Greenwater | |
|---|---|
  Greenwater Location in California  Greenwater Greenwater (the United States) | |
| Coordinates: 36°10′46″N116°36′59″W / 36.17944°N 116.61639°W [1] | |
| Country | United States |
| State | California |
| County | Inyo County |
| Elevation | 4,288 ft (1,307 m) |
Greenwater (formerly, Ramsey, [1] The Camp, [1] and Kunze [2] ) was an unincorporated community near Death Valley located in the eastern side of the Inyo County, California. [1] It is now a deserted ghost town.
Greenwater is located 5.5 miles (8.9 km) north of Funeral Peak in the Funeral Mountains above southeastern Death Valley, [2] at an elevation of 4288 feet (1307 m). [1] It is now located within Death Valley National Park, north of Smith Mountain, and south of the Rand, California mining district ruins.
Greenwater was a mining town in the Mojave Desert that saw its rise and fall within the first decade of the 20th century. [3] Greenwater's first records date back to the year 1904, these records stated that there were claims that Greenwater dated back to the 1880s however no solid evidence or records were found. [4]
The original townsite, "Kunze", named after its founder Arthur Kunze was located 2 miles (3.2 km) west of the current site. Kunze was abandoned in favor of the current site, which had the original name of "Ramsey". [2] Greenwater had begun to become more and more operable to the point that a post office was needed and operated at Greenwater from 1906 to 1908. [2]
Furnace [5] was a tent city located between three and four miles west of Greenwater. Patrick Clark founded the Furnace Creek Copper Company at Furnace. [6] Furnace was a boomtown by 1905, but deserted by 1907. [6] The Furnace post office operated from 1907 to 1908. [2] The postmaster was Sidney Norman, but the USPS has no evidence that the post office was ever in operation. [4] Sidney Norman also operated the Furnace Townsite Co. out of a tent. [7] The residents of Furnace abandoned the site and moved to Greenwater. [4]
Founded around a copper ore strike in 1905 the town of Greenwater was a short-lived Death Valley community. So dry was its region that water had to be hauled 28 miles into the town. The lucrative business of water barrel salesman fetched any entrepreneur $15(equivalent to about $440 in 2022) per barrel. [8]
Greenwater's many copper mining companies were first mentioned on public records on the 4th of May, 1906. The last mentioned copper company in record books was mentioned on the 1st of September, 1909. [9] The copper companies in Greenwater failed due to the fact that there were so many different companies in such a small area (56 total listed). Of the 56 different copper companies listed, four were exposed as fraudulent companies. [9] This further points to the failure of the companies, since there was such congestion mixed in with fraudulent leaders, there was a fall in the companies.
Eventually the town grew to 2,000 people and became known for a local magazine, The Death Valley Chuckwalla . The Death Valley Chuckwalla was the magazine which exposed fraudulent companies as stated in the previous paragraph. By 1909 the copper mining had collapsed without ever turning a profit and the residents left town for other areas. Today, there is nothing left of Greenwater. [10]
In 2000, the results of a study concerning the ecological recovery of the soil at Greenwater was reported. Robert Webb of the USGS compared the recovery of the soil at Skidoo, California with the recovery at Greenwater. He found that the soil at Skidoo recovered much more quickly than the soil at Greenwater because the soil at Skidoo was less than 4,000 years old whereas the soil at Greenwater was at least 100,000 years old. Webb stated that it took less time for the soil at Skidoo to recover to the earlier successional stage than the older soil at Greenwater. This research suggests that if the desert soil must be disturbed, then it is best to disturb younger soil sites. [11]
Skidoo was an unincorporated community in Inyo County, California. The geographical location of the old town site lies at an elevation of 5,689 feet. Skidoo is a ghost town located in Death Valley National Park. It is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Swansea is a ghost town in La Paz County in the U.S. state of Arizona. It was settled circa 1909 in what was then the Arizona Territory. It served as a mining town as well as a location for processing and smelting the copper ore taken from the nearby mines.
Death Valley Junction, more commonly known as Amargosa, is a tiny Mojave Desert unincorporated community in Inyo County, California, at the intersection of SR 190 and SR 127, in the Amargosa Valley and just east of Death Valley National Park. The zip code is 92328, the elevation is 2,041 ft (622 m), and the population is fewer than four people.
Eagle Mountain is a ghost town in the California desert in Riverside County founded in 1948 by industrialist Henry J. Kaiser. The town is located at the entrance of the now-defunct Eagle Mountain iron mine, once owned by the Southern Pacific Railroad, then Kaiser Steel, and located on the southeastern corner of Joshua Tree National Park. The town's fully integrated medical care system, similar to other Kaiser operations in California, was the genesis of the modern-day Kaiser Permanente health maintenance organization. Eagle Mountain is accessible by Kaiser Road from California State Route 177, twelve miles (19 km) north of Desert Center, midway between Indio and the California/Arizona state line along Interstate 10.
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.
Leadfield was an unincorporated community, and historic mining town in Inyo County, California. It is now a ghost town. It is located in Titus Canyon in the Grapevine Mountains, east of Death Valley in Death Valley National Park. Leadfield lies at an elevation of 4,058 ft (1,237 m). It is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Chloride City is a ghost town in Inyo County, California, United States. It is located 8.5 miles (14 km) north-northeast of Beatty Junction, at an elevation of 4,770 ft (1,450 m). The former settlement is in Death Valley National Park.
Ivanpah was a short-lived silver mining town located in San Bernardino County, California, United States. It was founded in 1869 and existed until at least the mid-1880s.
Beveridge is an unincorporated community in Inyo County, California. It lies at an elevation of 5587 feet. Beveridge began as a mining town The name honors John Beveridge.
Lila C is a former settlement in Inyo County, California. It was located 6.25 miles (10 km) southwest of Death Valley Junction, at an elevation of 2562 feet.
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.
Bristol Wells, also known as National City, Bristol City and Tempest, is a ghost town in Lincoln County, Nevada. The mining town was located on the west side of Bristol Mountain, 14 miles (23 km) northwest of Pioche, Nevada.
Echo is a former settlement in Inyo County, California.
Bennettville is a former settlement and ghost town in Mono County, California. It was located on Mine Creek 4 mi (6.4 km) east-southeast of Mount Conness.
Twining is a ghost town in Taos County, New Mexico, United States.
Municipalities and communities of Inyo County, California, United States | ||
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