In 1976 I received BS in Geology from the University of California Riverside. While at UCR I worked as a GIS technician, and after graduating, I worked as GIS technician at a geoscience consulting company for a year. In early 1978 I took a position as a geologist with the Bureau of Land Management, Desert Plan Staff, in Riverside, California.In 1978 while conducting a mineral potential evaluation of the Panamint and Argus Ranges located west of Death Valley, I stumbled on an 1880s era ghost town in the Argus Range that had not been documented in modern literature. In 1985 I presented a paper at a Death Valley history symposium about this mining camp. Between 1978 and 1998, I conducted various mineral related evaluations and was responsible for environmental and regulatory compliance on mining properties. Since 1998 I was the GIS Coordinator for the Bakersfield Field Office. Between 2005 and 2017 I provided the mapping needs on wildfires.Since 1981, I authored or co-authored 2 books and 17 papers on mining history of the Mojave Desert, as well as 5 papers on various aspects of California geology. In 2011 I contributed GIS analysis and maps for a peer-reviewed paper of the ecology of the San Joaquin Desert. After 40 years of service I retired from Federal service in April 2018.
Thirty-seven year old Newton Morrow, was hired by Governor Waterman in 1885 to run the Waterman m... more Thirty-seven year old Newton Morrow, was hired by Governor Waterman in 1885 to run the Waterman mill, located just west of present day Barstow. After the mill shut down in 1887 Newton and his sons discovered copper ore (or turquoise as his son “Penny ” described it) some 35 miles north of Waterman and began small-scale mining. Eventually the Morrow Mining District was established. The Morrow’s dubbed their mine camp Copper City. The camp was located about 4 miles southeast of Pilot Knob. Little is known about mining here until the late 1890s. In December 1898 mining periodicals reported that the United Copper Company, “a New York syndicate, ” had a large force of men employed at Copper City Camp. In 1897 claims known as the Juanita Mines numbers one through ten were located by Thomas J. Baldwin, George L Branch and J. I Crowell. By 1899 the Juanita Mines were owned by the Feejic Mining Company organized under the laws of the State of Maine. In 1900 it was reported that the Juanita m...
Warrior, Copper Carbonate, Ventura, Little Ida, and Imperial mining claims had sunk a 40 foot sha... more Warrior, Copper Carbonate, Ventura, Little Ida, and Imperial mining claims had sunk a 40 foot shaft on the Vulcania which assayed up to 1.5 ounces of gold across a 16 inch pay streak. J. A. McCarty leased the Little Ida claim and was sinking a shallow shaft that was showing rich values of copper and gold. One month later, Hastings sold his claims to a Mr. Delane, who immediately began working a “force of men ” mining and “sacking ore. ” In February 1902, a strike was reported from the Vulcania which reportedly yielded $174 to the ton (nearly 9 ounces) across an 18 foot ledge. About this same time McCarty employed 4 men to drive an adit on the Iron Cap mine that assayed high values of gold. In July 1902 a contract was let to Huff and Wolacott to sink a 100 foot shaft with drifts 100 feet each way along the vein on the Vulcania.
In 1991 Alan Hensher and I visited with Glen and Dorene Settle at their home at the Tropico Mine,... more In 1991 Alan Hensher and I visited with Glen and Dorene Settle at their home at the Tropico Mine, just outside of Rosemond. During the course of our conversation the Settles mentioned that someone had dropped off a photo album with them, but they didn’t know where the pictures were from. After looking through the album, Alan and I felt some of the photos were from the Calico area, but we weren’t sure. Glen and Dorene allowed me to copy the photos in the album, and a short time later, with prints in hand, I visited Daggett and was able to confirm that some of the photos were taken there. But some of the most intriguing photos remained a mystery until I received an inquiry from Bob Reynolds in July 2006. I supplied him with the photos and he was able to confirm the location of the mine railroad and mill shown in some of the photos. Recently, Mike Rauschkolb with Rio Tinto Minerals, was able to identify the mine as the operations of The Palm Borate Company.
... Reportedly in the early 1800s two young lads playing at prospecting in imitation of their fat... more ... Reportedly in the early 1800s two young lads playing at prospecting in imitation of their fathers came into camp with their shirts loaded with gold ore. ... Located by Thomas Porter Neet in 1877, within 5 years 14,000 tons of ore had been mined, yielding $168,000 in gold. ...
