History of
Mining in the Halloran Hills, Shadow Mountains, and Silurian Hills
Larry M. Vredenburgh
1996
The Halloran Hills, Shadow Mountains
and Silurian Hills lie within an area circumscribed by Interstate 15
on the south, State Route 127 on the west, Kingston Wash on the north,
and Clark Mountain on the east.
As depicted by early maps, this area is devoid of mines, and there are
no contemporary reports of mining
activity before 1900. As early as the 1870s a road passed through here,
running from Soda Lake via
Halloran and Francis Springs, to the mining town of Ivanpah, northeast
of Clark Mountain. The Solo or
Reil Mining District, that was established February 18, 1889, embraces
the portion of this area south of a
line from Halloran Spring to the north end of Silver Lake. The Solo
Mining District extended from the
north end of Cronese Lake southwest to Crucero, northeast to Marl
Spring, northwest to Halloran Spring,
west to the northwest end of Silver Lake then southwest back to Cronese
Lake. The mining district was
established by miners working properties just a few miles due west of
Baker. However there may have
been mines near Halloran Spring at this early date. According to a 1908
account the Riggs mine was
worked continuously from about 1875, the first discoveries in the
Shadow Mountains were made in 1894,
and turquoise was found about 6 miles northeast of Halloran Spring in
1896. Gold was discovered near
Halloran Spring shortly later and by 1911 the talc mines east of Silver
Lake were first worked.
RIGGS MINE
Frank Riggs was born in Michigan in
1845. In 1875 he married Sarah and soon after made the first
discovery in the Silurian Hills at the Alta Mine. They had four
children. Riggs became somewhat a
celebrity with his incredibly rich silver mine, and unorthodox method
of shipping ore. A 1908 article by
the American Mining Review reported, "When Riggs had found
the first ore, instead of seeking to interest
capital in his find, as most prospectors would have done, he decided
that the mine should be owned by
himself alone. The first shipment that Riggs sent out went to San
Francisco and the returns enabled him
to build a home at the mine, where he has lived since while working the
property. Since then shipments
have left the Riggs mine consigned to Selby's by express. These enabled
Riggs to live well and improve
his property." Prior to construction of the California Eastern Railroad
in 1893 he brought the ore to
Daggett for shipment, but with completion of the California Eastern he
brought it to the railhead at
Manvel. One 1904 shipment, which wasn't out of the ordinary, was noted
by the Los Angeles Mining
Review, "Mr. Frank Riggs shipped another small lot of specimen ore to
the Selby Smelting and Lead
Company, San Francisco, last week - about twelve sacks. The last lots
ran something like $10,000 to
the ton, and as this lot was again shipped by express it may be
supposed that it was of about the same
value. It is almost pure silver." To add to the mystique of the mine
was his secrecy. The Redlands
Citrograph in 1903 reported, "No living man today knows just
what Riggs has. Parties who have been at
his place have seen a shaft, and down this shaft there is a drift
fitted by a heavy massive door. What
lies behind this door is a mystery."
Sarah was a full partner in this
enterprise. Her role and reward for this spartan life on the Mojave was
well described as follows, "Together they do all the work. Their
shipments are prepared with great care. After the ore has been mined it
is carefully broken and sorted... Riggs and his wife lead a dual
existence. About half the year they work their property, Mrs. Riggs
working side by side with her
husband. Then, after they have made a few shipments they travel. To
paraphrase, [the] object is no
money to them. They can enjoy their outings secure in the knowledge
that the is more where the present
comes from." Frank continued to mine here until the death of his wife
on April 11, 1914, shortly after her
seventieth birthday in February. She was buried in Michigan. Frank, six
months younger than his wife
was no youngster himself. In June he leased the mine to the Riggs
Mining Company, that immediately
began shipping ore via the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad. It has been
stated that before 1914 the
mine had produced $100,000 in silver and by 1920 another $100,000 had
been produced. The mine was
active between 1939 and 1943 when a 1,700 foot crosscut was driven to
intersect the vein, and a 1,500
foot tram was constructed.
