Starbuck's Exploring

"Rose of the Inyos" Mine

A combination of a few short trips to an interesting mine. The ore cart on the rails was a great find. I wish more was left of the camp.

"Wooden Slats" Mill

We met up with Dan and made a fairly long drive to explore a forgotten corner of Nevada's mining history. We weren't sure if we would find anything , as is often the case. We ended up driving over 100 miles (one way) of dirt roads. And after battling steep, rough roads and threatening weather, we made it to an old mill ruin. The mill was at least the second on the site; the first being built in the 1880s and this one in 1921. It looks like it was a grand operation, but in typical boom and bust fashion it was only worked for a few years. It has an interesting layout none-the-less and it worked gold, silver, lead and copper ores from the local mine. The mine has a few entrances, which we didn't have time to check out. Guess we will have to do a return trip.

"Monkey Man" Rock Petroglyphs

I met up with Dan, Bill and Barbara to check out some petroglyphs in western Nevada. This is a very interesting site near an ancient lakebed. The petroglyphs on one rock in particular are unique and seemingly out of place with the rest of the Great Basin style I've seen. I would be happy to hear your thoughts on this rock.

Dana Ghost Camp

I did a little solo hike up to the old townsite of Dana, which is up high on Tioga Hill in Yosemite National Park. It was a great short hike along the crest of the Sierras. The views are fantasitic even if the mosquitoes were thick. Dana was the camp for the Great Sierra mine, located back in 1878, it only lasted until 1884. Hardly anything remains of the old camp, but it makes a nice destination for the day.

Golden Bear Mine Camp

Alysia and I met up with Bill, Dan, Lewis and his daughters Sarah and Rachael for some exploring in the northern Sierras. We spent a couple of days in the forest exploring mines and jumping into rivers at the end of the day. This is a fantastic area. The mine itself dates back to the 1860s and is a big one. It has thousands of feet of drifts following Tertiary river channels loaded with gold nuggets. The mine has produced over $1 million in gold nuggets and some are on display at the LA County Natural History Museum.

"Side to Side" Mine

I took a quick trip out to some of the more remote reaches of northern Death Valley to check out an old mining site and look for a possible cabin. Not many people get out in these hills.

"Mule Tack" Mine

This was a hard place to get to, mainly due to the long hike in. Knowing that we were in for a rough time, we decided to backpack in. It was a good choice. The mine isn't much, with only two short adits, but records show it produced 34 tons, which was mostly silver, lead, copper and gold. The mine was worked on and off since 1926 and ore was packed out over the mountain on mules. What a journey that must have been.

"Distant Thunder" Petroglyphs

I had a nice hike up this canyon to check out some algae fossils and petroglyphs. Not much out here in these lonely hills.

"Jagged Spine" Mine

Off into the desert again, Dan and I went out to check out a 1930s to 1940s era mine. It was a bit of a hike to up there, but it was worth it.

Fay

On this trip, we were out exploring on the Nevada-Utah state line. This is an open country of rolling hills and woodland. Thunderstorms chased us, but were fairly brief. The town site of Fay popped up around 1899, with the mines producing gold in the next 2 years. But the boom to bust cycle was pretty quick and by 1915 it was almost ghosted. It is a pretty and lonesome area.

Franklin Mill

It's hard to know why this single stamp mill is at it's location. It isn't right next to the mine it supported and it isn't on any road. The area was first worked by A J Franklin in 1871, but the mine always had problems due to it's remoteness and lack of water. It wasn't until 1910 and another company, the Pennsylvania Mining and Leasing Company, took over that the mine had this little mill installed. But, as often happens, grand dreams of riches faded with the harsh realities of developing remote mines. The mill never seems to have been used. Yet, this is a neat little spot in the wilds of Death Valley.

Copper Globe Mine

The Copper Globe never really had much production but was worked for many years, starting in 1906 and going through to WWII. This is some remote country. It was interesting to see that most of the entrances to the workings have filled in from wind blown sand.

