station on the Tonopah & Tidewater
Kailroad. Middle Camp is 2 or 3 miles east of West Camp, and East Camp
is 8 miles due east, or about 12 miles by road, of West Camp. These
mines have not been operated for several years and as they are in a
desert region, the writer has had difficulty in obtaining guides
competent to take him to the camps in the brief time available for such
trips. West Camp was reached from Silver Lake in 1911, but the teamster
was not acquainted with the location of the other mines or springs, so
that search for them had to be abandoned. A trip was made from Nipton,
Cal., a station on the San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railway,
to East Camp in August, 1913, but again the location of Middle Camp was
not known. Nipton is 31 miles N. 85° E. of East Camp. All the camps can
best be reached from Silver Lake if proper equipment for the trip and
a guide familiar with the location of the few wells and springs
afforded by this region can be obtained.
The
Ivanpah topographic sheet, issued by the United States Geological
Survey, is an excellent map of the region around the turquoise deposits
and the country to the east, beyond Nipton. Unfortunately the region
west of the mines toward Silver Lake is not included in this map. The
turquoise mines are located in a range of rough hills or mountains
extending east of south from Shadow Mountains. The crest of the range
is near the east side and from it long valleys, the lower parts filled
with wash material, drain westward into Silver Lake. Along the western
side of the range, the relief between valleys and hills is greater than
on the eastefti side. The elevation of West Camp is about 3,700 feet
and of East Camp about 4,300 feet above sea level.
There
is no water supply near the mines of the Toltec Gem Mining Co., and
water had to be hauled several miles for camp use. Water was obtained
from a well 80 feet deep at the Himalaya Mining Co.'s mine. The
vegetation is that typical of the desert, of which coarse branching
yucca cacti, almost large enough to be called trees, are plentiful.
According
to the information furnished by Mr. Gus Hamstadt, of Nipton, the
turquoise deposits were discovered by an Indian named Prospector
Johnnie, who located them in 1894 in partnership with G. Washington and
Peter Phifer. Mr. Hamstadt carried some of the turquoise to New York in
1896, selling a quantity and getting parties interested in the
deposits. The various interests in the claims were purchased by J. R.
Wood, of New York, and operations were commenced at East Camp in 1897
under the name of the Toltec Gem Mining Co. Later Middle Camp and West
Camp were opened.
East
Camp is located in a draw, draining southwest toward Halloran Springs,
about three-quarters of a mile west of the point where the road to the
old Valley Wells copper smelter crosses the summit. The draw is not
deep, and part of the workings are in a low gap between it and the head
of another valley on the north, which drains east. Prospects have been
opened for a distance of half a mile along both sides of the draw, but
the principal workings are within 250 yards of the mine buildings.
There were numerous prehistoric workings, but many of them have been
obliterated by recent operations, and only a few of the smaller ancient
pits can now be seen. A number of broken stone hammers used by the
ancients were seen around
