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Outlaw Mine

Outlaw Mine

The Outlaw Mine is one of those places that beckons to the adventurous explorer, not for what remains, but for its sheer remoteness. I knew there wouldn't be much left at the site, but the allure of visiting one of Joshua Tree's most isolated mines was

Oro Cache Mine

Oro Cache Mine

The Oro Cache Mine was a small gold producer in the Beaverhead Mountains near Salmon. It is at the head of Freeman Creek, and was the largest mine in the tiny Carmen Creek Mining District. The mine was supposedly discovered in 1897, and was developed rapidly. It operated intermittently until

John's Camp and the Boulder Cabin

John's Camp and the Boulder Cabin

In 1929, the Gold Hill Mine, comprised of five claims about a mile west of the Pinto Wye Arrastra in Joshua Tree National Park, was owned by C.H. Wiser and Anvil B. Johns of Rialto, California, and J.A. Johns of San Bernardino. To support their mining endeavors, they

Golden Age Mine

Golden Age Mine

The Golden Age Mine has several names including Callahan, Deer Horn, and Pataloma. It was really a group of mines, located around 1910. In 1921 the mine was located as the Golden Age and went into production under the Callahan Gold Mining company (unrelated to the great Callahan Mining co

Porcupine Wash and Ruby Lee Millsite

Porcupine Wash and Ruby Lee Millsite

Down in the southern reaches of Joshua Tree National Park are Porcupine Wash and the Ruby Lee Millsite. The Park Service says the mill dates back to the 1870s. They probably know something I don't. I could only find evidence that the mill site dates from the Depression

Hackberry Springs Pictographs

Hackberry Springs Pictographs

Hidden in a limestone canyon in the Mormon Mountain Wilderness of southern Nevada are two alcoves with pictographs (and a faint petroglyph or two) on their walls. Some of the pictographs are of riders on horseback—a clear sign of historical contact with the Southern Paiute and really fascinating to

Quartz Butte Pictographs

Quartz Butte Pictographs

Back in early 2022, I met up with a fellow rock art enthusiast to do a little scouting expedition in the backcountry of Joshua Tree National Park. There is a small pictograph and petroglyph site there that he knew about, and we wanted to see if there were any more