shootout would have passed with little

notice. Yet, before the dust settled in the OK Corral, newspapers across the country

carried her byline and the story quickly cast Doc Holliday and the Earp brothers as true

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seekers of western justice. They became national heroes endlessly written about in books

and magazines, and portrayed as the “good guys” in 29 movies and 11 TV series.

The town of Tombstone had the right name for the famed gunfight, and Wyatt Earp was

the perfect man to represent frontier law in action being over six feet tall, steady and

handy with a revolver.

Following the shootout, arrest warrants for murder were issued for the brothers and

Holliday. The OK Corral incident was seen by some locals as an unfair fight between

gunfighters and cowboys. The case against the boys was weak, but never the less, they

decided it best to leave the Arizona Territory and avoid standing trial. .

The record on Wyatt’s adventures and whereabouts after Tombstone is not clear. We

know that he spent some time in Texas and Colorado checking out mining prospects. He

and his brother ran “the largest and finest saloon’’ in Coeur d’Alene. He arrived in San

Diego in the mid 80s and invested in real estate. In San Francisco, he refereed the

championship heavy-weight fight between Tom Sharkey and Bob Fitzsimmons. In 1897

or 98, he joined the gold rush to Alaska, did some prospecting and opened a saloon in

Nome.

After Alaska he and his wife, Josie, moved back to the states and tried their luck in the

new gold camp of Tonopah were he financed a saloon and dealt faro. Josie, in her

autobiography, claimed that she found a piece of high grade float on the road south of

Tonopah but failed to find its source. The area that they searched was in the Grandpa

Mining District. In 1903, two prospectors from Tonopah ventured south and located a

number of rich gold mines in the Grandpa District. Soon the word was out and

prospectors, miners, investors and promoters from all over the country flooded into the

renamed camp of Goldfield; a bonanza that lasted and prospered for over ten years. The

Earps missed their chance, no question and Wyatt never stopped talking about it.

Wyatt told a local newspaper that he would never shoot another man again unless he

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shoots at me first. This statement was made shortly before he decided to do some

prospecting in the Copper Basin / Whipple Mountain area, located west of the Colorado

River in San Bernardino County.

Happy Days! For the next 20 years, between 1905 and the 1920s, the Earps spent winters

and the cool months at Vidal near their mines and the hot months in Los Angeles

mingling with the Hollywood crowd. The county records show that over the years, Wyatt

filed almost 100 mining claims in an area south of the Whipple Mountains. The first two

lode claims were named “Happy Times and Happy Days”. Mines in this mineral belt

primarily produced copper and gold. However, none of his mines proved to be of much

value which leads one to wonder why he spent so much time staking and recording

mining claims in this area,

He and Josie, for part of the time, camped near the mines. Later, they built a small home

in the railroad settlement of Vidal. The house, designated an historic site by the state, is

fenced and maintained as shown in my recent photograph.

Happy Days and the other mines are generally located in Section 6; Township 1N; Range

25E. (Google Earth 24, 12.249; 114, 25.449) A trail from Highway 62 leads to the mines.

Shortly after Wyatt’s death in 1929, the Santa Fe Railroad company and the U.S. Post

Office Department changed the name of the railroad siding and nearby post office from

Drenan to Wyatt Earp. The post office is located on the south side of Highway 62 just

west of the bridge to Parker, Arizona. The post office sign above the entrance is faded as

my recent photograph shows. A landmark sign that simply said “EARP” located on the

road near the post office has been removed, destroyed or stolen since my last visit back in

the 80s. However, the Automobile Club of Southern California continues to place this

famous name on the San Bernardino County road map.

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The Greenwater Heist

After graduating from the New York State Reformatory and changing

his name, George Graham Rice was ready to take on his life’s work;

race track handicapper, newspaper editor, author, promoter of

fraudulent mining and oil stocks, and other matters that over the

years put him before the courts in New York, Nevada and the state of

Washington. In 1913, he wrote a book titled, “My Adventures with

Your Money”. In it he said, “Greenwater, a rich man’s camp, in which

the public sank thirty million dollars during three months, is another

case in point where a confiding investing public followed a deceiving

light and was led to ruthless slaughter.”

Well, he had a hand in promoting the Greenwater camp that “led to

ruthless slaughter”. Even the name Greenwater was deceiving -- an

isolated slice of mountainous desert lacking both vegetation and

water -- water that had to be hauled in by the barrel and sold by the

gallon.

The Greenwater mining district was located along the eastern slope of

the Black Mountains about nine miles south-east of Furnace Creek

Ranch. Furnace Creek Road provided access to the camps and

extended south to Shoshone. There were three settlements: Furnace,

near the mouth of Copper Canyon; Kunze, in the canyon roughly two

miles east of Furnace; and Greenwater, the center of commerce,

located farther to the south-east out on the flat. The district is now

within Death Valley National Park.

Credit for the start of Greenwater depends on which story you want to

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believe. The one I favor tells that, on an uncertain date in 1904, two

prospectors, Phil Creasor and Fred Birney, were camping at Ash

Meadows. There they met an Indian who told them about a mountain

range to the west that had yet to be looked at by white men. The next

day, with as much water as they could carry, they made their way to

the eastern edge of the Black Mountains and found, according to

Birney, “little pieces of copper stained ore.”

Birney followed the traces of the copper ore up a canyon wash about

six miles. He continued over a hogback and down a draw, and soon

came upon a large bolder rich in copper and a ledge, “standing out

like a wall”. His narrative continues, “We then walked across Death

Valley, Lost Valley and the desert 180 miles to Keeler where we

recorded our claims. We went back a few days later and staked out

sixteen more claims”.

Patrick (Patsy) Clark, a well respected investor in copper mines, found

out about the Greenwater discovery and made a visit to the area. He

was impressed with what he found and purchased the claims held by

the two prospectors and filed on others in Copper Canyon. Clark

believed that high grade copper could be found at some depth below

the surface and organized the Furnace Creek Copper Company.

Equipment was ordered, delivered by wagon and soon a pile of dirt

tailings could be seen near his initial mine shaft. His workers located

their tents at Furnace.

The surface material showed copper all along the range and it wasn’t

long before every square foot for twenty miles was covered with

mining claims. A total of 73 mining companies took form and their

stock sold primarily to investors in San Francisco and New York.

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George Graham Rice and other promoters wired articles to

newspapers around the country hailing Greenwater as the chance of a

life time -- the greatest copper discovery since Butte, Montana. Rice

was paid by local mining companies to write glowing accounts of

copper ore being shipped, but as you might suspect, most of these

companies had yet to move a shovel of dirt. His fertile imagination

was boundless particularly in promoting the companies in which he

held an interest.

Patsy Clark was one of the few making a serious effort to find the

mother lode. A few pockets of good quality ore were found and a

number of drifts were dug off of the main shaft. The copper content

was good enough to encourage further digging. By May of ‘07, the

shaft had reached the 500 foot level and the first and only shipment of

copper made. The ore was hauled by wagon 50 miles to the nearest

railroad and from there sent on to a smelter.

Arthur Kunze claimed that he was the first to find copper in the area.

