Several years into exploring we surprisingly enough had never heard of New Idria. After binge watching Wonder Hussy’s YouTube Channel we realized the site was no secret and…
The Defense Mine is a popular jeep, 4×4, rock crawler and hiking destination located 2 miles up Stone Canyon in the western slopes of Panamint Valley. Discovered in…
The Winkeye Mine peaked our interest after watching a YouTube and reading a blog post by Justin Ames aka The Velvet Rocket. One of Justin’s earlier explorations before…
The Burgess Mine, a gold mine, sits high atop the ridge of the Inyo Mountains at 9600′ just SE of New York Butte. I thought I had read…
The Mission Mine has become the old standby for every trip to Joshua Tree and the Old Dale Mining District. It is easy to get to with a…
When a mine has its own Trip Advisor and Facebook you know its a popular destination. So why is the Reward Mine aka Brown Monster Mine such a…
One of my favorite over-landing destinations the Whiteside Mine is a great explore. A relatively easy but distant destination that has plenty to offer for the novice explorer.…
Poker Flat history begins with the gold rush when extreme quantities of gold were pulled from the district as much as $700,00 per month (period values). Major hydraulic…
Like many offroaders we had driven right past the Gold Standard Mine on previous trips in our rush up to the Brooklyn Mine. Just north of JTNP the…
Masonic is a true ghost town just a few miles north of Bodie. Originally founded as three towns by the Free Masons “Upper Town, Middle Town, and Lower…
Where is the Death Valley Mine you ask? Well, its not in Death Valley, it is smack dab in Mojave National Preserve. Mining the rich lead/silver/gold ore began…
The Carlyle Mine is a fairly popular explorers destination. There is a lot to draw an expolorer there. First of all its fairly easy to get to with…
Jim Crow Creek has a long and extensive mining history reaching back to the 1860’s including numerous “Bonanza” claims. On a hot summer day in July 2017 we…
Some of my favorite mines to explore are the one man operations. The Golden Egg Mine was bought in 1940 by German immigrant Karl Schapel who worked the…
Hite Cove (aka Hites Cove) is small mining camp tucked along the Merced River. John Hite discovered gold here in 1862 and ran the mine for 17 years.…
Why another silver mine on this Gold site? Well, honestly I could not help myself. I stumbled upon Cerro Gordo on a California travel website that had mistakenly…
Silver was found at the Bonanza King mine in 1880. By 1882 a large vein was struct valued at $1200 per ton. The mine was sold that year…
The Moser Mine or Moser Claims are a series of workings shown on USGS Topo only as prospects. In actuality there are extensive works including numerous adits, several…
Aurora Nevada is a fascinating ex-ghost town with almost nothing too see. How can there be an ex-ghost town? Well, that is the interesting part of Aurora. Once…
The Big Horn Mine is located in the southern part of Mojave National Preserve. Most noted for Hilltop House, a cabin built in the 30’s by mine owners…
This seven stamp mill is around the corner from Bodie on the east side of Bodie Bluff on Bodie Rd as it exits Bodie toward Aurora. The mill…
Silver-lead mining began in 1882 at the Ibex Mine but was never very profitable and shut down by 1892. For the next 15 years the mines only resident…
Found this one merely by topo. The adit is 1400 feet long with stopes, winzes and drifts galore. We didn’t enter as we were in no way prepared…
Not much history on the Ophir Mine is out there. It does appear on USGS Topo but that’s about it. The Ophir is best know by off roaders…
The Live Oak Mine is located up Keystone Canyon on the eastern side of the New York Mountains in Mojave National Preserve. We drove right up to the…
Malakoff Diggins is California’s largest hydraulic gold mine. There are no shafts (except for massive drain tunnels) because the gold was dug up by using high pressure water…
Clair Camp is a popular 4×4 destination located 5 miles east of Ballarat. The road up Pleasant Canyon is flanked by dense vegetation and a tight squeeze for…
The mighty Plumbago Mine (aka lower Plumbago) and Stamp Mill has a long and rich history. Millions of dollars of high grade have been pulled from small pockets…
The Lippincott Lead Mine aka Lead King Mine was discovered in 1906 and extensive works began by 1908. The mine, located in Racetrack Valley produced heavily during WWI.…
The Mexican Mine has been on our to do list for a while. It wasn’t until our third trip to the area we were able to find it.…
The stamps at the Herman Mine still stand tall as of our visit in May 2016 despite several forest fires sweeping the steep ravine below Deadwood Ridge. There…
The Sunset Mine is located in the Old Dale Mining District just yards outside the Joshua Tree National Park boundary. Famous for the United States and California Flag…
