Barstow, CA Mines

vasalone

Tenderfoot
Nov 16, 2013
8
7
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Yes, been to the new deal. Shafts are caved in with one cemented by BLM. Just kinda looked around, one day I will take the drywasher out to test...
 

Tom_in_CA

Gold Member
Mar 23, 2007
13,837
10,360
Salinas, CA
🥇 Banner finds
2
Detector(s) used
Explorer II, Compass 77b, Tesoro shadow X2
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Recently found some mines on google earth in between Barstow and Lucerne valley.

Altuda Mine
New deal Mine
sidewinder Mine
Farly Mine
and about 5 other no named mines, not on any site i have seen, anyone ever visited these?

I've detected around Barstow. As far as "mines", are you asking for purposes of nuggets or minerals or something? Or for purposes of coins/relics? If you meant the latter, I would save your time. The place to look for fumble finger miner's losses is NOT at the places they WORKED. But instead, you look where they lived, ate, slept, played, drank, spent $, etc... In other words, at their tent city or miner town type places. Because at their work places, is typically going to simply be industrial iron junk. JMHO.
 

Claim Jumper

Jr. Member
Feb 14, 2014
21
11
Mojave Desert
Detector(s) used
Old Cheap Whites. You guys would laugh.
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
I see this is an old thread but...
Been to all of them. Mostly back in the early 90's. Sidewinder used to go down about 6 stories I'm told. It only went about 3 when I went in. There were wooden chutes and ladders going down. Very scary, we used ropes instead. There is a dirt landing strip on the flat at the bottom of the mountain. It was a gold mine in the early 1900's. Converted to a Cold war bunker around the 50's for continuance of operations if nukes came from Russia. Farley was a marble mine.
 

Tom_in_CA

Gold Member
Mar 23, 2007
13,837
10,360
Salinas, CA
🥇 Banner finds
2
Detector(s) used
Explorer II, Compass 77b, Tesoro shadow X2
Yeah, old thread. And I'm sure they're all long-since exploited for any relics , and long since covered over, blah blah. But reminded me of a crazy story:

When I was a young man in the mid 1980s, I worked with a guy who'd grown up in So. CA back in the earlier 1970s. And he knew of some young teen explorer thugs who'd gone exploring in the inland empire desert mountains. And got into some of the boarded up mineshafts to explore. They found some dynamite sticks (yup, 80 or 100 yrs. old still in a stack in the dark corners of a mine). And thought : Hey, cool, fireworks ! So they brought it out, and hiked it back into town. Then lit some of the sticks (thinking they were just like giant firecrackers) and chucked them down hillsides. YOU CAN IMAGINE the explosions. Authorities came to investigate the sonic booms, and the kids were promptly corralled and questioned . Doh!
 

4x4x4

Bronze Member
Mar 25, 2017
1,145
1,231
Southern California, outside of San Diego
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
....There IS a mining area I'd like to check out. About 5 miles east of 29 palms then about 5 miles south on GoldCrown rd. at Old Dale(hwy 62). See Google maps.
Apparently quite a(low key) producing area , remnants of homes ,store and graveyard. Alot of detritus remains as seen on satellite imagery.
Workings/town died when all the men went off to war. Different claims have been named in the past and SOME may be OPPERATIONAL. Stories have it that nuggets in clay were found on a ledge and the"town"was born. I've yet to find evidence of a post office. But it is massive , spread out with a lot of ruins . Have a look ! Would take me a couple of hours to get there and I am self contained in a 4X4 for camping. I understand that some wood (from blown down buildings) is available for campfires.
Note that this is remote....be self sufficient.
I cannot find an early post from a member that (at the time of his post) worked there as a security guard 30 years earlier. He mentioned that he still returns and is/was rewarded with every trip. I hope he sees this and responds with guidance.
....Mark.
 

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