He filed claims, formed the Greenwater Copper Company and

surveyed the townsite that bore his name. By the middle of ’06, world

renowned financier Charles Schwab had also become interested in the

Greenwater mines at the urging of Kunze. With other investors, he

cobbled together numerous holdings and formed the Greenwater

Death Valley Copper Mining and Smelting Company.

At that time, most would have agreed that Schwab was the one most

responsible for igniting the speculative frenzy that followed. His

presence caused mining stocks to reach incredible heights, and

miners, prospectors and investors to pour into the camps from all

corners. Schwab also acquired the water rights to Ash Meadows and

advertised plans to build a smelter and power plant there that would

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be connected to his mines by a railroad that he would also build. In a

short time, his holdings grew to become the largest in the Death

Valley region. He employed over 50 men and operated five shafts

which plumbed 100 feet or more in depth.

As with almost all mining camps, the end came swiftly. It was

rumored, that the Guggenheims sent a mining engineer to investigate

the mines and that his negative report, along with the Bank Panic of

’07, caused mining shares to plummet and the Greenwater district to

collapse. To my knowledge, except for the two shipments made from

the Furnace mines no copper ore was ever recovered from

Greenwater.

In the months that followed, activity at the major mines quietly closed

down and miners and shop keepers quietly slipped away. Most of the

tents and wood plank buildings were dismantled and hauled off to new

camps. Some of the commercial buildings found their way to

Shoshone.

Greenwater may have reached a population of 500 at its peak. It

boasted two thriving newspapers and a collection of mining camp

enterprises including: hotel, hospital, bank, a restaurant or two, assay

office, a number of saloons and an active red light district. Typical

wood-framed tent covered houses were scattered from the mines

down to Main Street. Both telegraph and telephone services were

available. Except for a few early automobiles, travelers made their

way by buckboard, carriage or wagon. A post office served the area

from October 5, 1906 to May 31, 1908.

The camp was said to be lively without being particularly rowdy.

There were a couple of shootings -- one accidental and the other

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questionable. Charley Brown was appointed deputy sheriff and

presided over some interesting happenings that he tells about in his

book. With no jail and 150 miles to the nearest county facility, those

found guilty of a crime were given some grub, taken to the edge of

town and told not to return. Years later Charley Brown became a state

senator representing the eastern end of Inyo County.

The editor of the chuckwalla tells in great detail about the funeral of

Billy Robinson, a saloon regular and sometimes gambler who died in

his tent at the edge of town. Everyone pitched in to make certain that

Billy had a proper send-off. Tiger Lily, famous through out many

camps in the west, insisted that Billy be properly posed in his

“scraped together” coffin. She put one arm across his chest and a five

card poker hand under his fingers, stood back and said, “Billy sure

does look natural now”. It was later revealed that Billy’s hand held

five aces.

George Graham Rice had some final words on Greenwater; “Not even

a lone watchman remains to point out to the desert wayfarer the spot

on which was raised the monumental mining stock swindle of the

century”.

Furnace Creek Wash Road (unpaved) is presently open to vehicles and

can be accessed from Highway 190 via Dante’s View Road. I

understand that it is open all the way to Shoshone but is rough in

spots and may be closed due to snow during the winter months.

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Initial Point - San Bernardino Baseline and

Meridian

After California became a state in 1850, a board of land

commissioners was appointed by congress to segregate private lands

granted by Mexico from the public domain. At that time, most lands in

the California desert became public and subject to federal regulations

with regard to future disposition. It was the intent of Congress to sell,

grant or homestead land to citizens of the United States in order to

encourage growth and settlement in this part of the country. The

commission appointed individuals, some competent some

incompetent, to survey and mark the land in accordance with a

rectangular coordinate system. The north to south coordinate termed

the ”meridian-line” and the east to west coordinate termed the “base-

line” intersect at a point termed the “initial point”. From the initial

point “township” corners are measured-off and marked by surveyors.

During the month of November, 1852, Henry Washington, Deputy

U.S. Surveyor, climbed to the top of Mt. San Bernardino and

constructed a monument representing the initial point later referred

to as “San Bernardino Baseline and Meridian”. It would serve as the

starting point for the subdivision of public domain land in the five

southern counties of California. Meridian and base lines divide the

region in quarters -- NE, NW, SE, and SW. From these two basic

coordinates, townships six miles on a side totaling 36 square miles in

area were marked-off starting at the initial point

The standard township was further divided into 36 one mile square

“sections” and numbered 1 through 36 starting with section 1 in the

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north east corner, and continues across to the west then down and

across, back to the east and so forth winding up with section 36 in the

southeast corner You will see these line and section numbers in red

on your USGS 7.5 or 15 minute quad sheets.

According to Washington’s notes, “The monument formed of two

pieces of timber spliced and braced by three iron bands, 25 ft. 9 in.

long extending from the surface of the earth, 23 ft. 9 in.” (a pole with

two crossbars). Reflective pieces of metal were nailed to the arms to

catch sun light and be visible for a distance of at least ten to fifteen

miles. The base of the structure, four feet in height, was formed of

boulders and filled with dirt. Because of the rough terrain finding

positions along the base and meridian lines depended on being able to

sight the reflectors on the monument post. For example, Henry

Washington, after constructing the monument, scrambled down the

mountain and proceeded to locate the westerly baseline by sighting

his instruments on the post 13 miles due west of the initial point..

Washington was among the best of that group of surveyors appointed

by the commission. In 1855, he extended the north meridian line and

placed township corner markers up through Death Valley, a distance

of over 160 miles. He noted how the corners were marked, “Set a post

of chard wood and raised a mound with a trench and pit as per

instructions”. Over the years, those initial corners that could be found

were replaced with metal pipe and cap.

The location of townships 1 and 2 north were completed in 1894 by

John C. Rice who established a second initial point over 800 feet east

of Washington’s point. Later still, George W. Pearson, coming up the

south meridian found a third initial point between the two. Recently, it

was agreed that, historically, there can only be one “initial point” - the

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one that Henry Washington set in 1852. The location by GPS is at

latitude 34º07’12.9” north; longitude 116°55’38.4” west.

The meridian line to the north of the initial point can be traced up

Meridian Road from Highway 247 in the community of Lucerne Valley.

A few miles to the north of Highway 247 you may find survey markers

at intersections of townships and sections. You can also follow the

meridian south of 247 for four miles to a “triangulation” marker with

metal pipe and bronze cap denoting section corner 1/6/31/36 located

on the meridian between ranges 3 and 4 north.

I’ve not visit the initial point monuments on the mountain top -- eight

miles up and eight miles down is not to my liking. However, you can

find your way to Angelus Oaks on Highway 38, obtain a hiking or

wilderness permit from the ranger station located there and head for

the top.

Washington’s instructions included a sketch of how the monument

should be constructed. He probably decide that better visibility would

be gained by placing the reflectors on two substantial cross-arms

attached to the pole rather than dangling metal reflectors from a

short cross-piece as shown.

Death Valley Mines

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A famous writer once remarked that, “spirit of the old west” continues

through the exploits of the dogged desert prospector who survives his

lonely enterprise with unfurrowed optimism and the ability to manage

great disappointment at times. He got his schooling from field-worn

veterans, assorted miners, claim jumpers, promoters and others

malcontents found in and around mining camps and saloons

The next big find could be just around the corner or over the next

ridge. A prospector’s diary might read, “Found some color in a wash

this morning. Panned it out and followed it up to a promising outcrop.