Gold Springs and Jennie Mine

We met up with Micah, Mike and Dan to do some cabin and mine exploring around Gold Springs on the western edge of Utah. We travelled miles of open roads through pinyon and juniper woodland, with the occasional ruin. We were there in July and that is thunderstorm season out there. It rained on us a little, but it was a great trip!

"Bonnie Lee" Mine

Micah and I spend a couple of days out exploring some remote corners of Death Valley. We have been out to these cabins many times but the mine was a new find. Hard to come by any information on it. It could be a modern mine that has reworked an older one.

"Ebony Raptor" Mine

We met up with Lewis, Dan, and the Dzrtgrls for a short hike to an old forgotten mine site that has almost been destroyed by a modern mine. The old mine was worked for lead, silver, copper and gold prior to the 1920's and then again in 1939 - 1940. Today, the ruins are barely standing. We were lucky to photograph the remains.

"Duke's Camp"

This is an amazing place. There is alot to see here and it took us two trips to see it all. There are a few scattered cabins in the area, but Duke's Camp takes the cake. We will certainly be returning.

"Engagement" Mine

This fairly remote silver-lead mine is pretty neat site and one i need to return to. It is an old camp dating from the very late 1800's and early 1900's. The mine has 4 levels and a few thousand feet of workings. I didn't take many photos of the place. I'll have to fix that someday.

Surprise Tank Petroglyphs

I recently revisited this site. I hadn't been there in some time and wanted to get better photos. It is a neat (and large) site and worth a visit.

"Tin Can and Brass" Mines

These are some old mines that were worked and re-worked over the years. "Tin Can" camp dates to 1867 and was worked for lead-silver and later for tungsten. The camp is neat for its remaining building that people take care of. "Brass" mine was worked for gold. Both are fairly remote spots. Sorry for the poor quality of the photos. They were scanned from film.

"Columbus" Mine

These are various photos from our trips over the years to this mine out in the Mojave. I still haven't been to it's lowest levels and need to go back.

La Trinidad Mill

Alysia and I met up with Lewis, Cat and Dan to try and find some old mills in the Sierras. Lewis led this trip and we found some great stamp mill ruins. This mill was a great find. It is tucked away deep in the forest and down a very steep trail. That is probably why so much is left at the site. The mine itself is caved. And though the mill is impressive, this was never a big operation.

"Secret Panamint Tunnel"

A long time ago, I found this tunnel filled with water and flowstone. It is a very beautiful spot hidden in the Panamints. Tunnels like this in mines are not common and hopefully the flowstone will continue to grow and create new formations. I only know of one other person who knows about this secret and certainly seldom visited spot. These are old dusty photos, so the quality isn't that great.

North Star and Gold Coin Mines

I couldn't find much information on either of these two small mines. They both look to have small productions and are seldom visited. The oven we found at the end of the trip remains a mystery.

"Spur of the Moment" Mine

I've been to this small gold mine a few times over the years and have watched it slowly be destroyed by vandalism. It is sad and one of a couple of examples I use when people ask me why I don't give out some mine locations. This mine site is special because it has a 1,300' double rope tramway with ore buckets still hanging on it. That is rare. Some of the photos are film scans and not great quality.

Brownstone Pictographs

This is an incredible site. I'd been wanting to go up here for a while and one day i had the chance to go with fellow explorer Bob Forsyth who runs http://www.rockartnevada.com/ What a great day we had! Thanks Bob!

"Happy Jack" and unknown mines

I had the chance to get out on this cold winter day, so i decided to try and hunt down some mines i had been wanting to check out for some time. The first mine i went to i haven't been able to find any information on and the second isn't that much better. The "Happy Jack" looks like it was owned by famous local Charles Brown in the late 1930's and shipped some gold, silver, lead and copper ore in 1939. But it is possible to have its origins in 1879 with a small stock swindle.