SHADOW MOUNTAINS
In early 1894, there was a brief gold
rush to the Shadow Mountains, as the Mining and Scientific Press
reported, quoting the Vanderbilt Shaft, "Of all the mineral
producing districts contiguous to
Vanderbilt...none have attracted more attention in mining circles here
during the last two months than the
Shadow Mountain country." "...'Shadow Mountain,' says a prospector of
that section, 'is the poor man's
country, for the reason that there is rich rock from the grass roots
down. The veins are large and the ore
rich, and it is bound to be a good place. There are more men coming in
every day now, and very few are
going out. Everyone is doing well.'" The Redlands Citrograph
noted that several deeds for mining
property have been filed. In January, 1895, the Shadow Mountain Mining
District is listed with new
mining districts of San Bernardino County. However, just a year later
the district is summed up by the
California Mining Bureau, "The small size of the veins, some of which
are faulted, the great distance
from supply points, and scarcity of water, have retarded the
development of the mines, and the district is
practically deserted."
In February, 1895, Mr. Stewart, former
owner of the store at Keystone, bought the 5-stamp Shadow
Mountain mill, located at Valley Wells, and was soon to start milling
ore from the Shadow mines. At the
same time, Gus William and Pete Wagner were working their mine here,
having shipped 10 tons the
Campbell's mill at Vanderbilt. Thirteen years later in 1908, H. Amos
Perkins purchased William's mine,
and began working a force of 16 men sinking two shafts, and erecting a
new mill at Valley Wells. After
this report there is no way to correlate the properties which
sporadically were mentioned here over the
next 10 years. In 1910 E. William Johnson employed with the Golden
Eagle Copper Company worked a
mine here. Julian Douglas and his brother, natives of New York, had
interest in the Black Beauty mine
between 1911 and 1914, Julian's arrival in Cima in January 1914
received a note in the Barstow Printer.
In May, 1913, Arthur and Scheff Henrie were working their mine, and
began shipping small lots of high
grade ore containing nearly 3 ounces of gold per ton and a little
silver, copper and lead. About a year
later the Barstow Printer mentioned Dan Henrie's son Kenneth, had
recently come from Salt Lake City
"en route to Shadow Mt. where he expects to work their gold mine." D.
F. Hewett indicates this mine,
known as the Henry or Dan Henry, was first worked as early as 1895.
By the late teens the mines of Shadow
Mountains were consolidated by E.D. Foster. Foster located 22
claims, known the Glory Group or Foster Mine. But the original mine
names also were used including the
Dan Henrie, Gold Hill, Grey Copper, and also the Foster Mine - a copper
mine situated in the low hills
that form the western part of Shadow Mountains. By 1926 there was a 250
foot adit at the Foster mine
and two shafts, 60 and 80 feet deep. Prior to 1937 Foster drilled the
property, only to discover the
granitic gneiss host rock had been thrust faulted over unconsolidated
clay and sand of middle Tertiary
age. In the late teens 35 tons of ore was shipped from the Dan Henrie
mine, which by 1926 had a 750
foot long adit. The Gold Hill mine, a lead mine, was leased in the late
1930s to Marty Herbst of Los
Angeles. A 600 foot deep well was sunk 2 miles from the mine - a 55
foot deep inclined shaft, and
simple gravity concentrating mill was erected at the well. Foster died
in 1946.
HALLORAN SPRING TURQUOISE MINES
In 1905, G. F. Kunz described the
discovery of turquoise in the Halloran Spring area: "Mr. T. C. Bassett
had observed in this neighborhood a small hillock where the float rock
was seamed and stained with
blue. On digging down a few feet, he found a vein of turquoise - a
white talcose material inclosing
nodules and small masses of the mineral, which at a depth of 20 feet
showed fine gem color. Two
aboriginal stone hammers were met with, as usual at all the turquoise
localities in the southwest, and
from this circumstance the location was named the Stone Hammer mine."
The first claim, the Gem, was
located May 20, 1896, one mile due west of Solomons Knob. Three
addition claims were located
adjacent to the Gem, August 9, 1896. Reports of these ancient turquoise
mines reached San Francisco,
and an exploring party was organized by the San Francisco Call,
newspaper, with Gustav Eisen, an
archeologist from the California Academy of Sciences accompanying the
party. They departed in March,
1898 going via rail to Manvel, then to the prospects.
Early operations are vague. In April,
1898 the Mining and Scientific Press noted the greater part
had
been shipped to Amsterdam, with the largest piece weighing 210 carats.
Due to the soft rock, all work
was done with pick and shovel. Eventually two companies acquired the
mines. One company, the Toltec
Mining Company, headed by J.B. Wood of New York purchased three groups
of claims in October, 1898.
