November 10, 2013 Echo Canyon

Today’s road trip took us through Echo Canyon to the Inyo Mine - a 10 mile gravel road.  The scenery continues to amaze us.

On our way to the mine - some areas of the canyon were narrow:

The Cotton Cacti were all over - their red coloring sticks out in the grayish rocks:

This picture was taken thru a tinted window - interesting color that the camera picked up:

The Eye of the Needle:

According to the literature, the Eye of the Needle is over 10 feet tall.

More interesting rocks:

We made it to the Inyo Mining area:

“In January of 1905 Maroni Hicks and Chet Leavitt discovered gold here. In the next two years dozen of claims were established in Echo Canyon. Inyo was the largest in what became the Echo-Lee mining district.

Production began in the winter of 1906, most of the ore assayed at $300 per ton with some running as high as $650 per ton. By the fall of 1907 the Inyo had three vertical shafts and 755 feet of tunnels hosting equipment, blacksmith shop, boarding house, and a store. Most of the work was done in the winter months when the temperatures were cooler.

In the fall of 1907 attempts were made to raise money through a public stock sale but 1907 was also a year of financial panic throughout the west. In 1912 the owners tried and failed again. From 1907 through 1927 very little work was done and in 1928 the mine was sold. The new owners found themselves victims of the mines earlier difficulties, gold was in the ground, but was costly to extract and water wasn't available for milling. Little was done until 1937 when the mine was leased to the Inyo Consolidated Mining Company. The company then installed a ball crushing mill with a 25 ton a day capacity and began hauling water from Furnace Creek, 8 miles away, and had plans for a pipeline. This would all be short lived, by the spring of 1938 the mine closed due to the lack of water.

The mine was leased again in 1939 and produced gold at $230 per ton, but the deposit ran out. The last shot was in 1940 with the same results and then closed for good.”

Here is the mining area:

The mine on the hill above the little town:

The round tub in front looks like a crusher/separator:

Generator power:

Buildings on the site:

Maybe a church or school:

It looks like the house was painted at one time:

The bunkhouse:

The view from one of the bunkhouse windows:

One of the mine shafts:

We walked all around the area, had lunch and made our way back:

We saw a few of these as we headed towards the valley - water pipes maybe?????

This was our last day in Death Valley National Park and we only touched the surface of things to see and do here. Did you know it is the largest national park in the lower 48?  Yes, even larger than Yellowstone.  We will be back.

We did our final Happy Hour tonight.  Ron and Pat made beans and wraps and we had the leftovers from yesterday.  Another great time.

Tomorrow we are heading to Pahrump to do laundry, cleaning, etc.  so stayed tuned.

Enjoy today.