The Tucki Mine (also known as the Tucki claim, Tucki No. 1 Mine, and Tucki Nos. 2, 3, and 4 claims) is an abandoned underground gold mine on the southeast slope of Tucki Mountain in the Panamint Range, Inyo County, California. It lies within Death Valley National Park (and the Death Valley Wilderness), approximately 4 miles north-northeast of the ghost town of Skidoo and about 10–10.5 miles by rough 4×4 road from Emigrant Canyon Road via Telephone Canyon. The site occupies roughly three acres along a steep-sided wash that drains eastward toward Death Valley.
Geologically, the deposit consists of thin quartz veins carrying free gold (with minor silver) that occupy fractures in Precambrian metasedimentary rocks, primarily metaquartzite. The host rock strikes roughly northwest and dips southwest. The mine was a small-scale operation that produced ore from shallow stopes and limited underground development.
Early Claims (1909–1920s)
The first formal record appears in the Wild Rose Mining District books: a Notice of Location for the “Tucki No. 1 Mine,” described as “located about 3 miles NE of Skidoo,” dated 12 April 1909 and filed by Henry W. Britt (or Birtt; handwriting is ambiguous). No significant production or development is documented from this period.
The property was relocated in September 1927 by John Millett, Samuel E. Ball, and Charles G. Walker as a group of claims lying about 2½ miles southwest of Tucki Wash and roughly 4 airline miles north-northeast of Skidoo. By October 1927, Edward R. (Ed) Attaway had acquired a one-fourth interest in the Tucki and Tucki Nos. 2, 3, and 4 claims. Activity remained sporadic and inconsequential through the 1920s; no detailed production records survive from this era.
Development and Peak Activity (1930s–1940s)
Serious work began in the mid-to-late 1930s. By 1937 Ed Attaway and Sam Ball were actively mining and trucking ore first to Death Valley Junction for shipment to a smelter and later to the fifty-ton cyanide plant of Keeler Gold Mines, Inc., operated by Roy Troeger in the Owens Valley. Contemporary accounts described ore values ranging from $12 to $60 per ton (with some promotional claims of higher grades).
In August 1938 Attaway and Ball executed a lease/bond agreement on the “Tuck-I Mine” with the Lane Development Company of Hollywood for a total consideration of $25,000. Newspaper reports at the time stated that the lessees had been working the property for about fourteen years and shipping high-grade ore. Roy I. Journigan (operator of Journigan’s Mill, a custom amalgamation-and-cyanide plant in Emigrant Canyon) became a part owner by April 1939 alongside Attaway and Ball. The partners then leased the mine to Felix Castro, Fred Bunting, and Fred Mastagan. A subsequent lease/bond agreement transferred operations to Warnken, Potter, and associates.
Until about 1940, ore was processed at Journigan’s Mill roughly 20 miles away in Emigrant Canyon. In 1940 a small, crude cyanide leaching plant was constructed on-site. Production figures from this period include:
- Approximately $846 in gold every two weeks in 1940.
- From August 1940 to April 1941, lessees sold $5,200 worth of ore averaging about $20 per ton (assays $12–$60 per ton).
- Mine receipts for gold bullion delivered in 1941 totaled nearly $18,000.
Underground development consisted of an inclined shaft (or incline) to the 200-foot level that continued as a winze to about 330 feet, with short drifts on intermediate levels (including 15 feet of drifts at the 50- and 100-foot levels and additional drifts at 130, 170, and 200 feet). Two earlier adits, located 60 and 200 feet northwest of the shaft, represented the initial prospecting work. The operation was essentially underground, producing ore from shallow stopes.
By 1951 the property consisted of four unpatented lode claims owned by Roy I. Journigan and Ed Attaway. Workings remained modest.
Dormancy and Brief Revival (1950s–1970s)
The mine was largely idle through the 1950s and 1960s. In the mid-1970s activity resumed. Early in 1974 Russ Journigan (son or relative of Roy) and his wife held title to the core claims (Tucki, Tucki No. 2, and Tucki No. 3); adjacent claims were allowed to expire. In 1974–1975 Russ Journigan and Paul Barnett reopened the mine. They installed gold-leaching apparatus, including four steel-lined cyanidization tanks, and processed old tailings using the carbon-filtration method (later involving sodium hydroxide and zinc). A more efficient jaw crusher and advanced leaching facility were planned, with a projected capacity of 25 tons of ore per day.
The revival produced only a few dozen additional ounces of gold. The last recorded production occurred in December 1971 (or shortly thereafter in the mid-1970s accounts). Operations ceased by the late 1970s, coinciding with the 1978 Death Valley mining claims moratorium and the site’s incorporation into the national park system. Total documented gold production for the entire life of the mine was modest—little more than $18,000 (period values)—and profits were limited.
Site Description and Later Management
At its peak the cyanide plant included four steel-lined concrete-block tanks, two water reservoirs, crushing equipment, and a pump. Today only the concrete tanks remain; most other processing equipment was removed after shutdown in the early 1980s. The site also includes cabin remains, foundations, an ore chute, waste-rock piles, and residual mine openings (many later sealed by the National Park Service for safety).
The National Park Service has investigated the site under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) because of residual metals (including antimony, arsenic, cadmium, copper, lead, mercury, selenium, silver, and zinc) and potential cyanide-related contamination in soils and tailings. A Preliminary Assessment was completed in 2014, followed by a Site Inspection in 2016 and preparation of an Engineering Evaluation/Cost Analysis to evaluate cleanup alternatives. Visitation is low (NPS estimates fewer than 500 people per year).
Historical Context and Significance
Tucki Mine is a characteristic small-scale, intermittent gold operation of the Death Valley region during the mid-20th century. It never approached the output of major producers such as the nearby Skidoo Mine. Its history is closely tied to the Journigan family and their custom mill in Emigrant Canyon, which supported several local properties during the 1930s–1940s revival of gold mining in the Skidoo–Wildrose district. The mine illustrates the challenges of extracting low-grade, narrow-vein gold deposits in a remote desert environment and the eventual transition of such sites from active claims to protected cultural and environmental resources within Death Valley National Park.
Primary sources for this history include the National Park Service’s Historic Resource Study: A History of Mining in Death Valley National Monument (Linda W. Greene and John A. Latschar, 1981), contemporary mining district records, California Journal of Mines and Geology reports, Mindat locality data, and NPS CERCLA documentation for the Tucki Mine and Mill Site.