RARE Mojave Desert gold mines book: Calico, Barstow, Daggett, Calif; BIG sep map

Description

Old report describes Mojave Desert gold
& silver mines near Daggett and Calico, CA
Book is in very good condition, includes both big foldout maps
Barstow, Newberry Springs, Ludlow mines produced millions in gold & silver
T
his rare old first-edition report describes little-known mines and geology in the Newberry, Ord and Calico Mountains — a big chunk of Mojave Desert in California, near the towns of Newberry Springs and Daggett.
Detail of oversize map with report shows location of Gold Belt gold mine near West Ord Mountain, on the southwest slope of Goat Mountain.
This is the first one of these that I have been able to find in 20 years: So don't wait for another one to show up on ebay, because it ain't gonna happen.
One mine alone — the famous Bagdad-Chase mine near Ludlow — produced .5 million of ore that averaged .80 a ton in gold. As for the mines around Calico, they produced another million. Remember that gold was selling for a mere an ounce back then; .5 million in gold at that price would be worth an astonishing
1 million
today.
Although many of the roads in this area are dirt, not to worry. Many are graded and easily navigated by vehicles with highish clearance like an SUV or pickup truck. Four-wheel-drive is usually not needed!
Lists all known mining sites
The book gives exact locations of
all
known mining sites in the region, sometimes using landmarks, but always using
infallible range-and-township coordinates
. Just plug 'em into your GPS or look 'em up on the appropriate topo, and you're there! The book contains info on at least 47 mines, some rich gold and silver prospects, including:
The famous Bagdad-Chase mine
(gold), 340 acres of 17 patented mining claims, about seven miles from beautiful downtown Ludlow. Produced at least million in gold, silver and copper. Ore was difficult to treat back in the 1900s, so 45 percent of the gold and silver could be still sitting there in the tailings piles waiting for someone with the modern techniques to extract it. Underground workings include a 400-foot vertical
shaft and a 450-foot inclined adit. Five men were employed at the time of the report.
Small section of full page map from book shows location of Burcham, Oriental and King veins in Calico Mining District and how the veins crop out on the surface.
Camp Rock mine
(gold), in the Bessemer Mountains, near the Ord Mountains, 47 miles from Victorville, three lode and nine placer claims. Formerly worked by dry washers only, a washing and screening plant was installed in 1932. Idle at the time of the report (1940).
Desert King mine
(gold), six miles northeast of Barstow; "gold occurs free, associated with hematite and pyrite."
The famous Burcham mine
(gold, silver and lead), aka the Total Wreck, in the Calico Mining District, includes 12,000 feet (over two MILES!!!) of underground workings; 25 men were working.
Calico-Odessa Group of Mines
, 300 acres with 23 claims, in the Calico Mining District, situated on a ridge west of Odessa Canyon at an elevation of 2,700 feet. Lower Garfield tunnel extends underground for 4,000 feet! The upper tunnel extends another 2,500 feet.
Redwing mine
.
And
many more mines
and prospects, large and small, famous and forgotten.
Geology described in detail
Because this is, after all, a book about mining
and
geology, it covers the latter topic in minute detail, especially how it relates to mineral deposits and their formation.
Yim-Wheelock mine, four miles south of Ludlow, San Bernardino County.
In very good condition
The book is in very good near-fine condition. Matter of fact, this is absolutely one of the best copies I have seen of this rare report. The report includes two oversize maps and is packed with information — geology, ore value, mine production stats, history, even claim holders' names and addresses. This report is considered primary source material; much of this info is available
nowhere else
. It has been totally out of print for years, with no reprints ever issued. So bid now or forever hold your peace; once it's gone, it's gone.
The nine-by-six-inch report —
California Journal of Mines and Geology, Vol. 36, No. 3,
Small detail of map from book shows area covered by report, near Barstow, in San Bernardino, California.
October 1940
— contains three articles, totalling some 70 pages. The articles are:
"Economic Mineral Deposits of the Newberry and Ord Mountains, San Bernardino County," 24 pages.
"Geology of the Newberry and Ord Mountains," 35 pages.
"Notes on the Geology of a Portion of the Calico Mountains, San Bernardino County, California," 11 pages.
This is not some gift-shop rockhound book; it was prepared by the California Division of Mines 79 years ago. The report contains information of interest to history buffs, bottle collectors, photographers, geologists, hikers, offroaders, rockhounds, metal detectorists, prospectors — just about anyone interested in exploring or learning about old mine sites and geology amid some of the Mojave Desert's most spectacular scenery.