The Alvord Mine, located in the Alvord Mountains, was wishfully named after the lost Alvord lode.... more The Alvord Mine, located in the Alvord Mountains, was wishfully named after the lost Alvord lode. In 1860 Charles Alvord while with a group searching for the Lost Gunsight silver lode, stumbled onto manganese ore infused with wire gold. After repeated attempts, he was never able to relocate his find. Rich coarse gold was discovered in Alvord Mine located on the southwest side of Alvord Mountain sometime before 1881. Some reports indicate an arrastre was used to mill the ore early during the mine’s life. In February of that 1881 the Alvord Consolidated Quartz Mining Company, issued 75,000 shares of stock to raise money to develop their newly found mine, located about 20 miles east of Calico. On June 25, 1883, H. S. Loveland leased the mine for a period of two years, agreeing to construct a Huntington mill to work the ore. A month later, it was reported that the mill had been “bought and active operations are beginning on this rich mine.”
bon dioxide (CO,), silica (SiO,), and con taining abundant hydrocarbons, dissolved the gold and ... more bon dioxide (CO,), silica (SiO,), and con taining abundant hydrocarbons, dissolved the gold and mercury contained in the sedimentary units. At the surface, hydr~ carbons may have played an important role in the deposition of the gold, in a manner similar to the Carlin-type depos its of Nevada, which closely resemble the gold deposits of the Coast Ranges. Mer cury is presently being deposited by hot springs at the Sulphur Bank mine near The Geysers steam field in the Clear Lake area of California . PREVIOUS STUDIES The earliest and perhaps one of the most comprehensive studies of the mer
The first mineral discovery made in the Panamint region is attributed to a member of the ill-fate... more The first mineral discovery made in the Panamint region is attributed to a member of the ill-fated party of Jayhawkers who crossed Death Valley in the winter of 1849-1850. In one version of the discovery a member of the party picked up a metallic rock and carried it with him to civilization. Sometime later, he took it to a gunsmith to have it fashioned into a gunsite, whereupon the gunsmith di~covered the rock was silver (Chalfant 1936 p. 114-115). Even though the story drifted throughout the state, there was little interest in re-discovering the source of silver. Tradition has it that eight years later, in 1858, "Mormons found silver ore in the Panamint Mountains, and produced some bullion from small furnaces at Anvil Springs. " (Chalfant 1933 p. 117). One man who has prospected the highest parts of Manly Peak since 1964 feels he has found the source of the Mormon silver. In May 1860, after the discovery of the Comstock silver mines, a party of men lead by Dr. Darwin Fren...
Beginning in February 1889 articles began appearing in newspapers, describing the immense deposit... more Beginning in February 1889 articles began appearing in newspapers, describing the immense deposits that had been discovered in the Old Woman Mountains. Captain Bethune who had just returned from a prospecting trip to the range stated confidently “I candidly believe this to be the largest body of mineral in the world.” Another prospector was quoted saying, “The ore on the surface is so abundant that it would keep smelting works such as those at Argo, Colorado, busy for fifty years.” The Scanlon Mining District which sprang up here was named after a prospector, Peter Scan lon who had prospected the range for years. In the summer of 1889, Captain Bethune, arrived in Redlands to escape the hot weather and pronounced, “Our mining prospects are grand and… we must have a smelter at Needles.” Despite these optimistic predictions, jus t a year later, in 1890, the Scanlon District was described as being “so little developed as hardly to merit... mention.” Based on numerous not so reliable r...
Ongoing large-scale land development for renewable energy projects in the Antelope Valley, locate... more Ongoing large-scale land development for renewable energy projects in the Antelope Valley, located in the Western Mojave Desert, has been blamed for increased fugitive dust emissions and coccidioidomycosis incidence among the general public in recent years. Soil samples were collected at six sites that were destined for solar farm construction and were analyzed for the presence of the soil-borne fungal pathogen Coccidioides immitis which is endemic to many areas of central and southern California. We used a modified culture-independent nested PCR approach to identify the pathogen in all soil samples and also compared the sampling sites in regard to soil physical and chemical parameters, degree of disturbance, and vegetation. Our results indicated the presence of C. immitis at four of the six sites, predominantly in non-disturbed soils of the Pond-Oban complex, which are characterized by an elevated pH and salt bush communities, but also in grassland characterized by different soil p...