The claim groups were located one mile due west of Solomon's Knob, on
Turquoise Mountain and about
one and one-half miles due west of Turquoise Mountain. They were known
as East Camp, Middle Camp
and West Camp. At East Camp, a well was sunk and a boarding house and
frame house were
constructed. The other company, known as the Himalaya Mining Company,
was headed by Lippman
Tannenbaum and Benedict Lederer. The Himalaya Claim, located August 7,
1899, adjoined the Toltec
Company's claims at West Camp on the south. Tannenbaum purchased four
claims in this group in
March, 1901. An office/boarding house was located on the millsite claim
in the wash just south of the
Himalaya Claim. At this same time Woods patented Halloran Spring and
Francis Spring as millsite
claims.
The turquoise from these operations was
shipped to New York. In 1900, an estimated $28,000 worth of
turquoise was shipped. In 1904 it was reported, "The Tannenbaum
turquoise camp locally known as the
Himalaya group..closed last week after a run of seven months. Julius
Goldsmidt, the manager and Martin
Keane, superintendent started for New York today." There is no mention
of mining at these deposits
after 1904.
HALLORAN SPRING GOLD MINES
The first evidence of gold mining in
the Halloran Spring area is provided by a 1902 miners' map of the
desert. This map shows "Hyten's" at the site of James Hyten's Wanderer
Mine, and the "Mammoth" just
southeast of Halloran Spring.
James Hyten, a resident of San Bernardino, continued to work the mine
throughout the years,
occasionally leasing it out. By 1930 there were a number of shallow
shafts, the deepest being 125 feet. There was also a 20 ton per day
capacity mill. With revived interest in the district following the
discovery
of gold at the Telegraph Mine in 1930, the group of 15 claims were
leased to American Hellenic Gold
Mining Co., of Las Vegas.
The Telegraph Mine, was discovered November 9, 1930 by A. A. Brown and Ralph Brown of Salina, Utah. One sample showed free gold in calcite and quartz and assayed up to $800 per ton in gold, they returned to Utah and interested Vivian and Robert Burns, who located a large number of claims. O. Perry Riker, of Long Beach, California leased the property from December 1932 to 1935. During this period, 220 tons of ore was milled and milled at the mill at Yucca Grove, three miles northeast of the mine. Also, 990 tons of ore was shipped for smelting. Total production was $35,200. The mine was idle in 1943 and by 1953 all equipment had been removed.
SILVER LAKE TALC MINES
Ten miles northeast of Silver Lake a
two-mile long discontinuous outcrop of talc schist has been mined at
six locations. The Amos brothers of Silver Lake, made the first
shipment of talc from their mine in 1911.
At this time G. E. Gould located claims here as did M. E. Stearns who
organized the Western White Talc
Company. In 1918 Gould sold two claims to the Robert W. Glendenning of
the Pacific Coast Talc
Company. The Pacific Coast Talc Company built a mill in Los Angeles.
The original shaft, known as the
Gould, was sunk at a point high on the most extensive talc exposure. In
1925 the shaft was intersected
by the Gould tunnel driven east on the talc-bearing zone. By 1934
additional working had been
developed. By 1935 85,000 tons of talc had been produced. The Sierra
Talc Company purchased the
holdings of Pacific Coast Talc Company in 1941, and by 1953 an
additional 90,000 tons of talc had been
mined.
GENERAL REFERENCES
Hewett, D. F., 1956, Geology of the Ivanpah Quadrangle, California and Nevada: U.S. Geological Survey, Professional Paper 275.
Mallery, J.C. and Ward J.W., 1877, New Map of the Territory of Arizona, Southern California and parts of Nevada, Utah and Sonora (San Francisco: Britton, Rey and Co.)
Mendenhall, W. C., 1909, Some Desert Watering Places in Southeastern California and southwestern Nevada: U.S. Geological Survey Water Supply Paper 224. p. 56;
Tucker, W. B., 1921, Los Angeles Field Division, San Bernardino County: California Division of Mines Report 17.
Tucker, W. B., 1931, Los Angeles Field Division, San Bernardino County: California Division of Mines Vol. 27, No. 3.
Tucker, W. B., 1943, Los Angeles Field Division, Mineral Resources of San Bernardino County: California Division of Mines Vol. 39, No. 4.
Wright, L. A., Stewart, R. M., Gay, T.
E. Jr., Hazenbush, G. C., 1953, Mines and mineral deposits of San
Bernardino County, California: California Division of Mines Vol. 49,
Nos. 1 & 2.