"Pontiac" Mine

This medium sized, multi-level mine had a fairly long period of activity but is a more modern mine than we often go in. Recently it has been examined by a mining company to be mined as an open pit. We wanted to get out there before that happened and the whole place is destroyed.

The Gallery

It took some time and a hike to find this incredible site. The site had been on our list for a long time and after some searching, we finally found it. And what a site it is! If you happen to come across this site, PLEASE respect it and don't give away its location. This fantastic site currently has no vandalism and I would like to see it stay that way.

Old Crump Flat

Dan and I had been wanting to go out here for some time. The main site turned out to be somewhat of a disappointment. We were expecting much more. Regardless, it was a good trip. And the other sites we found were great! I used DStretch (http://www.dstretch.com/) on some of the photos to help show the faint pictographs.

Mayflower Mill

The Mayflower Mill is one of the last fully intact mills in the Silverton area. Also known as the Shenandoah-Dives Mill, it was the most advanced flotation mill for its time. It has a long working history, opened in the 1920s, it survived the Great Depression and WWII, finally closing in 1991. And although it is not remote, it is a very interesting site.

San Juan Chief Mill

This scenic ruined mill site was built in the late 1890s and never saw ore from the San Juan Chief mine. It is the second mill to be built on this site. In 1900, it had 2 roasting furnaces and 15 stamps.

Sound Democrat Mill

The Sound Democrat Mill is an awesome find and one of the highlights of the area. It was built in 1905 to process ore from the Sound Democrat and Silver Queen mines. The BLM has been restoring the mill and much of the mill equipment is still here. It is one of the most complete stamp mills remaining in Colorado. It is amazing to see. Please protect it.

"Silverton Underground"

These are mostly underground photos from a mine in the Silverton area we explored. I actually didn't have much underground time planned for this trip, but the mines we did check out turned out to be fantastic. One of these huge mines had alot of equipment underground. My camera took a dump (of course) right before I went in to this mine, so the photos on this page are from Micah and Dan. Thanks guys!

"Mineral Hunting Blind" Site

This is a small native hunting and habitation site I went to check out. It is along a prehistoric deer migration route. They set up a long rock wall to use as a blind and to force deer into a canyon where they could ambush them. There are plenty of chips left over from spear and arrowhead making. Interesting to note that none of the petroglyphs in the canyon are of deer.

Rio Pinto - "Lost Spanish Mine"

When Alysia and I found this triple arrastra site, we didn't know it's history. I had guessed that it was built by early Mexican prospectors around 1860s or 1870s. Since then, I have been doing some reading in my libary and come across a few references and pieced together some history. The arrastras were likely briefly worked, if not built by, William Hunter and John Porter in 1875 working the nearby mine. In 1906, mine promoter A. D. Whittier rediscovered the ruins and called them the "Lost Spanish Mine" and used the site to promote the "fabulous wealth" of the Ubehebe Mine. Local newspapers reported the ruins to be the work of early Spanish who were driven off by hostile Indians.

Empire Mine

Our group gained special permission from the California State Park service to explore the Empire Mine. Doug McConnell and local TV program "Bay Area Backroads" crew came along to film the event for one of their episodes. What an incredible opportunity! We went down to the water table in the mine and explored the Magenta Drift on the 600 level. We encountered a lot of mud, water and tight spaces. Doug and crew were very good sports considering the punishment they and their equipment had to put up with. We found a few artifacts left over from the miners that had not been seen in many years. Among the items recovered for the Historic State Park collection were shovel heads, a carbine lamp, and candles used by the miners. We are very thankful to Park Ranger Jeff Herman and Empire Mine Historic State Park staff for allowing us entry and coming with us inside! We had a great time!

Trepier Mine

Prospector Victor Trepier found gold in the Inyo mountains in 1894. He worked his claim on a small basis and it never became a large mine but it had one heck of a view. He probably built this humble little stone cabin on the side of the mountain, near his mine.