Noticed a narrow ledge up on the side that shows some rust, could be

something there. No signs of any digging yet. I’ll go tomorrow and

look around.”

I interviewed a woman who had lived in Death Valley for a good part

of her adult life. She had been the camp cook at the Grantham Talc

Mine located at Warm Springs in the southwest corner of the park.

She inherited quite a sum from the estate of one of the partners of the

mine and was living in Laguna Beach at the time of the interview.

Ernie Huhn was the name of that partner whom some called Siberian

Red. He’d prospected in Siberia and Alaska before arriving in the

lower forty-eight in 1905. He exemplified the well rounded gambler,

prospector, geologist, and miner of his time.

The story of Siberian Red’s lost ledge began at Summit Diggings east

of Ransburg in 1925. A man named Asa Russell approach Ernie Huhn

with a proposition. He would grubstake a trip to the Panamint

Mountains if Ernie would take him along and show him how to find

gold. Ernie agreed and with supplies to last a month they headed into

Death Valley, up through Anvil Canyon and across Butte Valley to the

base of Panamint Mountains where they set up camp.

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For the next month, they prospected along upper ledges of the range

taking rock samples as they went and hauling them back to camp then

spending evenings testing each one by crushing and panning it down

hoping to see signs of gold, silver or copper. This went on for weeks

without finding anything worth further testing. Finally, on one fateful

afternoon they returned tired and with mounting disappointment.

They placed their samples on a shelf in the tent without running the

usual tests. The next day they headed for Shoshone the nearest

settlement to have some fun and buy provisions.

Weeks passed before the two returned with a renewed desire to keep

on prospecting. It was mid afternoon when they arrived back at camp.

Ernie began testing the samples from the last outing. One clump was

gray in color and heavy for its size. When crushed and washed, flakes

of gold covered the bottom of the pan. Ernie tweezed the flakes out of

the pan, placed them on his miner’s scale and calculated the value per

ton of the find. He couldn’t believe what the numbers told him --

$15,000 per ton at the going price of gold -- beyond all belief! As you

can imagine, the two passed a sleepless night talking about the riches

that soon would be theirs.

By daybreak the next day, Ernie took to his well worn trail and headed

up to the exposed ledges and outcrops that he and Asa had worked for

weeks. It was Ernie’s sample that had shown the riches and so he led

the way. After a few hours, it became apparent that Ernie was having

trouble relocating the exposed rock that had provided his sample.

Asa had been sent to buy some burros and when he returned to camp

a dejected Ernie told him that he had been unable to relocate the site.

Asa asked him if he had marked the site with strips of cloth as he had

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been instructed to do. No, Ernie responded, only a tenderfoot needed

to do that. And so, Ernie continued his search for months. As the years

went by, the two would meet in Shoshone and relived their story. Asa

agree not to divulge the story to anyone. He held to his promise until

after Ernie’s death. His article appeared in Desert Magazine.

Louise Grantham and Dot Ketchin arrived in Death Valley in 1926.

They came west to find the prospector that Louise’s father had

grubstaked and who had not written to him for a time. They found

that the prospector had purchased mining equipment but had

abandoned the claim and moved on. Two young college educated

women who’d traveled 2,000 miles in a 1920s vintage motorcar found

themselves facing an uncertain future in the lonely depths of Death

Valley.

Dot told me that the miners that they met, though rough around

edges, were complete gentlemen to them and very helpful. The one

that most impressed her was Ernie Hahn who convinced them to stay

and help him work some of his gold claims which they agreed to do.

They eventually constructed a gold reduction mill at Warm Springs,

one of the few flowing waters at the south end of the valley. This

became their main camp and base of operation. Over the years a

partnership was formed with Louse handling the business end and

Ernie handling production of the gold mines. To secure rights to the

spring, they filed papers for a mill-site with the county. The filing was

contested by a Shoshone Indian who claimed that his family had

established historic rights to the spring. The Park Service joined with

the Indian in a law suit that followed. After a costly battle in the

federal courts, the partners prevailed in securing rights to the spring.

20

Louise Grantham gave no quarter to federal authorities or anyone else

questioning rights to her mining claims established under the 1872

Mining Act. She carried a pistol and wasn’t afraid to use it. According

to one story, she caught a miner who owned a nearby claim stealing

equipment. According to Ernie, “she stuck her 45 in the miner’s belly

with the safety off” – shades of the Old West.

The partners held a number of talc deposit claims located along the

walls of Warm Springs Canyon. As the country entered World War II,

the price of talc soared. Its use in the manufacture of special paint for

war ships and other war products brought the mines to full

production. The white powder was trucked to the Union Pacific siding

at Dunn located ten miles east of Yermo. Louise and Ernie became

very rich.

The Grantham Mines were sold to Johns-Manville in 1973. The new

owner continued to mine talc for a few years until falling prices and

declining quality of the talc eventually brought an end to all

operations. The National Park Service now has title to the properties

which are open to the public.

After the mining properties were sold, Ernie, until his death in 1952,

lived in a house that he built in Shoshone. After leaving the Warm

Springs Mine, Dot Ketchin opened a boutique shop in Ontario,

California and later moved to Laguna Beach where she died in 1984.

What about Siberian Red’s lost ledge? Well the story never caught

much attention or caused any excitement among treasure hounds.

Like most lost treasure this one follows standard form: We found it,

we didn’t get back to it for a while, when we did we couldn’t find it.

For that reason I haven’t put much stock in this yarn -- but then, with

21

the price of gold today, maybe Asa’s article is worth a closer look.

The Gold Hill Mill, constructed in 1933, brought together a number of

interesting devices for the reduction of ore. Here is my understanding

of how they worked. The ore was hauled from the mines to the mill by

truck and dumped into the ore bin atop two machines that pulverized

the ore. The reduced material then entered the “classifier” that

screened and separated the heaver gravels from the lighter sands.

The gravel material circled back to the crushers for further size

reduction while the sand material flowed onto and down a series of

“shaker tables” where a back and forth shaking motion combined with

gravity caused the heaver gold to be captured between wooden slates

as the lighter sand particles sifted off of the tables as waste.

In later years, an arrastra was constructed on the east side of the mill.

Some believe that it was used to extract gold from the waste pile

through amalgamation with mercury.

Headquarters of the Grantham Mine, nestled among the trees and

shrubs near the spring, include a bunkhouse for the miners, a house

and dining area, and an office. All of the buildings are present and in

good condition considering their age. Talc mines can be seen on both

sides of the canyon as you approach the Warm Springs.

The dirt road into the canyon is maintained (bladed) and passable all

the way to the springs. There is a sign “Warm Springs Butte Valley” at

the entrance from West Side Road. This drive has become popular

especially by desert four-wheel clubs.

