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California

319 posts

Paymaster Mine

Paymaster Mine

The Paymaster Mine, also known as the Black Warrior Mine, was a good producer in the Gold Park district. It had a 140-foot shaft with two levels of drifts and cross-cuts. Information on ownership and production is scarce. Bill Keys believed it was discovered before 1900 by Bill McHaney. Keys

Cave of the White Orbs

Cave of the White Orbs

Hidden in the rocks of Joshua Tree is a small pictograph rock shelter called the Cave of the White Orbs. I was asked not to give directions to this location.

Railroad Tie Cabin (Old Womans)

Railroad Tie Cabin (Old Womans)

Back in the winter of 2019, my friend JP and I took a hike to a forgotten cabin on the northern end of the Old Woman Mountains out in the Mojave Desert of California. The cabin is inside the Old Woman Wilderness, but isn't a hard hike. It

Stuck on Soda Lake

Stuck on Soda Lake

Oh, so one day, way back in the beginning of 1991, when I was just a young pup, my friend Jim and I were out off-roading in the sand dunes of the Devil’s Playground area out near Baker, California. We had been roaming around the desert all weekend, but

Confidence Mine and Dugout

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

Confidence Wash Upper Mines

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

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