... 145156 in F. El-Baz, ed., Desert and Arid Lands. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, The Hague. For... more ... 145156 in F. El-Baz, ed., Desert and Arid Lands. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, The Hague. Fortin, MJ, TH Keitt, BA Maurer, ML Taper, DM Kaufman, and TM Blackburn. 2005. ... CrossRef. Griggs, FT 1992. The remaining biological diversity of the San Joaquin Valley, California. Pp. ...
Thirty-seven year old Newton Morrow, was hired by Governor Waterman in 1885 to run the Waterman m... more Thirty-seven year old Newton Morrow, was hired by Governor Waterman in 1885 to run the Waterman mill, located just west of present day Barstow. After the mill shut down in 1887 Newton and his sons discovered copper ore (or turquoise as his son “Penny ” described it) some 35 miles north of Waterman and began small-scale mining. Eventually the Morrow Mining District was established. The Morrow’s dubbed their mine camp Copper City. The camp was located about 4 miles southeast of Pilot Knob. Little is known about mining here until the late 1890s. In December 1898 mining periodicals reported that the United Copper Company, “a New York syndicate, ” had a large force of men employed at Copper City Camp. In 1897 claims known as the Juanita Mines numbers one through ten were located by Thomas J. Baldwin, George L Branch and J. I Crowell. By 1899 the Juanita Mines were owned by the Feejic Mining Company organized under the laws of the State of Maine. In 1900 it was reported that the Juanita m...
Warrior, Copper Carbonate, Ventura, Little Ida, and Imperial mining claims had sunk a 40 foot sha... more Warrior, Copper Carbonate, Ventura, Little Ida, and Imperial mining claims had sunk a 40 foot shaft on the Vulcania which assayed up to 1.5 ounces of gold across a 16 inch pay streak. J. A. McCarty leased the Little Ida claim and was sinking a shallow shaft that was showing rich values of copper and gold. One month later, Hastings sold his claims to a Mr. Delane, who immediately began working a “force of men ” mining and “sacking ore. ” In February 1902, a strike was reported from the Vulcania which reportedly yielded $174 to the ton (nearly 9 ounces) across an 18 foot ledge. About this same time McCarty employed 4 men to drive an adit on the Iron Cap mine that assayed high values of gold. In July 1902 a contract was let to Huff and Wolacott to sink a 100 foot shaft with drifts 100 feet each way along the vein on the Vulcania.
In 1991 Alan Hensher and I visited with Glen and Dorene Settle at their home at the Tropico Mine,... more In 1991 Alan Hensher and I visited with Glen and Dorene Settle at their home at the Tropico Mine, just outside of Rosemond. During the course of our conversation the Settles mentioned that someone had dropped off a photo album with them, but they didn’t know where the pictures were from. After looking through the album, Alan and I felt some of the photos were from the Calico area, but we weren’t sure. Glen and Dorene allowed me to copy the photos in the album, and a short time later, with prints in hand, I visited Daggett and was able to confirm that some of the photos were taken there. But some of the most intriguing photos remained a mystery until I received an inquiry from Bob Reynolds in July 2006. I supplied him with the photos and he was able to confirm the location of the mine railroad and mill shown in some of the photos. Recently, Mike Rauschkolb with Rio Tinto Minerals, was able to identify the mine as the operations of The Palm Borate Company.
... Reportedly in the early 1800s two young lads playing at prospecting in imitation of their fat... more ... Reportedly in the early 1800s two young lads playing at prospecting in imitation of their fathers came into camp with their shirts loaded with gold ore. ... Located by Thomas Porter Neet in 1877, within 5 years 14,000 tons of ore had been mined, yielding $168,000 in gold. ...