22

Saline Valley Salt Tramway

The longest and possibly most extreme high-wire act of the last

century was designed and built to transport buckets of table salt cross

a ten-thousand foot mountain range from a dry lake bed in Death

Valley to a railroad located in the Owens Valley of California. Those

fortunate enough to see it in operation called it an engineering marvel

and wonder. Most tramways were built to haul gold and silver ore

down the side of a mountain to a mill-site. So why all the expense and

effort to mine common table salt most of which had historically been

gathered from tidelands near the coast? Apparently, it was done just

to prove that it could be done.

Saline Valley, at 1,000 feet above sea level, is located on the western

edge of Death Valley National Park. The salt deposit was extensive

and covered 16 square miles to a depth of 30 feet. The quality, at 98%

pure sodium chloride, first attracted attention around 1904. But this

valley, surrounded by terrain that made the bedding of rails

impossible and the grading of a road for wagon long and difficult, was

simply not accessible. However, these conditions, isolation and

extreme topography, posed the kind of challenge that construction

engineers found most engaging. And, they, in turn, ably translated

their excitement into plans for a cable system design that both

dazzled and convinced investors that such an enterprise could bring

this product profitably to market.

A tramway is defined as, “an overhead cable system for transporting

ore and mine freight”. The type of vehicle used depended on the type

23

of ore being hauled. The Saline Valley Salt Company Arial Tramway’s

cables were designed to carry 280 buckets from the loading dock in

Saline Valley, through two control stations on the east side of Inyo

Mountain and through a control station at the summit. On the west

side, buckets continue downward through a control station at about

the 6,000 foot elevation then on to the terminal in Owens Valley. The

system was capable of transporting over 20 tons of salt per hour. In

addition to the motorized control stations, the cables passed through

or over 13 rail supports on the way up and 15 on the way down. Each

of these outposts was constructed of heavy timbers, metal rails and

hardware which had to be transported to each site using reverse

cables, horse drawn wagons and strange wheeled contraptions

designed specifically for the project. One was called the “go devil”

which frankly defies description. It took seventeen men to operate the

system; two at the loading dock, two at the terminal and two at each

station plus four line-riders and a foreman. The salt was gathered

from the lake bed by Mexican laborers.

Line-riders -- I imagine riding an empty bucket down from the Inyo

Mountain summit at 8,500 feet to the floor of the Saline Valley would

compare favorably with Magic Mountain’s Riddler’s Revenge -- a

difference of 7,500 feet or 1.4 miles of vertical distance.

The terms, “up” and “down”, as used here need serious clarification.

The journey began at the loading station in Saline Valley elevation

1,000 feet above sea level. From the loading platform, the buckets

rose by double cables to the 8,500 foot gap near the summit of the

Inyo Mountains. From the summit, the buckets began their descent by

gravity to an off-loading dock in the Owens Valley at an elevation of

3,500 feet.-- total horizontal distance a little over 13 miles.

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Construction started on September 1, 1911. And the first bucket

arrived at the discharge terminal on July 2, 1913, a few months over

schedule due to problems with determining where the off-loading

station would be located. The Saline Valley Salt Company Arial

Tramway was up and doing what it was designed to do -- haul buckets

of salt from a desolate valley floor to a rail siding from where it would

travel to many markets.

The salt harvest, simple and direct, started with the creation of a

brine solution in areas of the lake bed sectioned off and flooded with

water piped from nearby springs. Evaporation during summers when

temperatures ranged near 120 degrees caused salt crystals to form in

the brine. Gathered in piles two feet high in rows eight feet apart, the

salt was allowed drain before being transported to the loading dock. A

special wagon with wide wheel rims capable of hauling 500 pounds of

salt was tethered to a gasoline engine by cable. The wagon was thus

towed to the loading platform and the salt dumped into a waiting

tramway bucket. The bucket, grabbed by the guide cable, then began

its journey over the mountain and down to the Owens Valley terminal.

All of the material to build the control stations and rail supports had

to be transported up the mountain by a wagon carrying up to 5,000

pounds pulled by an eight-horse hitch. From the railroad in Owens

Valley it was a tough steep ten mile climb to the summit. Starting a

few miles north of the railroad terminal at Keeler, a narrow but

passable road was carved along the western flank of the mountain. A

camp site graded a few miles north of the gap provided space for off-

loading and storing materials. It took a loaded wagon one day to make

a round trip to the camp and back. The teamster would leave the

loaded wagon and take an empty back down to the station. The loaded

wagons were teamed over to the construction site and unloaded. In

25

addition to timbers, machinery and cables, the wagons hauled grain,

hay and water for the stock kept at the mountain camp.

A trail was built on the east flank for use by construction crews. Too

narrow and steep for wagons, construction materials had to be cabled

down from the gap at the top of the mountain across the canyons and

somehow brought to rest at the various construction sites. For the

really heavy stuff like the motor and transformer for the loading

station, a 55 mile wagon road was built to the north around the

mountain from Big Pine, California. From Big Pine, the road extended

east through Marble Canyon, very narrow in places, then south by

Waucoba Springs and on to Saline Valley.

The mine operated from 1915 to 1920 attempting to make some profit

for investors. Competition from salt companies in the Bay Area and

falling prices after WWI, resulted in losses and caused operations to

be discontinued. In 1929, repaired and readied for a new start, as luck

would have it, the re-organized company ran headlong into the teeth

of The Great Depression ending the final chapter of this unusual story.

As some, at the time, said, “It cost a hell of a lot to build and operate

and didn’t make much money but what a ride while it lasted!”

I haven’t visited Saline Valley since the 70s and failed, at that time, to

appreciate the uniqueness of this remarkable mining adventure. As a

result, I took few photographs none of which, in any way, give scope

to what had happened here some 50 years back. I suggest that if you

are interested in both current and historic photos you click on:

http://www.owensvalleyhistory.com/saline_tramway1/page50a.html.

There are a lot of other websites that include photos of the tram. Keep

in mind that the story given here is much superior to others that you

may find on your search through the internet. You see, I got mine

26

from the engineer who built it.

The Mc Haney Gang

The “Old West”, as we think of it, lasted a relatively short time from

the 1860s to early years of the Twentieth Century. Writers of books,

periodicals and movie scripts have perpetuated and glamorized myths

about this period; none more so than those who have written of the

trials and tribulations of the “outlaw gang”. Stories, told many times,

have come to sanctify the gun-slinging-cowboy genre that we all grew

up with. Here’s a few that you may not have heard about: Bert Alvord

Gang, 1890s, train robbers, Arizona Territory -- John Daly Gang,

1860s, hanged for murder, Nevada Territory -- Hole-in-the-Wall Gang,

1860s-1910, Wyoming Territory, included Butch Cassidy -- Bill Dolen

Gang, 1894, Oklahoma Territory -- Rufus Buck Gang, 1890s, Arkansas.

California had its share of gangs but I could find only one worth

telling -- the McHaney Gang whose members resided in San

Bernardino County and whose exploits combine both fact and fiction.

Their story begins with the arrival some time in the 1880s of two

cowboys from Davis County Missouri -- James and William McHaney.