Surrounded by Joshua Tree National Park on three sides, Eagle Mountain is more of a ghost city than a ghost town. Probably the largest and best preserved ghost…
Years ago on a trip from Arizona near the California border I opened up my handy dandy topo to look for gold mines nearby. We spotted the Gold…
We stumbled upon the Red Cloud Mine on route from Pleasant Canyon to South Park Canyon in Death Valley. After spending the night near Claire Camp at the…
What can I say, one of the coolest mining camps around. Only 30 remote minutes from Mariposa. The Sweetwater mining camp has a long and well documented history.…
Located just east of Ballarat up Pleasant Canyon around the corner from Clair Camp only yards outside Death Valley National Park the World Beater Mine and Cabin are…
One of my all time favorites. The Lost Burro almost has it all. A well preserved cabin with bed, table and artifacts, many open underground shafts to explore,…
William “Burro” H. Schmidt began gold mining in the area in 1906. Rather than haul his ore over the steep hill to the smelter in Mojave he decided…
The Old Dutch Cleanser Company obtained its pumice from this mine from 1923 to 1947. I know this is a gold mine site but I just could not resist…
Located in Mesquite Canyon between Burro Schmidt Tunnel and Garlock lies a group of six tunnels according to USGS Historic Topo. I couldn’t find any real history on…
Cashier Mill is located in Death Valley National Park only a short distance east of Harrisburg, California. The Eureka Mine that fed the mill was opened in 1905…
The Eureka Mine is located in Death Valley National Park only a short distance west of the Harrisburg, California. The mine was opened in 1905 by Shorty Harris…
Certainly one of my all time favorites. The giant stamp mill sits right next to a well maintained gravel road only a short distance from the highway. Virtually…
Not much is known about the Ryan Mine except it has a 400′ deep shaft and produced 1700 tons of ore in 1940. We were able to drive…
The Green Mine is located just east of Mi-Wuk Village. I found it on a USGS Historic Topo map showing a shaft and a structure, I also found…
There are hundreds of mines and several headframes in the gold rich hills east of Goldfield NV. Prominent are the Florence Mine, the Little Florence Mine, The Laguna…
The Lucy Gray is a popular 4X4 destination. Several structures are still standing in the camp and many adits have been sealed with bat gates but doubtful all as…
The Noonday is one of three mines frequented in the Shoshone Mines group. Along with the War Eagle and the Columbia these mines are popular among underground enthusiast.…
The Columbia is one of three mines frequented in the Shoshone Mines group. Along with the War Eagle and the Noonday these mines are popular among underground enthusiast.…
Noonday Camp consist of upper and lower camp as shown in the USGS topo map in the photo gallery below. No structures remain only foundations with the exception…
The War Eagle is an extremely popular destination for underground adventurist, very little remains at the surface. Massive tailings are indicative of the extensive tunneling. The mine runs…
Don’t let the name fool you. This federal government owned mining site began operation in the early 1900. Modern operations began after WWII and continued into the 80′s.…
Briggs Camp is a popular 4×4 destination with a well cared for cabin. The Cabin was built by Harry Briggs a miner and is now cared for by…
Everyone knows the Barker Ranch as the Manson Family hideout and probable location for several Manson Family murder clandestine graves. Located in Death Valley’s Goler Canyon. The ranch…
Several miles up the rugged and remote Jail Canyon exist the remarkably unaltered Corona Mine. The road up Jail Canyon has been washed away by flash flood many…
Not much info is out there on this mine other than production data from the late 1800’s, early 1900’s and a few pictures. The mine’s claim to fame…
Chloride City is best known for the ruins of several “dug out” style dwellings (east of the pin) accessible by 4 wheel drive vehicles only. Also known for…
So why on earth is there a Nevada ghost town on a California Gold Rush site? Because Rhyolite was the queen of Death Valley’s gold boom. The town…
The Keane Wonder Mine (Death Valley) was discovered by Jack Keane in the early 1900’s along the Chloride Cliffs below Chloride City. In 1906 investors made the mine…
Skidoo, located in Death Valley National Park was famous in the early 1900′s. Producing over 75,000 ounces of gold. But by 1917 the town was abandoned. The only…
Sometimes the temptation to go ghost towning and exploring abandoned mine shafts is overwhelming. On a family road trip from Vegas to the Grand Canyon I couldn’t help…
The Chemung mine operated from 1909 to 1938. Mining both high grade and low grade ore totaling one million in production. During this time three mills were erected…