Big Bear, CA
I quiet mountain community full of back country adventure.
Rawhide Nevada – Mineral County Ghost Town
Rawhide Nevada was a mining town in Mineral County. The town site is located approximately 55 miles south of Fallon, and 22 miles down a dirt road south of highway 50. The town was founded in 1906 when gold and silver deposits were discovered by prospector Jim Swanson in the hills surrounding Rawhide. Charles B. Holman and Charles “Scotty” A. McLeod soon join him and also found gold on nearby Holligan Hill.
Rawhide is an example of a town that existed on the promise and promotion of gold rather than the production of gold. Fueled by rampant speculation the population swelled. Rawhide boasts four churches, three banks, twelve hotels, twenty eight restaurants, thirty seven saloons, a theater and a school to support a population of 7,000 in 1908. However, the over promise and under delivery of gold doomed the town, at its glory began to fade.
The city of Rawhide was already in decline, when in September 1908 a fire tore through the town. In August 1909 the town flooded and destroyed much of the town as described in this excerpt from a Colorado newspaper.
NEVADA TOWN SWEPT FROM MAP BY CLOUDBURST
Ten-Foot Wall of Water Overwhelms Squattertown, Near Rawhide, in the Night.
SIX REPORTED MISSING
300 Families Rendered Homeless and Property Piled in Tangled Heap by the Flood.
Rawhide, Nev., Aug. 31. “Squattertown”, a settlement just south of Rawhide, was swept by a ten-foot wall of water, following a cloudburst in the hills to the north tonight, and 130 buildings were partially or completely destroyed.
It is reported that two women and four children are missing, but up to a late hour tonight it was impossible to obtain verification of this report.
The cloudburst occurred on the summit of the low hills to the north of the camp. In a few moments a three-foot wall of water was pouring down the slope, covering the three miles from the summit to Main street with the speed of a railway train. The flood rushed into the street, which lies in a hollow and forms a general drainage canal, and every business house on the east side was flooded to a depth of from one to four feet.
Several structures were torn from their foundations and floated some distance down the street, while the crest of the flood was covered with furniture, animals and debris.Gathering force as is poured down the channel, the flood swept into and over Squattertown, half a mile further down. The water formed a wall 10 feet high as it crashed into the frame structures, inhabited for the most part by miners and their families, and buildings were overturned and demolished at the first blow.
Darkness had fallen and the worst of devastation went on in the night.
Before the wave had passed 500 persons were homeless and their property piled up a tangled heap in the basin at the foot of National hill.
Several daring rescues were made. Mrs. Hobeloff and her two children clung to the wreckage of their home as it floated down the street and were rescued by Emil Gutt and P. R. Whyteck.The Fountain Bar, a saloon located in a small frame building was swept from its foundations and carried five blocks down the street to be landed high and dry on a low bank, with its fixtures little disturbed.
Colorado Spring Gazette, Colorado Springs, CO 1 Sept 1909
The town survived but was never the same. The twin tragedies gave the citizens more than enough reason to leave and the over promise of gold gave them little reason to stay. In 1941 the post office closed and the town ceased to be. Mining is still alive and well in Nevada, and sadly a modern mining operation has destroyed the town site.
Rawhide Town Summary
| Name | Rawhide |
| Location | Mineral County, Nevada |
| Newspaper | Rawhide Rustler Jan 16, 1907 – Apr 17, 1909 Rawhide Times Jan 16, 1908 Rawhide News Mar 7 – Aug 1, 1908 Rawhide Press-Times Feb 1, 1908 – Jan 20, 1911 Rawhide Miner (The) Apr 1, 1908 |
Rawhide Trail Map
Resources
Ballarat California – Inyo County Ghost Town
Located in Inyo County, Ballarat California is a ghost town which supposedly has a few residents living their dream within the town. Ballarat is located in the Panamint Mountain range just off the Trona Wilderness Road and sough of highway 190.
As early as 1849, the area served as a watering hole known as Post Office Springs. Prospectors and travelers alike would stop for water in the hot and dry Mojave Desert.
The town of Ballarat was founded in 1897 and named for Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. The town is named by an Australian immigrant George Riggins. Ballarat California was originally founded as a supply point for the mines Panamint Mountains and surrounding area. A blacksmith shop and store supported this efforts.
Within a year of the founding, the towns population stabilized at about 500 residents. Three hotels, seven saloons, a school, jail and morgue all served this outpost along with a post office and Wells Fargo station. The town site featured few natural resources and ore to be shipped into the remote location. The town buildings is constructed primarily of Adobe bricks.
The town was relatively lawless and was mostly filled with hard working miners looking for relaxation and an opportunity to blow off steam. The saloons and a population of prostitutes were supported by Ballarat.
The main mine, the Radcliffe, produced 15,000 tons or more of ore from 1898 to 1903. From 1927 to 1942 its tailings are reprocessed with cyanided. This process reported recovery value of one quarter of a million dollars in gold. The town began to fail following the closure of the Radcliff Mine in 1903. Despite supporting other mining towns like Harrisberg, as the gold played out, so did the fortunes of Ballarat, which closed the post office in 1917.
In 1941 the Ballarat Mining and Milling Corporation, a Nevada company, bought property in the Slate and Panamint ranges in San Bernardino and Inyo counties. A Los Angeles company intended to make exhaustive metallurgical tests, paving the way for a projected modern fifty-ton reduction mill south of town to perform custom work. An assay office and metallurgical laboratory were to be part of the complex, and once again Ballarat would see a resurgence of mining activity.
“Shorty” Harris, along with a few other prospectors continued to live in and around the town site for decades after the closure. The last of these die hard prospectors, “Seldom Seen Slim” died in 1968.