The boys, known as Jim and Will, took up ranching and initially set up

headquarters and summer range in the San Bernardino Mountains

wintering cattle down on the warmer desert country to the east. In

the spring and summer, they trailed their stock back to the main

27

ranch which they later moved to the upper reaches of the Santa Ana

Canyon. Other members of the gang entered the picture at various

times -- the Button brothers who discovered Hidden Valley located in

Joshua Tree National Park -- Charlie Martin, the son of a family of

early settlers in the area -- George Meyers, a desert rancher and Ike

Chestnut of which little is known. It was suspected that these boys

were stealing beeves from the surrounding ranches but it was never

proven. Most of what is known of their activity comes from interview

with old timers of the area. One, Hardy Lord claims that as a boy he

was hired by Charlie Martin to change the brand markings on cattle

using a straight iron. Claims he got pretty good at it.

The gang eventually moved operations out of the mountains and on to

the desert. One reason given for the move holds that a posse of irate

ranchers formed-up and proceeded to the ranch where a pitched

battle ensued. In another more likely version, the McHaneys moved to

avoid legal problems over water rights in the canyon. They had a habit

of damming and diverting water out of the canyon streams to water

their cattle while legal water claims were held by the City of

Redlands.

In 1879, Will McHaney, considered the more personable of the

brothers, built a place east of the Morongo Valley and became the

first white settler at the Twenty-nine Palms Oases. Though still

involved with the gang, he spent most of his time prospecting and

ranging cattle near the Oases. His brand was a five pointed star which

he registered with the county.

Without mountain pasture for hot weather months it’s not clear how

James McHaney and the other members operated. It is believed by

some that they kept their stock in Hidden Valley; a small well

28

protected area surrounded by rocky mountainous terrain discovered

by the Button brothers. And that they added horse trading to the

business. We do know that George Meyers ranged cattle on the desert

and registered his brand and may have eventually bought-out the

McHaney desert cattle operation.

All public lands were open to cattle during this period. It was called

“the open range”. Natural water sources and availability of forage not

property boundaries or fences determined the extent of livestock

activity. The once-a-year-roundup served to separate each rancher’s

cattle and brand the calves before trailing to summer pastures in the

higher country. If you were out there to steal another ranchers stock

you best grab a few and ship them to market as quick as possible and

not allow your re-branded stock to mingle on the open range.

The writer Louis Lamour mentions Hidden Valley in his novel “Mojave

Crossing”. The hero, Tell Sackett, was forced to cross the desert on

foot after losing his horse. Tired and thirsty, he stumbled into the

gang’s Hidden Valley hideout and was confronted by Charlie Button

who after deciding he was “no lawman” invited him to spend the

night. I don’t know where Lamour got the story but…?

Later, around 1888, Jim McHaney decides to try his hand at mining

gold. Some accounts say that he and Charlie Martin forced, at gun-

point, a fellow by the name of Frank L James to sign over his claim to

the Desert Queen Mine, and that after he signed Martin shot and

killed him. Later Martin, with Jim McHaney as his witness, pleaded

self-defense and was found not guilty. I checked the San Bernardino

County Court records and couldn’t find any support for the story. The

only case that I could find against Charlie Martin as a defendant in

San Bernardino County was for riding his horse over a squaw. In that

29

case, the judge fined Charlie a few dollars and commented that the

squaw should have got out of his way.

An article in the Redlands Citrograph (May 11, 1895) states that, “It

has now been definitely settled that the rich mines recently located by

the McHaneys and others are in San Bernardino County”. Then in

August another article, “James McHaney, one of the owners of the

now famous Desert Queen Mine was in San Bernardino on Monday,

bringing in another sack of gold – the product of four and one-half

days’ clean-up worth $8,000.” It’s clear from the articles that Jim

McHaney became a successful miner and owner, or at least part

owner, of a well documented high producing gold mine. How he came

by it will probably remain a mystery

The stories about Charlie Martin are fairly well documented. We know

that he got in a lot of trouble with the law in his youth and in 1877

was found guilty of robbing a drunk and sentenced to five years in the

state penitentiary. After he got out he and Willie Button homesteaded

two quarter sections of land * near Angelus Oaks on Highway 38 and

commenced raising cattle. If Martin and Button were involved in

stealing and re-branding livestock with their neighbor Jim McHaney it

would have been during the period from 1882 to 1888. Some suspect,

however, that Martin was more a moonshine bootlegger than rancher.

However, the ranch proved profitable and expanded to become known

by the Heart Bar brand. Martin sold his interest to the ranch in 1914.

Charlie Martin was full of surprises in 1917 he was appointed Chief of

Police for the city of San Bernardino. He lasted only a few months on

the job and then retired to his homestead. The Heart Bar Ranch

headquarters located at the head of Santa Ana Canyon is now a Forest

Service campground.

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James McHaney was arrested on March 10, 1900, for passing

counterfeiting gold coins, in the city of San Bernardino. McHaney

claimed he got them in Redlands when he cashed a $75.00 check. “I

came by them honestly and did nothing wrong”, he said. A few days

later Will McHaney, was arrested at the Gang’s hide-out in the

Whitewater area near San Gorgonio Pass. The camp was discovered

by a Forest Ranger on patrol who related the information to city

authorities. U.S. Marshals investigated and arrested Will McHaney

and another gang member. The Marshals believed that the actual

stamping and gold plating was done in one of the canyons near the

hide-out. Will had ordered chemicals for electro plating which was

used as evidence.

James McHaney was found guilty and sentenced to 17 year in prison. I

don’t know what happened to Will. He may have pleaded-out his

brother and saved himself from prison time. Or he may have served a

shorter sentence and then, as some say, retired to his Twenty-nine

Palms Oases and lived an honest life thereafter.

*Section 29, T1N, R1W, SBM homesteaded in 1898 called Martin Glen.

The Ghost of Llano del Rio

Early in the morning hours of October 1, 1910, a bomb exploded

under the Los Angeles Times building unhinging the south wall and

causing the second story to collapse. Twenty one employees were

31

killed and another one hundred were seriously injured. The long

bitter fight between organized labor and Otis Chandler, owner and

publisher of the Times, placed suspicion for the crime on union

malcontents.

Chandler hired a detective to find out who was responsible for the

bombing. The detective found evidence that fingered two union

members referred to in the press as the “McNamara Brothers”. They

were apprehended and charged with the crime. Both pleaded not

guilty.

The American Federation of Labor hired Clarence Darrow to assist a

local attorney in defending the accused; however, when the two

pleaded guilty to avoid the death penalty, the union leaders knew that

further effort on their part to unionize local workers would be futile.

Otis Chandler had won the battle and continued to challenge unions

and other organizations that had far left and socialist leanings.

The local attorney hired by the Federation was Job Harriman, a

member of a number of socialist organizations, who had aspirations in

local politics. Some voiced the opinion that Harriman was run out of

town by Chandler along with Harriman’s union buddies and others

associated with defending the accused bombers.

Harriman was a man of means and the strength of will to try

something new, something to challenge his intellect – like starting a

socialist utopia in the desert. He discussed his plan with a number of

likeminded friends, also of means, who warmed to his ideas and were

willing to lend their support and some capital to the venture.

In the 1890s, a number of colonies dotted the north sloping terrain

32

that extends out from the base of the Angeles National Forest to the

Mojave Desert. One, named Rio del Llano (river of the plain), brought

water from Little Rock Creek to crop land which the company

marketed to eastern farm families. A number of families bought into

the colony and planted fruit trees and field corps. Unfortunately,

successive and exceptionally dry years in the late 1890s put an end to

the development forcing the company to declare bankruptcy and the

farm families to move.

