Corona Mine – Jail Canyon

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 decades over rendering it non-existent for most of the journey requiring high clearance 4x4s to reach the cabin site. A small boundary sign lets you know you are entering Death Valley National Park as you make your way into the canyon.

Obviously a small and perhaps one man operation mining here began in the late 1800s and continued until as recently as the 1980s.

The spring changes the harsh desert into a lush and dense oasis…

The site consist of a small cabin with two beds, a sink, and a stove along with a few other structures such as a work shed and outhouse. The cabin was somewhat fixed up in 2007 to include running water from a nearby spring. The spring changes the harsh desert into a lush and dense oasis as you make your way up the canyon. The impressive Corona Mill is a few hundred yard up the canyon past the camp. At the mill is a tipple, a head frame, ball mill, froth flotation cell, single lung diesel thumper with fuel tank and drive belts as well as a dismantled bulldozer and compressor. Several adits exist but are all sealed by bat gate. Perhaps the adits shown on USGS topo further up the canyon are unsealed.

Below the camp is an array of trucks, cars, engines and other odd mine workings from diverse periods. Have you been lately? Comment below.