Mining's hazardous history remains in Mojave. Do not enter mine tunnels or shafts. Mines may be unstable, have hidden shafts, pockets of bad air, and poisonous gas.
Photo courtesy K. Lewandowski
What risks would you take for a chance of becoming rich? Starting in the mid-1800s, countless people roved the desert prospecting for mineral ores that could build them immense fortunes. Many of them succeeded – copper, silver, lead, gold, zinc, tungsten, and even volcanic cinders were all mined here in the 1800s and 1900s, earning the miners several million dollars.
Many of the historic mining sites still have structures standing there today, like cabins, headframes, mine pits, or heavy equipment. A few of the more well-known mining sites are highlighted below. All are located on roads built for burros rather than cars and not regularly maintained. High clearance and four wheel drive vehicles are recommended.
The Evening Star mine is perhaps the most photogenic relic of MOJA's mining era. It was active mostly in the 1940s and produced tin, tungsten, and copper. In addition to its impressive headframe, visitors to the site can see numerous other outbuildlings, shafts, tunnels, and artifacts.
The Colosseum Mine produced approximately $18,000 worth of gold and silver in the late 1800s, but it was expanded greatly during the 1980s and 1990s when mining technology improved. During its highest years of production more than $100 million worth of gold and silver was extracted from the mine. After the mine was decommissioned in 1993, the mining company paid for millions of dollars of reclamation work to be done. The mine pit is 220 feet deep and a third of a mile across.
The Colosseum Mine's pit remains filled with water, even during the driest and hottest Mojave Desert summers.
NPS / B. Michel
Two cinder mines operated in the Cinder Cone Lava Beds area from the 1950s into the 1990s. Cinders are air-filled rocks formed when lava erupts from cinder cone volcanoes. The cinders were used primarily as a building material for the budding metropolis of Las Vegas. They were also used for road construction, landscaping, and decoration. In all, 60,000 truckloads of cinders totaling 1.5 million tons were extracted from these mines. If all the trucks were lined up end to end, they'd reach from Los Angeles to Las Vegas!
The heavy equipment at these mines appears to be frozen in time. It seems like at any moment, the operators will come back and resume work.
A conveyor belt contraption at Aiken Mine. NPS / B. Michel
The mill at the Hidden Hill mine was perhaps the best preserved mining structure in the preserve until the spring of 2022, when it fell into the hillside. Between 1896 and 1916, over $64,000 in gold was extracted from the mine. The main shaft was dug deeper and deeper during its production, eventually reaching 240 feet. The mill, pictured here before it was damaged, consisted of a wooden ore bin, a crusher that is no longer at the site (though the crusher's concrete foundation is still there), and finally a concrete vat that was likely used to hold cyanide used to extract the gold.
The mill at the Hidden Hill mine is over a century old. NPS / B. Michel
The most profitable mine in the Mojave National Preserve’s history, the Vulcan mine, produced over seven million dollars’ worth of iron in the 1940s. The iron was used to build war ships that were used during World War II. In 1944, the mining crews stopped extraction after they had removed about half of the iron. This means that about half the iron is still here – it was just too expensive to get to it, since it’s underground. A fence surrounding the pit was installed in 2009 to prevent visitors from accidentally falling in. This site is a little under 10 miles from Kelso.
Three visitors stand on a rock ledge overlooking the deep water-filled pit of Vulcan Mine.
NPS Photo
The most profitable mine in the Mojave National Preserve’s history, the Vulcan mine, produced over seven million dollars’ worth of iron in the 1940s.
A vintage NPS underground hazards diagram.
NPS
Be Safe:
Don't Go Down in the Diggin's
The mitigation and reduction of hazards from abandoned mineral lands are often complicated and expensive procedures. The National Park Service establishes the priority for mitigation by considering the level of danger and degree of resource damage. Each site is unique. The chosen method for mitigating features at an abandoned mine site or feature depends on numerous variables such as available materials at the site, the type of rock, the difficulty of reaching the site, and mitigation costs. Parks use a variety of methods to mitigate the hazards and resource issues at these sites.
Because of limited funding, parks can usually afford only temporary solutions such as fencing and posting signs, until funding for more long-term solutions becomes available. Common long-term mine closure techniques include backfilling, blasting, expandable polyurethane foam ("PUF"), rock and mortar walls, steel grates, bat gates, and bat cupolas. For information about mines where bats may be present, see the discussion on White Nose Syndrome on our Mines as Habitat page.
Key Mojave Mine Hazards to Avoid
Tunnel Hazards: Do not enter mine tunnels or shafts. Mines may be unstable, have hidden shafts, pockets of bad air, and poisonous gas.
Tailings Pile Hazards: Do not touch mine tailings. Tailings often contain high concentrations of toxic metals and other chemicals.
Dangerous Animals: Never place your hands or feet where you cannot see first. Rattlesnakes, scorpions, or black widow spiders may be sheltered there.
Hantavirus--a potentially fatal respiratory disease--is spread through contact with infected rodents or their urine and droppings. Although no cases have been reported in Mojave, the virus has been found in deer mice and cactus mice here. Use caution in rodent infested locations such as cabins and mine structures.
