Keystone Mine Camp

Up Goler Canyon there lies a large mine camp. It was a gold mine, which is higher up on the mountain and was not visited on this trip in spring of 2014. This gold mine was originally developed by the famed Carl Mengel in his days in the region, but it was sold to the Monte Cristo Mines company in 1935 and renamed the Lotus Mine. It was worked on and off into the 80s, when most of the modern mines closed in south Death Valley. There were two arial tramways constructed, and there is a lot of cool junk lying around the site. Some of the rocks in this canyon are around 1.8 Billion years old. Just up the canyon is a very pretty pink rhyolite intrusion. 2016 UPDATE: Work is being done to reopen this mine. Someone is now on site most of the time.

At the top of the camp this old front loader is rusting away. The interior was is fair shape, but the same could not be said for the tires.

I managed to not get any pictures of the exterior of any of the cabins for some reason, but they were very typically mid-century. One of them still had some assaying equipment in it and the other has light fixtures on the ceiling. This one held a surprise:

Fertilizer explosives! Ammonuim nitrate for blasting. I've run across this many times in newer camps.

Old Chief Cherokee below the camp. In fair condition, although it is on its roof. Such a waste.

Across the canyon there is a small junkyard with a nice bulldozer in it.

I'll add more pictures to this report if I return soon. I'm sorry this report lacks meat.

Other and better information can be found by a google search under Lotus Mine