The Alvord Mine, located in the Alvord Mountains, was wishfully named after the lost Alvord lode.... more The Alvord Mine, located in the Alvord Mountains, was wishfully named after the lost Alvord lode. In 1860 Charles Alvord while with a group searching for the Lost Gunsight silver lode, stumbled onto manganese ore infused with wire gold. After repeated attempts, he was never able to relocate his find. Rich coarse gold was discovered in Alvord Mine located on the southwest side of Alvord Mountain sometime before 1881. Some reports indicate an arrastre was used to mill the ore early during the mine’s life. In February of that 1881 the Alvord Consolidated Quartz Mining Company, issued 75,000 shares of stock to raise money to develop their newly found mine, located about 20 miles east of Calico. On June 25, 1883, H. S. Loveland leased the mine for a period of two years, agreeing to construct a Huntington mill to work the ore. A month later, it was reported that the mill had been “bought and active operations are beginning on this rich mine.”
bon dioxide (CO,), silica (SiO,), and con taining abundant hydrocarbons, dissolved the gold and ... more bon dioxide (CO,), silica (SiO,), and con taining abundant hydrocarbons, dissolved the gold and mercury contained in the sedimentary units. At the surface, hydr~ carbons may have played an important role in the deposition of the gold, in a manner similar to the Carlin-type depos its of Nevada, which closely resemble the gold deposits of the Coast Ranges. Mer cury is presently being deposited by hot springs at the Sulphur Bank mine near The Geysers steam field in the Clear Lake area of California . PREVIOUS STUDIES The earliest and perhaps one of the most comprehensive studies of the mer
The first mineral discovery made in the Panamint region is attributed to a member of the ill-fate... more The first mineral discovery made in the Panamint region is attributed to a member of the ill-fated party of Jayhawkers who crossed Death Valley in the winter of 1849-1850. In one version of the discovery a member of the party picked up a metallic rock and carried it with him to civilization. Sometime later, he took it to a gunsmith to have it fashioned into a gunsite, whereupon the gunsmith di~covered the rock was silver (Chalfant 1936 p. 114-115). Even though the story drifted throughout the state, there was little interest in re-discovering the source of silver. Tradition has it that eight years later, in 1858, "Mormons found silver ore in the Panamint Mountains, and produced some bullion from small furnaces at Anvil Springs. " (Chalfant 1933 p. 117). One man who has prospected the highest parts of Manly Peak since 1964 feels he has found the source of the Mormon silver. In May 1860, after the discovery of the Comstock silver mines, a party of men lead by Dr. Darwin Fren...
Beginning in February 1889 articles began appearing in newspapers, describing the immense deposit... more Beginning in February 1889 articles began appearing in newspapers, describing the immense deposits that had been discovered in the Old Woman Mountains. Captain Bethune who had just returned from a prospecting trip to the range stated confidently “I candidly believe this to be the largest body of mineral in the world.” Another prospector was quoted saying, “The ore on the surface is so abundant that it would keep smelting works such as those at Argo, Colorado, busy for fifty years.” The Scanlon Mining District which sprang up here was named after a prospector, Peter Scan lon who had prospected the range for years. In the summer of 1889, Captain Bethune, arrived in Redlands to escape the hot weather and pronounced, “Our mining prospects are grand and… we must have a smelter at Needles.” Despite these optimistic predictions, jus t a year later, in 1890, the Scanlon District was described as being “so little developed as hardly to merit... mention.” Based on numerous not so reliable r...
Ongoing large-scale land development for renewable energy projects in the Antelope Valley, locate... more Ongoing large-scale land development for renewable energy projects in the Antelope Valley, located in the Western Mojave Desert, has been blamed for increased fugitive dust emissions and coccidioidomycosis incidence among the general public in recent years. Soil samples were collected at six sites that were destined for solar farm construction and were analyzed for the presence of the soil-borne fungal pathogen Coccidioides immitis which is endemic to many areas of central and southern California. We used a modified culture-independent nested PCR approach to identify the pathogen in all soil samples and also compared the sampling sites in regard to soil physical and chemical parameters, degree of disturbance, and vegetation. Our results indicated the presence of C. immitis at four of the six sites, predominantly in non-disturbed soils of the Pond-Oban complex, which are characterized by an elevated pH and salt bush communities, but also in grassland characterized by different soil p...
... 145156 in F. El-Baz, ed., Desert and Arid Lands. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, The Hague. For... more ... 145156 in F. El-Baz, ed., Desert and Arid Lands. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, The Hague. Fortin, MJ, TH Keitt, BA Maurer, ML Taper, DM Kaufman, and TM Blackburn. 2005. ... CrossRef. Griggs, FT 1992. The remaining biological diversity of the San Joaquin Valley, California. Pp. ...
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