"The Mine that Time Forgot"

This is a huge mine camp that we were able to get a private tour of. This is private property and the mill has a full-time caretaker and is guarded. It is a huge mill with a long history of operation.

Parowan Gap Petroglyphs

Parowan Gap is a narrow pass in a low set of hills that must have served as a natural corridor. The rocks at the narrowest part are covered in petroglyphs. It is easy to reach and not remote, but still an interesting site because of a few unique petroglyphs there. Most of the glyphs seem to be from the Archaic period, but Fremont and Anasazi styles are there as well. There is an interesting article on the site and some of the stories and legends associated with it in a 1940 edition of Desert Magazine.

"Lepus" Mine

This mine was worked as early as 1880s and produced $2.5M dollars before 1906. It was continued to be worked until 1959. That is a long time and total production could be as high as $10M. We didn't explore the mine fully and need to return one of these days.

"Moss and 757" Mines

We met up with Dezdan, Annie and Micah to explore an old mine out in the desert. We spent most of the day hiking to this old mine camp. We were surprised to find a few old cabins, mill remains and an ore cart out there.

Eagle Cliff Mine

We decided to hunt down a small rock shelter that a prospector built into the jumbo rocks out in Joshua Tree. We couldn't find this place the first time, but were successful the second time out. What a neat little hidden spot. If you head out there, please respect the place and leave everything there for the next explorer to discover.

"Belle Up" Mill

This is a remote little mine in an out-of-the-way side canyon in the mountains of Nevada. The mine is caved in now, but was worked in the 1920s and 30s for gold. It was lightly snowing when we stopped by for a visit.

"Tower Canyon"

This is a remote Ancestral Pueblo ruin site with many ruined towers and cliff dwellings. I had read about the site some time ago and was eager go check it out. The site is not hard to reach, but hours of hiking and climbing are required to reach some of the ruins. I certainly wasn't able to explore it all and need to return. The canyon bottom has a creek that probably has water all year. The people who lived here likely farmed crops there.

Butler Wash

This is a long creek with Ancestral Pueblo ruins scattered along it. The BLM has an overview of one ruin near the far north end of the wash.

Montezuma Creek

There are many small Ancestral Puebloan ruins and petroglyph sites scattered along this creek. Some are hard to spot, so you have to keep an eye out for them. Near the middle of the canyon is Three Kiva Pueblo where the BLM has restored one of the kivas for people to check out. It was very interesting.

Cave Spring

This is an Ancestral Puebloan (Anazasi) site that was also used by cattle ranchers to camp at. The site is inside of Canyonlands National Park. And what a neat find it is. Please do not touch or remove anything. Once removed, the story of an artifact is lost forever.

Newspaper Rock

This is a large solitary panel in a nice shady canyon. Petroglyphs from the Ancestral Pueblo (Anazasi), Fremont and modern Ute are present. This site was used by multiple cultures for a long period of time. Why this spot?

Hovenweep - Square Tower group

One of my favorite little parks, Hovenweep National Monument is a quiet little site in the Four Corners Area. Most of the buildings were built by the Ancestral Puebloans (Anazasi) in the 1200s and probably a few hundred people lived and farmed around this village site. And this was but one of many pueblo villages in this region. The purpose of the towers though, remains a mystery. Theories whether they were for living, observation, signaling stations, ceremonies, storage or defense all abound. People lived in this area for perhaps thousands of years before building the towers, then by the end of the 13th century, the site was abandoned.

"Cliff Dweller Wash" Petroglyphs

This is a small concentrated site with quite a variety of petroglyphs.

Black Dragon Pictographs

This site is in a impressively deep canyon that is a little too easy to reach. High clearance is required, but that is about it.

Mouse's Tank Petroglyph site

This is a neat site inside of the Valley of Fire State Park. It is my favorite petroglyph spot in the park.