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Confidence Mine and Dugout
I had hiked out to some mines in the Upper Confidence Wash of Death Valley, but I still hadn’t been to the Confidence Mine itself. I needed to fix that.
History
The mine is one of the oldest in Death Valley, being first worked in 1895. One story goes
June 2021 News
I couldn't get Wordpress and Patreon to play nicely together, so I've ditched them both.
Since I started this site twenty-four years ago, it's undergone many changes. I used to hand-code the site myself. First, it was just in HTML, then with PHP. CSS
Confidence Wash Upper Mines
The Confidence Wash area of southern Death Valley has always interested me. I’m not sure why. There isn’t much out there. It is a wildly desolate and forsaken stretch of desert and can only be visited in the coldest of winter months as the rest of the time
Contact Mine
Information on these gold mines is sparse. Phil Sullivan, an early pioneer of Twentynine Palms, located the Contact claims by at least 1921. He filed a homestead there in 1897. (Also see the Silver Bell Mine.)
Along with Bill McHaney (see the Desert Queen Mine), Sullivan reportedly built an arrastra
Garrett’s Arch
This trip is a nice cross-country hike into the granitic maze that is the Wonderland of Rocks to find its best arch. Finding it will be much simpler with a map and GPS, so don't attempt the hike without either. It is easy to get lost back there.
Clark’s Pass Bullseye
During World War II, the vast deserts of the Southwest became unlikely training grounds for military personnel. One lesser-known spot was a bombing target now tucked inside the northern border of Joshua Tree National Park.
Bombs were dropped on Joshua Tree? Yes! Apparently so. But at least they were only