Harriman and his associates acquired the irrigation bonds for the

defunct colony which included 9,000 acres. They incorporated a new

company in 1913 and began selling stock. Soon, promotions for the

new colony appeared in socialist publications throughout the country.

Members started arriving in the spring of 1914 and within six months

membership reached 150. Harriman believed that social justice would

prevail if those who have would willingly share with those who have

not. The colony would operate on the principle of social democracy –

members would have voice in all matters.

Vineyards and fruit trees were again planted along with field crops

and fresh produce for local consumption. The name of the colony was

changed to Llano del Rio of California. New members were required

to buy 2,000 shares of stock at one dollar per share. Each settler

received four dollars a day in credit toward the purchase of food,

clothing and other needs within the colony. Ownership of assets

including land, structures, livestock and crops were held in common.

Members were allowed title to their personal belongings including a

motorcar.

Members brought a range of skills to the colony. Family values were

33

important and education for children received priority. Some were

devout socialists. Others joined for less lofty reasons. Those with

religious leanings were tolerated and all ethnic groups were welcome,

however, I noted that only white faces appear in resident group

photographs.

The baseball team won most of its games and the players looked sharp

in bright red uniforms. The brass band, judged to be the best band in

the desert, played at parades, other special events and wherever else

invited.

By 1917, two-thousand acres of the desert had been scraped aside

and some 400 acres turned to fruit trees and alfalfa. The crops were

served by miles of ditches fanning out from the main irrigation cannel

and tunnel that intercepted and delivered water from Big Rock Creek.

Major livestock buildings included: a large dairy barn and silo located

one-half mile south of the main settlement; a world class rabbitry

providing the colonists with their main source of meat; and a large

stable complex, located north of the settlement, that could house up

to 100 horses.

The resident population topped 1,000 by early 1917. A visitor would

notice that adobe and rock-faced houses had replaced the scatter of

tents that he had seen here two years before. He would be impressed

with the variety of industries that had been established in such a short

time -- two machine shops, a cannery, a planning mill, a paint shop, a

brickyard, a flour mill and a fish hatchery, two newspapers and a print

shop. Up the road, in addition to the dairy, he would find a saw mill

and at the foot of the mountains two lime kilns for making cement. He

would also take note of the variety of personal services one would

expect to find in a community of comparable size.

34

Not all was bright and friendly. Complaints filled the agenda of weekly

assembly meetings. Laggards - those who refused to do their share of

the hard work - ranked high on the list of complaints. The food shelves

at the commissary lacked variety and the ever present, colony- grown

carrot became its symbol. In lean times, cooked carrots could be

expected at all three meals. And to many, those responsible for

overseeing the completion of community project represented the

hated bosses of their past. Of course, without someone in charge

nothing would get done. Most meetings lasted for hours with

resolutions discussed, passed and soon forgotten. Those for whom the

“socialist calling” no longer held sway were encouraged to leave to be

replaced by the new arrivals.

Nationally recognized socialist writers and thinkers complained that

Llano was too “middle class” and wedded to the way of capitalism.

Harriman answered their cries stating that ventures such as Llano del

Rio were the first step toward a peaceful demise of capitalism.

Things were soon to change dramatically. The colony planners had not

realized that Big Rock Creek had a serious leak. In good years it

didn’t matter. But in dry years much of the limited runoff was

fiendishly seeping into the deep gravel bed created by the San Andres

rift that crosses the creek. They had planned to build a dam on the up

side and form a basin for storing water but later found that

construction costs would be prohibitive. The problem was kept from

members while Harriman searched for a new location for his colony.

Moving day was celebrated in October 1917, and publicized as a “new

adventure”. Virtues of the Louisiana site were extolled - sounding

much like the virtues voiced for Llano of California in the early days.

35

The faithful packed their belongings and drove or took the train to the

new destination—an abandoned lumber town near Leesville,

Louisiana.

It was estimated that less than half of membership made the trip. A

few stayed to tend the orchards, gardens and the saw mill which

continued to cut and ship lumber to Louisiana.

Due to poor health and mounting financial problems, Job Harriman

left the new colony and later commented that most of the members

had been selfish, arrogant, egotistical and lazy, and more so among

the poor than among the rich. Job Harriman died in California in

1925. With a much smaller membership base, New Llano Louisiana

struggled to survive into the 1930s.

The Llano del Rio ruins are located on the north side of Highway 138

about 4.5 miles east of Pearblossom. A number of foundations can still

be found and the pillars and fire places of the hotel and assembly hall

are still standing and visible from the highway.

Robber's Roost

Driving north on Highway 14, you may have noticed two large granite

blobs stuck on the east facing slope of Scodie Mountain located a mile

or so south of Highway 178 (Walker Pass Road). They are named

36

“Robber’s Roost” on official maps and are associated with the most

famous bandit in the history of California, Tiburcio Vasquez. It is

believed that he and his men camped behind these outcrops in order

to spot approaching stagecoaches on the road between Los Angeles

and Owens Valley,

The only references to these “rocks” are found in Bandits, Borax and

Bears A Trip To Searles Lake In 1874. The author, Edmond Leuba,

and M.deB his companion traveling the old wagon road by buckboard,

are on their way to Searles Lake to inspect the new borax discoveries.

When:

“About noon we were in front of the two rocks a mile from Coyote

Hole. In these two pyramids of granite we perceived some hollows

resembling caves. ‘See there the retreats which have served Tiburico

Vasquez,’ said M. de B, to me.”

Upon arrival at Coyote Hole Station, Leuba found to his amazement

that, on the previous day, Vasquez and his associates had visited the

station and relieved those unfortunate enough to be there at that time

of their valuables. One man was shot in the leg and survived.

According to Freeman Raymond, proprietor of the station, those on

the scheduled stagecoach that arrived three hours later also fell

victim. .

Leuba asked Raymond, ‘‘Where do you supposed he [Vasquez] kept

himself with his band?” Raymond replied, “…he surely spent several

days in the rocks near which you just passed, because I went there

this morning and found a quantity of empty sardine cans, crackers

and about a quarter of a sack of flour.” This is the evidence we have

that these famous banditos were holed up among these crags the

37

night before they raided the station.

Vasquez, with a sizable price on his head, was being pursued by

sheriff’s posses throughout the state. His men were constantly on the

lookout; aided by some native Californians who felt deprived of their

land by the gringos . It stands to reason that, on this one occasion,

they took advantage of the excellent view of the road provided from

these rocks to spot lawmen coming north from Los Angeles.

Vasquez was captured on May 13, 1874, at the La Brea Rancho and

initially jailed in Los Angeles. He was tried in San Jose and found

guilty of committing two murders and sentenced to be hanged. The

sentence was carried out at noon on March 18, 1875, to a lively crowd

that gathered to place bets and see if he would “die game.”, which he

did!.