Notoriety
In 1968 and 1969, Charles Manson and his “family” moved into Barker Ranch. The town of Ballarat was Mansons last link to civilization and served as a supply source for his desert exploits. Not to caste the town with the murderer, the town also supplied the arresting officers who raided Barker Ranch and subsequently arrested Manson and his family.
Time has taken its tole on the builds of the adobe buildings. Wind and water are literally melting the builds back into the desert.
Today, Ballarat is the subject of a few odd television shows and again made headlines with the Ballarat Bandit. In 2003, George Robert Johnston camped around Ballarat and Death Valley. During this time, he committed burglaries before leading investigators on a chase across the desert.
Ballarat Personalities
 Charles Ferge “Seldom Seen Slim” – A Ballarat ProspectorCharles Ferge "Seldom Seen Slim" Charles Ferge "Seldom Seen Slim" is the last of the known prospectors who lived in the town of Ballarat located… |
 Charles Milles MaddoxCharles Milles Maddox AKA Charlie Manson was a serial killer and most of the bad parts of the Old Testament sort of criminal. He briefly… |
 Frank “Shorty” HarrisFrank Harris was a prospector, desert rat and perhaps the best known character in western mining history. He looked the part, often travelling the desert… |
 George Robert Johnston – The Ballarat BanditA police sketch of the Ballarat Bandit - George Robert Johnston George Robert Johnston, known as the Ballarat Bandit, was a petty criminal who lead… |
 Pete Aguereberry – A Panamint Valley MinerPete Aguereberry was a prospector and miner who operated around Death Valley National Park, for whom Aguereberry is named. Born in the Basque Region of… |
4×4 Trails near Ballarat
 Indian Ranch RoadThe hottest place on earth, Death Valley National Park is on the order with California and Nevada Indian Ranch Road is a scenic, graded dirt… |
Jail Canyon RoadThe hottest place on earth, Death Valley National Park is on the order with California and Nevada Jail Canyon Road is a rugged, scenic 4WD… |
References
Chloride City California – Inyo County Ghost Town
Chloride City California is located within Death Valley National Park and Inyo County, California. The town arose out of silver discoveries in nearby Chloride Cliff in 1873 and is one of the earliest of the Death Valley mines.
The first road through Death Valley was constructed from Chloride City, California to San Bernardino, California which was the nearest town 180 miles away. In the 1870’s ore was shipped out using trains of pack mules which would return carrying food and supplies to the camp. The mines of this small community struggled on for a few years, but by 1880 no mines were producing and everybody had moved on.
The nearby Bullfrog, Nevada, gold discovery excitement of 1904 brought in new capital. The Chloride Cliff Mine was bought by investors in nearby Rhyolite and re-opened in 1908. Sufficient ore was produced in subsequent years to warrant the construction of a cyanide mill in 1916. By 1918 the camp was deserted again.
The ghost town contains numerous adits, dumps and the grave of James McKay, of whom nothing is known. The town also holds the remains of three stamp mills.
Chloride City Trail Map
Chicalote (Argemone munita)
A species of prickly poppy, Chicalote (Argemone munita) is also known as the flatbud prickly poppy. A native of California, the Chicalote is also found in Nevada and Arizona. This hearty wildflower dereives its name from the Latin work “Minuta” which means armed, in reference the the small sharr spines commonly found on its lobed leaves.
The flower consists of sixe crinkly looking white petals and feature many bright yellow stamen. The delicate looking flowers can reach and overall diameters of up to fie inches. Overall, the plant commonly reaches about three feet in height.
The leaves of Argemone munita are mint green in color, dry in appearance and quite lobed. Each leaf is armed and features a small short spike for protection.
The Chicalote poppy commonly grows in dry rocky areas and found at elevations up to 10,000 feet. The flower typically grows in chaparral, or northern slopes of Transverse ranges and desert mountains. The plant typically puts its flower in bloom in June through August.
It is quite common to find this little gem of a flower in San Diego, the areas surrounding Los Angeles up the High Sierra and into Mono County.
Mustang (Equus ferus caballus)
Left behind by Spanish explorers and settlers, the Mustang ( Equus ferus caballus ) of the desert south west is alive and well in Nevada and a symbol of the southwest. Due to the fact that this animal population is descendant from a domesticated population the Mustang is actually a feral horse. The imagery of a wild mustang galloping across the desert as burnt into the memories of kids who watched “Western” movies or appreciate classic cars. The wild mustang brings one to think of power and freedom.
There is much debate when it comes to the wild Mustangs of Nevada. Some will debate weather you consider them an invasive species and a natural species. However, you consider them, they are thriving and a part of the landscape at this point. Should you happen upon them, you can not help but feel lucky.
The wild horse populations are separated by long distances, so each isolated herd has developed specific genetic traits. Some consider the horse populations a nuisance which destroy the terrain with their appetite. Their hooves can be quite destructive to the landscape and ranch land. Although considered “culturally significant”, the horse populations are closely monitored by the Bureau of Land Management to ensure healthy herd populations.
Population increases of about 20% per year have prompted the BLM to capture some of the horses. The captured horses are not euthanized, and instead are available for adoption for the cost of $125. Horses which are not adopted are held in “long term holding”, which costs the US Tax Payer about $50,000 over the lifetime of each individual horse.
On a trip to see the mustangs near Cold Creek, Nevada, we ran across the local herd lazily walking along the side of the road. We slowed the jeep down, and which point the horses started to walk up to the car looking for some food (which we did not provide). Not exactly the in line with the western movies of my youth.