RIGGS MINE
Barstow Printer: Dec 12, 1910;
Feb 3, Apr 28, Aug 4, Sep 1, Sep 22, Oct 6, Oct 27, Dec 1, 1911; Jan
12,
Feb 9, Feb 16, 1912; Apr 17, Jun 19, Dec 11, 1914;
Los Angeles
Mining Review: Dec 26, 1903; Apr 30,
1904 p. 8, Apr 18, 1908, p. 15; Jun 26, 1909 p. 20;
Redlands Citrograph:
Jun 20, 1903
SHADOW MOUNTAINS
Redlands Citrograph: May 19,
1894, Feb 22, 1908;
Mining and Scientific Press: Mar 17,
1894, p. 173;
Feb 9, p. 90; Apr 6, 1895, p. 218.
Crawford, J.J., 1896, California
Mining Bureau Report 13, p. 328;
Barstow Printer: Dec 9, 1910; Dec 8, 1911; May 16, 1913, Jan
23, Feb 13, 1914.
Hewett (1956, p. 120,
135)
HALLORAN SPRING TURQUOISE MINES
Strong, M.F. "Mohave Desert Turquoise,"
Desert Vol. 40, No. 4, p. 32-35 [April, 1977]
Hilton, John
W.,
1938, "Turquoise on the Mojave," Desert [Sept, 1938] pp.
31-32
Lawbaugh, A. LaVielle, 1951, "Where
Turquoise Was Mined by the Ancients," Desert Vol. 14, No. 10,
pp. 9-12 [Aug, 1951]
Kunz, G.F., 1905,
Gems, jewelers' materials, and ornamental stones of California:
California Mining Bureau Bulletin, 37,
pp. 107-109
Casebier, D.G., 1988, Guide to the East Mojave Heritage
Trail, Ivanpah to Rocky Ridge
(Tales of the Mojave Road Publishing Co.: Norco, CA.) pp. 185-191
Los
Angeles Mining Review: Feb 6,
1904, p. 3
Mining and Scientific Press: Apr 16, 1898, p.
422; Oct 28, 1899, p. 49
Engineering and
Mining Journal: Mar 23, 1901, p. 368.
United States Mineral
Surveys 3749, 3892, 3899A, 3899B, 3899,
3991A, 3991B, 3993A, 3993B.
HALLORAN SPRING GOLD MINES
Crossman, J.H., 1889, San Bernardino
County, California Mining Bureau Report 9, p. 222-223.
Crowell,
A. Russell, 1903, Miners' map of Death Valley the Mojave, Amargosa and
Nevada Deserts showing
proposed railroads also, elevations, trails, roads, springs, wells,
mines, mining camps and mining
districts, never before published.
Barstow Printer: Feb 3,
Jun 2, Jun 30, Aug 4, Sep 1, Dec 22, 1911;
Jan 12, Jan 19, Feb 2, 1912; Jan 3, 1913, Apr 17, 1914;
Los
Angeles Mining Review: Mar, 19, 1904 p. 9;
American Mining Review: Jun 26, 1909 p. 20;
Tucker, 1931, p.
320 - 333; Tucker, 1943, p. 462.
Ito, Tomo
and George J. Morgan, 1980, The Telegraph gold mine, Halloran Springs
Quadrange, San Bernardino
County, California, in D.L. Fife and A. R. Brown, eds., Geology and
Mineral Wealth of the California
Desert, South Coast Geological Society, pp. 336-338.
SILVER LAKE TALC MINES
Wright, L. E., 1953, Geology of the
Silver Lake Talc Deposits, San Bernardino County, California:
California Division of Mines Special Report 38, 30 p.;
Barstow
Printer: Apr 28, 1911.
This paper was published as:
Vredenburgh, Larry M., 1996, History of
Mining in the Halloran Hills, Shadow Mountains, ans Silurian
Hills, in Robert E. Reynolds and Jennifer Reynolds eds.
Punctuated Chaos, in the Northeastern Mojave
Desert, San Bernardino County Museum Association Quarterly Vol. 43 nos.
1 and 2, pp. 135-138.
For an excellent treatment
of Frank Riggs and mines in the Silurian Hills consult:
Duffield-Stoll, Anne Q. 1996, Mines and
Miners of the Silurian Valley, in Robert E. Reynolds and
Jennifer
Reynolds eds. Punctuated Chaos, in the Northeastern Mojave Desert, San
Bernardino County Museum
Association Quarterly Vol. 43 nos. 1 and 2 pp. 139-142