Outlaw Mine
The Outlaw Mine is one of those places I wanted to go to because it was so remote. I knew there wasn't going to be much left at the site but I still wanted to go and see it. The area is so remote, so desolate. It is one of
John's Camp and the Boulder Cabin
In 1929 the Gold Hill Mine, comprising five claims about a mile west of the Pinto Wye Arrastra in Joshua Tree National Park, was owned by C.H. Wiser and Anvil B. Johns of Rialto, California, and J.A. Johns of San Bernardino. They set up John's Camp nearby to
Porcupine Wash and Ruby Lee Millsite
Down in the southern end of Joshua Tree National Park, the park service has made a trailhead with an open invite to find your own way out to the old mining site of Ruby Lee Mill site and beyond.
The Park Service says the mill dates back to the 1870s.
"Quartz Butte" Pictographs
Back in early 2022, I met up with a fellow rock art enthusiast to do a little scouting expedition in the backcountry of Joshua Tree National Park. There is a small pictograph and petroglyph site there that he knew about and we wanted to see if there were any more
El Dorado Mine
James “Chuckwalla Jim” Wilson discovered a rich gold-bearing outcrop of rock in this canyon in 1901. He called it the El Dorado (also spelled Eldorado). Wilson loaded small batches of ore on burros to be processed over at the mill at Pinyon Well, and all the way to an arrastra
Silver Bell and Golden Bell Mines
These are two relatively easy mines to reach in the heart of Joshua Tree National Park. It is just a few miles west of the popular Cholla Cactus Garden.
History
Silver Bell Mine
Phil Sullivan (who also worked at the Contact Mine) and Albert Vivian staked the Silver Bell claim
Chuckawalla Bill's
William Anthony Simon, also known as Anthony William Simmons but more famously as "Chuckawalla Bill", fixed up this little cabin and lived here from around 1932 to 1936. Born on August 2nd, 1875 in Pennsylvania. He served in the U.S. Army during the Spanish-American War and later in with