Where is it?
The Newberry Mountains are 10 to 30 miles southeast of Barstow, California. The area is one to five miles south of Interstate 40 and the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad. With the exception of Newberry Springs, the nearest supply point, the area is almost entirely unpopulated Mojave Desert wilderness, truly in the middle of nowhere. Of course, even a remote area like this has a few well-known hot spots. Newberry Springs has the world-famous Bagdad Cafe, made famous by the cult movie of the same name. Stop in for the Jack Palance burger while you're out exploring.
Ord Mountain is south of the Newberry Mountains, also in the west-central part of San Bernardino County, about 100 miles northeast of Los Angeles. Ord Mountain is bounded on the south by the Upper Lucerne Valley Region. Ord is about 10 miles from Daggett and about 12 miles from Peterman Hill in the northwest end of Lucerne Valley. Nearest towns of any size — besides Daggett — are Barstow, Victorville and Apple Valley. Because the district is on BLM land, it is open to mineral collecting and prospecting, subject to the usual BLM rules. But check with the BLM before collecting; federal regulations are constantly changing.
Interestingly, some of the roads to mines in the Newberrys and Ord are plainly marked on Auto Club of Southern California road maps, so these road maps can be used easily to correlate some exact mileages to mines and other geologic features on the large map (detail at upper right) from this report. San Bernardino County is in southeastern California, bounded on the east by Arizona and Nevada; on the south by Riverside County; on the west by Los Angeles and Kern counties; and on the north by Inyo County.
Small section of full page map from book shows the geology around the famous mining town of Calico.
The book:
California Journal of Mines and Geology
, Vol. 36, No. 3, July 1940, Quarterly Chapter of State Mineralogist's Report XXXVI, State Division of Mines, Ferry Building, San Francisco, California, pp. 231–319; contains "Economic Mineral Deposits of the Newberry and Ord Mountains, San Bernardino County," 24 pages; "Geology of the Newberry and Ord Mountains," 35 pages; "Notes on the Geology of a Portion of the Calico Mountains, San Bernardino County, California," 11 pages.
Six by nine inches, stapled binding, stiff paper covers, very good condition, first edition, some slight yellowing of interior pages; some pencil marks and underlining (no big deal),
former owner's name and stamps on cover (who cares); binding is slightly sunned and worn; corners are very slightly bumped, but all in all, a beautiful copy. Maps are still attached to the binding. Do yourself a favor and use an Xacto knife to detach 'em once you receive the report. It is incredibly easily to tear if left attached (trust me on this).
As always, I am
extremely
conservative about rating book condition and very detailed in listing any potential flaw, no matter how slight. You get what you pay for. If you want a trashed book that the seller just "somehow forgot" to tell you about in his ad, then look elsewhere on ebay.
Payment methods and domestic shipping
Paypal only. FREE shipping and handling via priority mail, not slow as frozen molasses media mail. I pride myself on bulletproof packaging and ship in sturdy cardboard boxes or heavily padded envelopes.
The fine print:
Feel free to e-mail me if you have any questions about the item or terms of sale.
Do not
wait until you buy it to ask questions. I post feedback once a week. Not responsible for typographikul errors.
Thanks for looking!
Nearby counties and cities
Nearby counties
include Imperial, San Diego, Ventura, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Kings, Tulare and Mono.
Other San Bernardino County cities and interesting sites (besides the ones previously mentioned in this ad) include: Adelanto, Alta Loma, Amboy, Apple Valley, Barstow, Barnwell, Baker, Big Bear Lake, Bloomington, Broadwell Dry Lake, Cadiz, Calico, Chino, Cima, Colton, Cucamonga, East Mojave, Essex, Etiwanda, Fontana, Forest Falls, George Air Force Base, Goffs, Grand Terrace, Havasu Landing, Helendale, Hesperia, Highland, Hinkley, Ivanpah, Joshua Tree National Monument, Kelso Dunes, Lake Arrowhead, Lanfair Valley, Loma Linda, Lucerne Valley, Ludlow, Mentone, Mitchell Caverns, Montclair, Morongo Valley, Mountain Pass, Mt. Baldy, Needles, Nipton, Ontario, Oro Grande, Parker Dam, Phelan, Pinon Hills, Pisgah Crater, Pomona, Rancho Cucamonga, Redlands, Rialto, Riggs, Route 66, Silver Lake, Soda Dry Lake, Upland, Twentynine Palms, Turtle Mountains, Yermo, Yucca Valley, Ward Valley, Zyzzx.