Rhodes Spring, Willow Mining District, Black Mountains, Amargosa Range, Inyo County, California, USAi
| Regional Level Types | |
|---|---|
| Rhodes Spring | Spring |
| Willow Mining District | Mining District |
| Black Mountains | Mountain Range |
| Amargosa Range | Mountain Range |
| Inyo County | County |
| California | State |
| USA | Country |
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Latitude & Longitude (WGS84):
35° 55' 59'' North , 116° 31' 30'' West
Latitude & Longitude (decimal):
Type:
Köppen climate type:
Nearest Settlements:
| Place | Population | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Tecopa | 150 (2011) | 28.5km |
A spring and mining camp located along Rhodes Wash in the Black Mountains.
Even farther to the south of Greenwater was another of its subsidiary mining areas, loosely known as Rhodes Springs. In this area, approximately twenty miles south of Greenwater, and over thirty miles by road, was one of those isolated Death Valley mines which had been discovered in the late nineteenth century and was reopened under the impetus of the mining booms which swept the Death Valley region in the early 1900s....
....The first notice of Rhodes Springs was in 1886, when the Mining & Scientific Press reported that A. G. Rhodes and his partner had located some good prospects in southeast Death Valley. The mine which the two men had discovered was several miles from the spring itself--which was named by Rhodes. Due to the total lack of transportation facilities in the entire region in that time period, Rhodes was forced to haul supplies into his mine all the way from Daggett, California, and to haul his ore back out across the same forbidding desert. Nevertheless, Rhodes did bring 1,200 pounds of silver ore into Daggett in May of 1886, which netted him almost $800. Despite this absymally small return for a large investment of labor and time, Rhodes declared that he would return to his mine after the hot weather of summer had passed. But on the return trip both Rhodes and several prospective purchasers of his mine were lost, and were presumed to have perished in the desert.
The mine was rediscovered in December of 1905 by three prospectors who were wandering far afield in south Death Valley, looking for potential unstaked ground. The three men reported finding Rhodes' original location notices, which were still legible, as well as an old trail leading to the mine, and an old windlass and a wooden bucket. The dump of the old mine, in addition, contained about two tons of silver ore, which the prospectors claimed was very valuable. Late in December, the re-locators of Rhodes' mine brought in a mining engineer, who examined the dump and recommended that the mine be reopened.
As usual, the discovery led to a number of other prospectors coming into the area, but this time not much was found. It was September of 1906 before any more valuable ground was located in the area, and during the following month several other mines were opened. The activity, although not very extensive, was enough to make the Mining World call Rhodes Springs a camp, and by the end of 1906, about five mines were being opened up by various groups of men.
In March of 1908 another strike was made in the vicinity of Rhodes Springs by three prospectors named Thomas McMurry, W. P. Graham and Lewis Rice. Again, the initial discovery was rather sensational, with bunches of ore on the surface which assayed $25,000 per ton in gold. The strike caused the usual sensation, and other prospectors converged on the area, but within two months it was proved to everyone's satisfaction that the men had merely made a lucky discovery of an isolated high-grade pocket of ore. Unfortunately, there was considerably less than one ton of the extremely rich stuff. After one group of miners ran a tunnel 100 feet into the side of the mountain and another sunk a shaft about seventy feet deep, everyone gave up and left the district. Rhodes Springs and its vicinity, which had seen the effects of a very outer ripple of the tremendous splash caused by the Greenwater boom, never amounted to much, and was soon deserted except for the faint footsteps of an occasional prospector who came back to make sure that the hidden bonanza had not been overlooked.Latschar, 1981
List of minerals for each chemical element
Localities in this Region
- California
- Inyo County
- Amargosa Range
- Black Mountains
- Willow Mining District
- Rhodes Spring
- Willow Mining District
- Black Mountains
- Amargosa Range
- Inyo County
Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality
North AmericaContinent
North America PlateTectonic Plate
- Basin and Range BasinsBasin
- Mojave DomainDomain
- Southern Basin and RangeWide Rift
USA
- Death Valley National ParkNational Park
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References
