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  Welcome to Backcountry Explorers

Keystone Mine


Keystone Mine, Death Valley

Portal to the Keystone Mine
Keystone Mine Portal
stone cabin or cook house
Six un-patented claims owned by Lotus Mines were originally incorporated through an earlier company, Monty Cristo Mines, who acquired the claims from Carl Mengel in 1935. The unnamed mining camp was known only as the Lotus Mine. The name came from the Lower Lotus Spring which feeds the mine from down canyon.
The gold was found in quartz seams and fissure veins. The veins were a few inches to four feet in length and assayed from $2.50 - $50.00 per ton. The claims were worked by both prospect cuts as well as adits. In one high yield location, a few hundred tons of ore was stoped in a drift 30 feet from the portal. Ore produced from the property was sold for approximately $32,000.
Two aerial trams and a 2800-foot inclined rail-tram were used to move the ore from the mine to the camp where the road from Panamint Valley through Goler Canyon ends.
Exploration and some development continued sporadically.


​In 1972 a Dr. Ralph E Pray, an independent mining engineer, went to Goler Wash to stake the best-looking prospect and named it the Keystone Mine. He established a permanent camp in old buildings on the bank of Goler Wash. Pray’s crew blasted sharp turns and rebuilt the two-mile entrance into the Panamints. The Keystone went one to produce several million dollars in gold in the 1980s.
Looking down at road up to the mine from Goler Wash
Road up to the mine from Goler Wash
Today there is still a fairly intact stone cabin up on the banks of the wash near the old Lotus site. The road up to the Keystone Mine takes several twists and turns before arriving at the portal. Some heavy earth moving and ventilation equipment can still be found at this site. Current ownership status is unknown at this time and it may be off limits.
Resources:
Death Valley National Park (National Geographic Trails Illustrated Map)
Guide to California Backroads & 4-Wheel-Drive Trails
Backside of stone cabin
Dump truck
Inside of stone house
View to Panamint Valley


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  • Home
  • Our Adventures
    • Death Valley >
      • Artist Drive, Death Valley
      • Badwater, Death Valley
      • Ballarat Ghost Town, Death Valley
      • Broken Pick mine, Death Valley
      • Charcoal Kilns, Death Valley
      • Charles Manson Hide Out Barker Ranch, Death Valley
      • Chloride Cliffs, Death Valley
      • Corona Mine, Death Valley
      • Crater Sulfur Mine, Death Valley
      • Devils Golf Course, Death Valley
      • Geologist Cabin, Death Valley
      • Harmony Borax works, Death Valley
      • Ibex Springs Talc Mine, Death Valley
      • Inyo Mine, Death Valley
      • Keane Wonder Mine, Death Valley
      • Keystone Mine, Death Valley
      • Lost Burro Mine, Death Valley
      • Marble Bath, Death Valley
      • Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes, Death Valley
      • Morning Glory Mine Camp, Death Valley
      • Racetrack, Death Valley
      • Rhyolite, Nevada
      • Russell Camp, Death Valley
      • Ryan, Death Valley
      • Scotty's Castle, Death Valley
      • Skidoo Ghost Town, Death Valley
      • Stella's - Mengel Cabin, Death Valley
      • Teakettle Junction, Death Valley
      • Titus Canyon, Death Valley
      • Ubehebe Crater, Death Valley
      • Warm Springs, Death Valley
      • Zabriskie Point, Death Valley
    • California Gold Country >
      • Alleghany, California
      • Big Springs, highway 49
      • Downieville, California
      • Forest City
      • Kenton Mine
      • Kentucky Mine and Museum
      • Love Falls Yuba River
      • Mountain House Henness Pass
      • Oregon Creek Covered Bridge
      • Poker Flat
      • Sierra Buttes Mine
      • Sierra City, Ca
      • Young America Mine
  • Story Blog
  • Our Company
  • Support