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  Welcome to Backcountry Explorers

Warm Springs


Warm Springs, Death Valley
GPS:  35.968069°, -116.93144

Warm Springs with Jeep crossing
Warm Springs has been host to human activities at least since the Panamint Shoshone used the springs as their winter camp and probably much earlier by the Paleo-Indians as evidenced by nearby petroglyphs. Tribal Chief “Panamint Tom” built a ranch on the site near the end of the 1880’s with over one hundred fifty fruit trees, only to be washed away in a catastrophic flood in 1897.



Louise Grantham house
In the 1930’s a mining camp was established at Warm Springs by a woman named Louise Grantham. Louise, with the help of a prospector nicknamed “Siberian Red” better known as Ernest Huhn, claimed and worked eleven talc claims in the area. Talc demand continued to grow thru the 1940s’ the Grantham mine produced over 830,000 tons of talc helping make her the one of the most financially profitable women in Death Valley. Johns-Mansville Products bought the property in 1972 and continued mining for another 15 years. This site has given talc miners a relaxing base camp under the large imported salt cedar trees for many years.

Mining trommel and equipment
Also in 1939 with the availability of water from the springs, a gold mill was set up to process ore from the Gold Hill mine farther up canyon. The mill contains a power-driven arrastra with an oil-burning hot-shot engine that drove an elaborate arrangement of flywheels, a belt and pulley system, and drive shafts that operated the mill machinery. Also included are a Blake jaw crusher; a cone crusher; bumping and concentrating tables; a cylindrical ball mill; an ore bin and chute; an unloading platform; a conveyor system; and other processing equipment. This equipment is in remarkably good condition even today and offers a glimpse into the past mining activity in the valley.

Steam pump
Warm Springs Camp is almost entirely intact, and includes several buildings (one with an impressive fire place), a swimming pool built around 1967 and filled from Warm Springs which flows at 5 gallons a minute though currently not in use. Warm Springs Camp was last used by Pfizer Inc. to house workers for the nearby White Point Talc Mine.  It wasn’t abandoned until the early 1980s and donated to the park service in 1984.

arrastra
Mine equipment pully
front view of mining trommel
large equipment mining gears
Mining equipment
Mine debris
old time arrastra
Resources:
Death Valley National Park (National Geographic Trails Illustrated Map)
Guide to California Backroads & 4-Wheel-Drive Trails


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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