Robber’s Roost is located on BLM land at GPS 35* 34.540’ north

latitude; 117* 56.910’ west longitude. This is a nesting place for birds

of prey and closed to motorized vehicles from February 1 through July

1. A nice place to have your lunch and look around.

TOM SCHOFIELD'S LOST MINE

38

Tales of lost gold told by early prospectors and adventure seekers

have found a large audience here in Southern California. Some of the

stories have been past down, mapped, been retold and then kept alive

by the likes of now defunct Desert Magazine. During the 60s and 70s

articles of lost treasure appeared in almost every monthly issue of the

magazine. These gems of desert lore invariably brought letters to the

editor questioning, confirming or adding to the stories. Heck, it was

all in fun, and I for one wish that the likes of then editor Jack Pepper

and his publications were still around to keep us pumped with

revelations about the California desert.

My interest in all of this actually has to do with the story teller, the

miner or prospector who spun the yarn. Tom Schofield was, by all

accounts, a prospector, a finder of desert watering places and a

sometimes miner. He was the type who would gladly recount to

anyone his many desert exploits including how he had discovered a

very rich gold mine some where in the Clippers Mountains. His story,

in my words, went something like this:

While working at a spring in the Clipper Mountains, he noted a faint trace of a path

leading off to the side of the mountain and so he decided to follow and see were it

would lead. After hiking some distance, he came upon a recently abandoned camp

site that had all the trappings of a miner’s camp. Continuing up a steep bank and

scaling across the edge of a narrow shale wall he arrived at a mine shaft of some

depth with sides well boarded up by old railroad ties.

His prospector instincts told him that the ore, on the tailing pile next to the shaft,

looked exceedingly rich. However, it was getting on in the afternoon and so he

decided to stay the night at the small miner’s camp below. In the morning, he

happened to kick the lid off of an old Dutch oven located near the fire pit and from

that old pot gold ore “rich-to-the-eye” spilt out onto the ground. Well, as would

happen, he found that he was out of water and must therefore leave immediately.

So, filling his pockets with as many pieces of ore as his pockets would hold he

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headed down the mountain.

Tom wasted no time and soon had his ore samples taken to Los Angeles and tested.

The assay showed that the ore, found in the old Dutch oven, had very high gold

content. Indeed, Tom Schofield was about to become a very rich man; but, first he

must hurry back to the Clipper Mountains and mark his claim to the mine.

He search throughout the high canyons of the Clipper Mountains for

many months but was unable to relocate the camp or the mine. Years

passed and the story, retold and written about many times, became

known as the “Lost Dutch Oven Mine” and is often confused with the

Lost Dutchman Mine of the Superstition Mountains of Arizona.

In the early 1890s, young Tom Schofield was hired by the Santa Fe

Railroad to locate water sources along the right-of-way running west

from Needles. In those days, locomotives ran on steam power and the

boilers had to be refilled with water at stations located along the rails.

The spring, mentioned in his lost mine story, is located in the Clipper

Mountains at a place now named Bonanza Spring. Water from the

spring was claimed by the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1893. The

company connected the spring to the water tanks at the Danby

Station with a four inch pipe running from a 350 foot tunnel blasted

directly into the side of the mountain above. This spring provided

water to the railroad for almost 40 years before being replaced in the

1930s by a well located near the Station.

After his hitch with the railroad, Tom Schofield spent most of his time

prospecting for gold in the Old Woman and Turtle Mountains, for salt

in Danby Dry Lake, for iron ore in the Marble Mountains and probably

at may other locations between Essex and Amboy. At one time, he

held an interest in the Iron Hat Mine located about twelve miles east

of Amboy in the Marble Mountains. The mine became active sometime

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after World War I and lasted only a few years. There were two tunnels

with cross-cuts that yielded over 2,000 tons of ore during operations.

Tom was reported to be living near Amboy at the time.

He didn’t leave a diary so most of what we know about him comes

from public records and accounts given by folks who knew him. He

was well liked and generous to a fault. He drank whiskey and

frequented local saloons as most miners did when not working their

claims. He regularly registered to vote from 1900 to 1936.and was

living in Chambless in 1940. Some say he lived to be over 100. In his

later years, when asked about his lost mine he would pass it off and

simply say, “there’s plenty of minerals out there for everyone”.

Incidentally, Bonanza Spring is a great place to visit if you have a high

centered vehicle. The water pipe was scrapped for military use during

WWII. And after the war, a few squatter’s built shanties along the

stream. One fellow brought in some earth moving equipment and

scraped out a pool of some length and allowed the locals to drive up

and take a swim. Living was good and rent was free -- there was only

one problem, the land belongs to the U.S. Government and these

desert dwellers were eventually judged to be in trespass. The land is

managed by the BLM and it took some time for the agency to evict

these folks, clear the area of old car bodies, piles of junk and

demolished shelters.

BLM recently graded a parking area and built some picnic tables. The

spring is an outstanding example of a “desert watering hole” and is a

good place to start a hike into the Clipper Mountain Wilderness Area.

The road up to the site is a little rough and access from the highway is

not marked. Best to check Google Earth at 34 41.196 115 24.318

ahead of time.

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When you are out traveling old Highway 66, you might want to visit

the Iron Hat Mine. The road is rough and narrow in places but worth

the effort. The canyon is spectacular. See Google Earth at 34 35.748

115 31.788

The Danby Station is located about 1.6 miles southeast of Highway 66

on Danby Road. A post office was established here in 1893 and served

as the mail drop for mines in the Old Woman Mountains until it was

closed in 1913. It would take some archeology to figure out what all

was here during that period. The mill located to your right as you

cross the tracks was active some time around or during the 1960s.

Prior to completion of Interstate Highway 40, a few service stations

and an eating place opened near the intersection of Danby Road and

Highway 66.

And what about the Lost Dutch Oven Mine? It’s my guess that Tom

Schofield never intended for his tale to be bought by so many

weekend treasure hunters. But on the other hand, it brought a lot of

visitors to his door and I am sure that this made his retirement years

interesting.

 

Lake Mojave's Hidden Channel

There was a time when water flowed from the Mojave River all the

way to Death Valley, the lowest point in North America. The evidence

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can be found in a narrow channel located at the north end of Silver

Lake nine miles north of Baker, California,

Between nine and twenty-two thousand years ago Mojave Lake, a

large body of fresh water, stretched north to south from Silver Lake to

the Kelso Dunes and from the mouth of the Mojave River east to the

Cow Hole hills and covered some 90,000 acres of desert.

This region was much cooler during that period. Melted snow from

the San Bernardino Mountains flowed continuously down the Mojave

River and local rainfall fed in from the surrounding mountain ranges.

The inflow to Lake Mojave substantially exceeded evaporation

expanding the basin until the excess water spilt through the lowest

point and flowed due north merging with the Armagosa River that

emptied into Death Valley.

At its peek, the surface of the lake topped 40 feet above the current

desert floor at the north end and was five to ten feet higher at the

south end of Soda Lake. If the lake were there today the small town of

Baker, would be under 20 feet of water.

The surface of the lake passed through a number of phases first rising

as sediments filled-in and later subsiding as the out-flowing water

chiseled away at the narrow channel to the north. Artifacts have been

found at camp sites along some of the elevated beaches indicating

human occupation in the region around 8,000 years ago

According to the experts, the region became warmer and dryer

causing the lake to slowly disappear leaving behind Silver and Soda

lake beds that are dry except in years of exceptionally heavy rainfall

and snow in the San Bernardino Mountains.

