Panamint Range

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Panamint Range
Panamint Range looking toward Telescope Peak.JPG
Panamint Range looking toward Telescope Peak
Highest point
Peak Telescope Peak
Elevation 11,043 ft (3,366 m)  NAVD 88 [1]
Coordinates 36°10′11″N117°05′21″W / 36.169815947°N 117.089198336°W / 36.169815947; -117.089198336 [1]
Geography
Wpdms shdrlfi020l death valley.jpg
Map of Death Valley region
CountryUnited States
StateCalifornia
District Inyo County
Range coordinates 36°10′11.8″N117°5′21.2″W / 36.169944°N 117.089222°W / 36.169944; -117.089222 Coordinates: 36°10′11.8″N117°5′21.2″W / 36.169944°N 117.089222°W / 36.169944; -117.089222 [2]
Topo map USGS  Telescope Peak

The Panamint Range is a short rugged fault-block mountain range in the northern Mojave Desert, within Death Valley National Park in Inyo County, eastern California. Dr. Darwin French is credited as applying the term Panamint in 1860 during his search for the fabled Gunsight Lode. [3] The orographic identity has been liberally applied for decades to include other ranges.

Contents

The origin of the name is the Paiute or Koso word Panümünt or Pa (water) and nïwïnsti (person). [4] [5]

Geography

The range runs north–south for approximately 100 miles (160 km) through Inyo County, forming the western wall of Death Valley and separating it from the Panamint Valley to the west. The range is part of the Basin and Range Province, at the western end of the Great Basin.

The highest peak in the range is Telescope Peak, with an elevation of 11,043 feet (3,366 m).

Features

Both Mount Whitney above the Owens Valley and Badwater Basin in Death Valley are visible from certain vantage points in the Panamint Range, making it one of few places where one can simultaneously see both the highest and lowest points in the contiguous United States. Dante's View east of Death Valley is another.

Being a sky island habitat of the Mojave Desert, with more precipitation and temperature variation than the desert floor and hills, there are various plant and animal species endemic to the Panamint Range.

Mining

The Panamint Mining District is on the western side of the Panamint Range. [6] Panamint City (est. 1873) was a mining town in the district, formerly in the central section of the range. [6] The historic mining community of Ballarat (est. 1890s), also in the district, is now a ghost town. [6] The Gold Hill Mining District (est. 1875) was in the southwestern section of the range, at the northeast end of Butte Valley. [7]

The Wildrose Charcoal Kilns (completed 1877) are ruins of charcoal kilns located near Wildrose Canyon in the northern range and within Death Valley National Park. They were built in 1877 by the Modock Consolidated Mining Company, to provide fuel for smelters near their lead and silver mines in the Argus Range. The ten beehive shaped masonry structures, about 25 feet (7.6 m) tall, are the best known surviving examples of such charcoal kilns in the western U.S. [8]

Wildrose Charcoal Kilns Wildrose Charcoal Kilns.jpg
Wildrose Charcoal Kilns

See also

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inyo County, California</span> County in California, United States

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Places of interest in the Death Valley area</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amargosa Range</span> Mountain range bordering Death Valley

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Panamint City, California</span> Unincorporated community in California, United States

Panamint City is a ghost town in the Panamint Range, near Death Valley, in Inyo County, California, US. It is also known by the official Board of Geographic Names as Panamint. Panamint was a boom town founded after silver and copper were found there in 1872. By 1874, the town had a population of about 2,000. Its main street was one mile (1.6 km) long. Panamint had its own newspaper, the Panamint News. Silver was the principal product mined in the area. The town is located about three miles northwest of Sentinel Peak. According to the National Geographic Names Database, NAD27 latitude and longitude for the locale are 36°07′06″N117°05′43″W, and the feature ID number is 1661185. The elevation of this location is identified as being 6,280 feet AMSL. The similar-sounding Panamint Springs, California, is located about 25.8 miles at 306.4 degrees off true north near Panamint Junction.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Telescope Peak</span> Mountain in California, United States

Telescope Peak is the highest point within Death Valley National Park, in the U.S. state of California. It is also the highest point of the Panamint Range, and lies in Inyo County. From atop this desert mountain one can see for over one hundred miles in many directions, including west to Mount Whitney, and east to Charleston Peak. The mountain was named for the great distance visible from the summit.

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Panamint may refer to:

Reilly is a former settlement in Inyo County, California. It was located on the west side of the Panamint Valley, at an elevation of 2582 feet. Reilly was a silver mining community in the late 19th century.

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Needle Peak is a mountain in the Panamint Range in the northern Mojave Desert, in Inyo County, eastern California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coso Peak</span> Mountain in California, United States

Coso Peak is the highest summit in the Coso Range, a small mountain range east of the Sierra Nevada, in Inyo County in the U.S. state of California. The peak has an elevation of 8,157 feet and a topographic prominence of 2,489 ft (759 m), making it the 88th most prominent mountain in California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nopah Peak</span> Mountain in California, United States

Nopah Peak is the highest named peak in the Nopah Range, a mountain range in Inyo County, California, in the Mojave Desert just west of the state border with Nevada. The peak has an elevation of 6,365 feet and a topographic prominence of 628 ft (191 m). The peak boasts steep escarpments to both east and west, rising more than 3,000 ft (914 m) feet in approximately 0.75 miles from the desert floor of Chicago Valley to the west and nearly as steep a drop-off to the east.

References

  1. 1 2 "Telescope". NGS Data Sheet. National Geodetic Survey, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, United States Department of Commerce . Retrieved 2022-09-18.
  2. "Panamint Range". Geographic Names Information System . United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior . Retrieved 2009-05-03.
  3. Gudde, Erwin G. (1998). California place names : the origin and etymology of current geographical names (4th ed., rev. and enl. ed.). Berkeley: University of California Press. p.  102 & 280. ISBN   0520213165.
  4. Gudde, Erwin G. (1998). California place names : the origin and etymology of current geographical names (4th ed., rev. and enl. ed.). Berkeley: University of California Press. p.  280. ISBN   0520213165.
  5. Bryan, T. Scott (15 January 2015). The Explorer's Guide to Death Valley National Park. p. 22. ISBN   9781607323419.
  6. 1 2 3 Death Valley National Park: Panamint Mining District
  7. Death Valley National Park: Gold Hill Mining District
  8. Death Valley National Park: Wildrose Charcoal Kilns