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Fort Independence Soldier's Camp

Fort Independence Soldier's Camp

Back in 1862, Owens Valley was not quite as peaceful as it is today. White settlers were just moving in and starting up ranches. Prospectors were combing the hills in search of that elusive next big strike. The Paiute, Shoshone, and Kawaiisu people who lived here didn’t appreciate being

New Years Mine

New Years Mine

The mine was a minor producer of zinc, lead, silver, and gold. It was first located in 1913 but wasn’t worked until 1915. It was active only for a few short years and idle by 1918. The mine workings here are fairly small, but the mill near the top

Poinsettia Camp

Poinsettia Camp

Poinsettia was once a cinnabar mine. Reportedly, the mine was worked from 1929 to WWII, but information on it is hard to find, and no production was recorded. It is doubtful much cinnabar was ever mined here. Cinnabar is a primary ore for mercury, which is important in the gold

Harrisburg Flat Cabin

Harrisburg Flat Cabin

Back on a cool April day in 2013, Dan and I hiked out to a little cabin ruin near Harrisburg Flat in the Death Valley backcountry. (Harrisburg Flat is on the way to the old townsite of Skidoo.) These days, nothing much remains of that town or its former rival,

Weather Station Cabin

Weather Station Cabin

Dan and I started off a three-day trip into the Panamint and Death Valley region in 2013 by visiting an old miner’s cabin up in the hills. After spending the night at one of our favorite places down in Panamint Valley, we drove up into the mountains and parked

Halloran Arrastra

Halloran Arrastra

In the summer of 2014, I was out in the Eastern Mojave exploring around (which is pretty normal for me). This time, however, I was looking for an old mining site with an arrastra. There aren’t too many arrastras left out in the wild, so finding one is always

Diamond Tunnel Camp

Diamond Tunnel Camp

After visiting the Victorine Mine on a trip to Nevada years ago, our next big stop was the old camp of Prospect and the Diamond Tunnel. Like other mines in the Eureka district, this mine was discovered in the 1860s, but the camp wasn’t settled until around 1885. It