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Over time, as the outbound water flowed through the narrow channel,

the top layer of soft conglomerate material eroded or washed away

increasing the outflow and lowering the level of the lake a few feet.

Evidence of this can be seen at the narrows or gap where layers of the

soft conglomerate material are exposed above a granite base rock.

The elevation of these layers is consistent with corresponding beach

lines at the edge of Silver Lake.

In 1916, flood waters engulfed the small community of Silver Lake

that lies two miles south of the channel at the edge of the lake. The

flood waters also covered the rails and berm of the Tonapah and

Tidewater (T&T) Railroad that ran up the center of the playa.

Buildings were raised and moved across to a location on the east side

of Highway 129. The rails were also moved to the east. Railroad crews

cut a trench from the lake to the channel gap in an attempt to pump

the water through the gap and into the old channel. The attempt

failed. The trench is still visible in places.

Silver Lake was the most active settlement in this part of the desert

from 1906 to 1916. The construction of Highway 91 (now I-15) caused

businesses to move to Baker and signaled the end. The Silver Lake

Station on the T&T line remained active until sometime in the 30s and

the rails were removed during WWII.

A friend and I visited Silver Lake a few months ago. To get there:

Drive north on Highway 129 to the power line road that crosses the

highway about nine miles north of Baker. Drive west ¼ of a mile on

the power line road and park. Walk due north 1/3 of a mile to the gap.

The channel is not visible from the road and it’s pretty easy to miss,

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however, if you find and follow the trench that was dug by the railroad

crew you’ll be headed in the right way.

PEGLEG SMITH'S LOST GOLD

Over the years, many treasure seekers, folks armed with the latest

metal detector and back issues of Desert Magazine, have ventured

into the lower deserts of California searching for the lost gold mine of

Thomas L. (Pegleg) Smith.

His tale of riches, repeated numerous times over the years, goes

something like this: While on a beaver trapping expedition in Arizona,

Smith and a companion reached the Colorado River near what is now

Yuma Arizona and from there proceeded across California’s desolate

and uninhabited southern desert. They traveled on horse back with

bales of hides packed on mules that trailed behind. They hoped to find

a market for beaver pelts in Los Angeles.

On the way, they encountered a severe sandstorm and soon became

lost. When the wind subsided, Smith climbed one of three small hills

to determine which direction they should head. He picked up some

small black stones which he thought contained copper. Years later he

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became aware that the items in his pocket were nuggets of pure gold

encrusted with some dark mineral. This is the essence of what has, for

over 170 years, been told and retold. Details vary, but it’s generally

believed by most that the mine, if it exists, will be found either on the

east side of the Imperial Valley near the Chocolate Mountains or on

the west side in the Borrego foothills somewhere near the monument

dedicated to Smith’s memory.

After plowing through 15 articles and untold letters to the editor of

Desert Magazine, I decided, against my better judgment, to try and

find the truth about Smith and his many adventures. As those of you

among my limited readership know, I’ve avoided stories about lost

gold mines and buried treasure. But Pegleg Smith has become so

much a part of desert lore that I decided to give it a shot.

Thomas L Smith was born in Kentucky in 1801 and died in San

Francisco in 1866. That’s a fact, take my word for it.

In 1824, he joined a wagon caravan heading for Santa Fe, New

Mexico which, at that time, was part of Mexico. He left the caravan at

Taos and with three other trappers headed for the San Juan

Mountains of Colorado. At the end of that season he returned to Taos

with stories of his travel through central Utah’s Sevier Valley up to

where the Green joins the Colorado River. [Hutchings’ Illustrated

California Magazine, July 1860]

During the 1826-27 season, Smith joined an expedition into Arizona

led by the famous “mountain man” and trapper Ewing Young. Their

course wandered through tributaries of the Salt River and down the

Gila to its junction with the Colorado River near the present town of

Yuma. The homeward leg took them up the Colorado River and on into

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Utah. Smith is specifically named as being a member of this

expedition. [“The sketch of the Life of George C Yount”] As far as I

can tell, this was the only time that he was in the Yuma area and

there’s no mention of his leaving the group with a companion for a

desert trip to Los Angeles. Smith’s account of this expedition [San

Francisco daily Evening Bulletin, Oct. 26, 1866] is fairly close to that

of George Yount. At the close of this season, Smith returned to St.

Louis where he remained only a short time.

All 1827-28 expeditions by Americans were forced by the authorities

to confine their trapping to areas outside of what was then Mexico.

During this season, Smith partnered with a group trapping the area

north of the Platte River in Colorado. It was on this trip that Smith

lost his foot and the lower part of his leg. As he tells it, “I was

ambushed by an Indian and shot in the leg”. After the leg was

successfully amputated, the party waited around and when Smith

refused to die, they slung him between two horses and continued on

to the north. Bad weather forced them to take winter quarters near

the Colorado-Wyoming border. Smith emerged in the spring with a

wooden stump that he had whittled out of an oak sapling and a new

name.

Smith tells a reporter that during the 1829 season he and his partners

trapped the Santa Clara and Rio Virgin rivers in Utah. “As the season

was not half over, it was decided that two of the party should take the

spoils to Los Angeles and dispose of them. Smith was one of those

commissioned to perform the duty as it was considered to be extra

hazardous. He was successful and was so pleased with the country

that he determined to make it his future home”. [San Francisco Daily

Evening Bulletin, October 26, 1866]. If true, the two trappers

probably followed the Spanish Trail across the Mojave and through

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Cajon Pass and not, as some believe crossed the southern route

through Imperial Valley. No mention of finding black gold on this trip.

By 1840, the fur trade had reached an end forcing the “mountain

men” to find other ways to survive in order to remain in the West. A

few, including Pegleg Smith, began stealing horses from ranches in

the southern and central parts of California. Spanish records suggest

that Smith was feared by the authorities who referred to him as El

Cojo, the lame one. The raids continued until the end of the war with

Mexico and accession of California to the United States. [Pieced

together by David Lavender, “Bent’s Fort”. 1954]

He tried his luck in the Sierra gold fields and in 1850 decided to go

south find some partners, get outfitted and start to look for his lost

hills of gold. “He penetrated as far as Warner’s Ranch, where a band

of Indians swooped down on his train and stole everything that they

did not kill, leaving only Pegleg and his mule to survive the

expedition”. [The Examiner, San Francisco, Feb. 21, 1892]

Smith spent his final years in San Francisco wandering along

Montgomery Street spinning yarns and, for the price of a shot of

whisky, entertaining his listeners with an Indian war-whoop. [San

Francisco Daily Evening Bulletin, Oct. 26, 1866]

What about Black gold? “As far as I know there is no black gold. The

nature of gold is that it does not discolor, tarnish, oxidize, decompose,

corrode or otherwise mix with hardly any other substance…” so says

an interpreter speaking for the California State Mining and Mineral

Museum.”

There is a lot we don’t know about the man. But from what I’ve

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uncovered so far I doubt that there ever was a lost black gold stash. I

kind of hope I’m wrong, you know, those of us who write about the

West don’t want to spoil a perfectly good yarn especially one as old as

this.

.

 

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