Gower Gulch Mine, Black Mountains, Amargosa Range, Inyo County, California, USAi

Regional Level Types
Gower Gulch Mine	Mine
Black Mountains	Mountain Range
Amargosa Range	Mountain Range
Inyo County	County
California	State
USA	Country

A former borate mine located in the NE¼SW¼ sec. 35 (at SW¼ - NW¼ margin), NE¼SE¼ sec. 35, and in the center SW¼ sec. 36, T27N, R1E, SBM, 2.3 km (1.5 miles) WNW of Zabriskie Point (coordinates of record), along Gower Gulch in National Park Service wilderness land area (Death Valley National Park/Death Valley Wilderness). MRDS database stated accuracy for this location is 1,000 meters.

NOTE: The coordinates provided are for the largest group of workings (4 adits) in sec. 35, but is shown in Golden Canyon not Gower Gulch.

The Gower Gulch mining area is reached either by trail south from Golden Canyon or by following the old 1-1/2-mile-long wagon/auto road from Zabriskie Point that was built in the 1880s by the Pacific Coast Borax Company to facilitate annual assessment work on the ten claims they held in the gulch. The road led to a two-tent camp established as headquarters for men working in the area.

Approximately one-half mile southwest of Zabriskie Point and down in the gulch is a building site on the south side of the dry streambed. Timber remnants are found here in association with a sturdy rock wall, four to five feet high and relatively clear on top, structures similar to which were found at all borax sites in the Furnace Creek Wash area. Also nearby, along the side of another gully are two smaller isolated stone mounds, one two feet high, two feet wide, and seven feet long, the other three feet wide, two feet high, and ten feet long. Short exploratory tunnels have been dug into the ridges here.

Continuing west down the road, which follows the gulch streambed, numerous adits can be seen to the north and south up various gullies and washes. Another large foundation, built of crumbly clay "bricks' and about seven feet wide, showed up at another site south of the watercourse near an adit. About 1-1/2 miles down the gulch is a large group of adits (Six plus) and more stone walls. A long switchback trail extends up over the ridge to the northwest, shored up at points along the hillside. From here on to the mouth of the canyon the gulch narrows considerably, eventually ending in a high dry waterfall, so that this area would be the last place from which entrance or exit could be easily made to these claims. This is the point at which Harry Cower implies a temporary campsite was established for assessment work in the area.Greene, 1981

Mineralization is a Miocene borate deposit (Mineral occurrence model information: Model code 260; USGS model code 35b.3; Deposit model name: lacustrine borates), hosted in rocks of the Furnace Creek Formation (evaporite, conglomerate). Some of the borates are in the gypsiferous member of the formation and dip N40-45; others are in the basal conglomerates that dip N55-60. Associated rocks include Miocene basalts. Local rocks include Tertiary nonmarine rocks, undivided.

Workings include unspecified underground openings.

NOTE: The references place this mine(s) in both secs. 35 & 36. Research of the topo maps revealed a tight group of 4 adit symbols along Gower Gulch (westernmost workings) at the coordinates listed in this file. Another single adit symbol lies further upstream of the gulch at 36.41668N, 116.83123W (in the NE¼SE¼ sec. 35). Yet another single adit symbol is further upstream (eastward) along Gower Gulch in the center SW¼ sec. 36, at 36.41899N, 116.81995W.

Other Databases

Link to USGS MRDS:	10023435

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References