Monarch Canyon Mine, Chloride Cliff Mining District (South Bullfrog Mining District), Funeral Mts (Funeral Range), Amargosa Range, Inyo County, California, USAi
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Latitude & Longitude (WGS84):
36° 43' 30'' North , 116° 54' 54'' West
Latitude & Longitude (decimal):
Type:
Köppen climate type:
Nearest Settlements:
| Place | Population | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Beatty | 1,010 (2011) | 24.7km |
Mindat Locality ID:
257847
Long-form identifier:
mindat:1:2:257847:0
GUID (UUID V4):
941dbccb-a0b4-4dd6-956b-09657319f3ac
This mine, which is one of the few of the South Bullfrog District mines to have left some physical remnants, is rather frustrating to trace. It was never a large enough operation to be incorporated into a mining company, or to have a common name, and is thus referred to today by its geographic location, in the heart of Monarch Canyon, about two miles southwest of Keane Springs.
First notice of this property was in December of 1905, when A. K. Ishmael, its locator, closed a deal with Frank Durham and a Mr. Gaylord of Los Angeles (probably the same Gaylord who was briefly associated with the Keane Wonder property). Durham and Gaylord obtained a bond and lease on the mine, with an option to purchase it from Ishmael for $20,000. Work began shortly after the deal was closed, and by January of 1906, a tunnel had been extended sixty feet into the mountainside on the Indian claim, the major claim of the group. Work was rather brief, however, and ceased sometime shortly after April of 1906, probably due to the effects of the San Francisco disaster. No further notice of the mine can be found until 1909.
Sometime in the interval between the spring of 1906 and 1909, the mine was sold by Ishmael to the Keane Springs Mining Company, an outfit which never worked the property. Then, in March of 1909, Ishmael procured a 21-year lease on the property from the Keane Springs Company, with the financial backing of Frank P. Raridati. The Indian claim of the mine was described at that time as having a seventy-foot tunnel, which indicates that hardly any work had been done between 1906 and 1909. But preliminary assays showed that the mine had $18 to $20 ore in sight, and three men were sent to start work on the property.
Ishmael took a partner named Richard E. Clapp, and the two men proceeded to develop their mine. Water near the sight was of adequate supply for a small mill, and after two months of digging the men decided that milling tests were in order. They were not thinking of a large mill, since their mine was not large, but rather of putting in a small one in order to save themselves the backbreaking labor of packing out raw ore from the mine to a Rhyolite mill. Among other improvements, Ishmael and Clapp built an assay office at their property, in order to test their ores, but the office burned down only a month after it had been completed. Nevertheless, the men stuck to their mine, and reported. good progress being made in August of 1909. Four men were employed at the site, and two tunnels were being driven, one to a length of sixty-five feet and the other to one hundred feet.
Such a small operation did not deserve much space in the Rhyolite newspapers, but periodic reports were printed, especially in the spring of 1910, when Ishmael and Clapp decided to build a small mill. In May of that year, the two men purchased a small Nissen reduction plant, and the machinery soon began to arrive. The men also bought the Hoffman House swimming pool at Rhyolite, which had closed, and tore it down and used the lumber to house their new milling, plant. By late June, a pipe line from a local spring had been completed to the mill site, and foundations were being laid. Late in August, the mill was completed and began to operate. It was a small one-stamp mill, and combined a concentration and amalgamation process of ore reduction. Cyanidation was not a part of the mill process, but could be added later.
The mill was reported to be running well in mid-September, and in October several small bars of crude bullion were sent to the Selby smelter. No returns were announced. Clapp and Ishmael, in Rhyolite for a periodic supply trip, admitted that there were some minor difficulties with the mill, but stated that on the whole it was running well. But for some reason, the mill was not regularly run after October of 1910.
Between them and April of 1911, the mine and mill were idle, and in April the Rhyolite Herald reported that work on the mine would resume soon, as the property was to be amply financed and the small mill utilized. Such, however, was not the case. The Montana-Hartford Mining Company, another South Bullfrog outfit, used the mill in June to test some of its ore, but that was its only use in all of 1911.
Although I. K. Ishmael gave up and left the country, his former partner, Richard Clapp, was not yet ready to give up. In February of 1912, Clapp reported that the Indian claim was very encouraging, and that developments would continue on the property. In May, Clapp again reported that he had a new ore shoot, and that he was in touch with eastern parties and hoped to start up on a large scale soon. In the meantime, he said, he would continue with steady development work on his own.
But with the demise of the Rhyolite Herald Rhyolite's last newspaper, in June of 1912, we come to an end of our printed detail regarding the mine. Given the general history of other such mines in the area, it is doubtful that Clapp was able to do much more with his property. Physical evidence at the site indicates that if the mine was worked at all after June of 1912, it was not worked extensively, or for a very long duration.
Ishmael's and Clapp's little mill still stands in Monarch Canyon. It consists of a one-stamp Nissen crusher, built by Fairbanks & Morse, with a patent date of November 29, 1904. Most of the machinery and controls of the mill are still extant, including a one cylinder engine, two large wooden flywheels, and miscellaneous controls. The mill is built on a concrete pedestal, with a small wood and tin building around the engine and mill machinery. The structure, however, is largely demolished, due to wind and weather.
Above the mill, which is situated on the floor of the canyon, the rest of the complex rises up the steep side of the canyon wall. An ore bin is directly above the mill, and a long ore chute connects the bin to an ore tipple perched high above the mill site. From the tipple, portions of the old tram track may be followed around a bend to the mine itself, which consists of a tunnel adit and a small stoped area. Other remnants on the site include a collapsed shack near the mine, the foundation for a tent or frame building near the ore tipple, and what appears to be the stone ruins of a powder house near the mill.
The road to the mill has been washed down from the side of the canyon wall, but a one-mile hike from the end of the road to mill is not overly strenuous. The site is interesting and useful, as it depicts a small-time mining operation of the early 1900s.Latschar, 1981
List of minerals for each chemical element
Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality
North America PlateTectonic Plate
- Antler Foreland BasinBasin
- Basin and Range BasinsBasin
- Mojave DomainDomain
USA
- Death Valley National ParkNational Park
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References
