Emmett's Lone Tree Cabin

High in the rugged Panamint Mountains, in the shadow of lofty Manly Peak, sits a humble aluminum-sided cabin that represents one of Death Valley's last authentic prospecting camps. This was the base of operations for Emmett Harder, one of Death Valley's final true desert prospectors, who spent decades exploring its remote canyons and searching for lost mines until his passing in October 2024.

Born in San Bernardino during the Great Depression, Harder developed an early fascination with the desert that would shape his entire life. His great-grandmother Emma J. Rich, who had lived in an Arizona mining town in the 1880s, captivated young Emmett with tales of miners, gold strikes, and frontier life. By age 14, he was already exploring Death Valley's canyons, bringing along his 11-year-old brother on their desert adventures.

Stories of lost gold mines drew Harder to the Panamints, and amazingly, he rediscovered the Lost Mormon Mine. With help from a fellow prospector, he reopened its sealed tunnel, finding high-grade gold ore that could be sold as specimen rock without milling. The mine's location has since been lost again to the mountains.

The Aluminum Cabin, as he called it, at his Lone Tree Mill site was a simple one-room affair. Inside, the sparse furnishings included a fold-up table, a wood-burning stove, and a propane cookstove. A rainwater collection system captured what little rain that fell into a metal tank.

Above the cabin, perched on the hillside, sits an old bus where Harder set up a second shelter. He fixed it up with a stove and beds for guests. Though some mistakenly connect it to Charles Manson, whose clan was just over the mountain at Barker Ranch, the bus was Harder's own addition to his mining camp.

In his book "These Canyons are Full of Ghosts," Harder documented the area's rich prospecting history. Harder shared these mountains with other colorful characters like Asa "Panamint" Russell and Harry Briggs, a long-time miner in the Panamints. Briggs became a trusted friend and mentor, sharing decades of mining experience with Harder.

But Harder was usually alone at the mine. He wrote in his book that his main companions were an owl, a noisy badger that would bang against the cabin walls during its nightly rounds, and occasional wild burros that grazed nearby in the evenings. He once faced down an aggressive wild burro in a canyon, armed only with a rock hammer.

Because of his deep knowledge of the area, law enforcement consulted him about the Manson Family and the search for the four missing German tourists in 1996.

These days, reaching the cabin requires navigating a rough road that twists through granite boulders - a challenge best attempted with a short-wheelbase vehicle and 4WD.

Just as the lone pine tree that marked his camp has returned to the desert, Harder too has joined the ghosts of Death Valley's prospecting past, marking the end of an era.