Vanderbilt, California

Last updated

Vanderbilt
USA California location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Vanderbilt
Location within the state of California
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Vanderbilt
Vanderbilt (the United States)
Coordinates: 35°19′38″N115°14′59″W / 35.32722°N 115.24972°W / 35.32722; -115.24972
Country United States
State California
County San Bernardino
Time zone UTC-8 (Pacific (PST))
  Summer (DST) UTC-7 (PDT)
GNIS feature ID1661625

Vanderbilt was a short-lived gold mining town located in San Bernardino County, California, United States. It existed between 1893 and 1895. At its peak it may have had a population of about 400 people. [1] [2]

Contents

Location

Vanderbilt was located at 35° 19' 38.20" -115° 14' 59.14" (WGS84) on the California and Nevada border, which today is part of Mojave National Preserve. [3]

History

In January 1891, Native American Robert Black struck gold ore on the north slope of the New York Mountains, about 40 mi (64 km) north of Goffs, California, on the Santa Fé Railway. A mining camp was soon established at nearby Vanderbilt Spring. The discovery of additional gold-rich veins in the fall of 1892 set off a rush to the area.

By January 1893, 150 people were living at Vanderbilt camp, which contained 50 tents, two stores, one saloon, three restaurants, a lodging house, a blacksmith shop, and a stable. In 1983 a post office was established in February, W. A. Nash was appointed justice of the peace in May, and a Rail service to Manvel, five-miles to the south, commenced in August.

Vanderbilt's population probably peaked in 1894, at about 400. The business district contained three saloons, two barbers, a Chinese restaurant and two other eating houses, two meat markets, a stationery and fruit store, one lodging house, two blacksmiths, and three well-stocked general stores. William McFarlane, one of the pioneers of Ivanpah, owned an interest in one of them, in which he ran the post office and owned a drugstore.

According to Earp Historians, Virgil Earp, famed brother of Wyatt Earp who was also involved in the gunfight behind the OK Corral, owned the only two-story building in town. It operated as a hotel and saloon, and according to Allie Earp, church services and dances were also held inside.

During 1894, two ten-stamp mills were constructed to serve the two principal mines in the district, the Gold Bronze and Boomerang. At nearly the same time the mills were completed, water was struck in the mines. After hitting water, the character of the ore changed, and being unable to recover the gold in the ore, the mills were shut down. By the end of 1895, most of the town's businesses had closed and most of the population had left. [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tombstone, Arizona</span> City in Arizona, United States

Tombstone is a city in Cochise County, Arizona, United States, founded in 1879 by prospector Ed Schieffelin in what was then Pima County, Arizona Territory. It became one of the last boomtowns in the American frontier. The town grew significantly into the mid-1880s as the local mines produced $40 to $85 million in silver bullion, the largest productive silver district in Arizona. Its population grew from 100 to around 14,000 in less than seven years. It is best known as the site of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral and presently draws most of its revenue from tourism.

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

Calico is a ghost town and former mining town in San Bernardino County, California, United States. Located in the Calico Mountains of the Mojave Desert region of Southern California, it was founded in 1881 as a silver mining town, and was later converted into a county park named Calico Ghost Town. Located off Interstate 15, it lies 3 miles (4.8 km) from Barstow and 3 miles from Yermo. Giant letters spelling CALICO are visible, from the highway, on the Calico Peaks behind it. Walter Knott purchased Calico in the 1950s, and rebuilt all but the five remaining original buildings to look as they did in the 1880s. Calico received California Historical Landmark #782, and in 2005 was proclaimed by then-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to be California's Silver Rush Ghost Town.

Oro Grande is an unincorporated community in the Mojave Desert of San Bernardino County, California, United States. It lies on the city boundary of Victorville and Adelanto. It is at 3,000 feet (910 m) elevation in Victor Valley north of the San Bernardino mountain range. It is located on old Route 66 near Interstate 15 between Victorville and Barstow. The ZIP code is 92368 and the community is inside area codes 442 and 760. Less than 1,000 residents live in the unincorporated area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Belmont, Nevada</span> United States historic place

Belmont is a ghost town in Nye County, Nevada, United States along former State Route 82. The town is a historic district listed in the National Register of Historic Places. It is Nevada Historical Marker number 138.

Belleville, Nevada, in Mineral County, Nevada, United States, was a mining town that rose up around the milling of ore shipped in from nearby mines. Today it is a ghost town.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Contention City, Arizona</span> Ghost town in Arizona, United States

Contention City or Contention is a ghost mining town in Cochise County in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Arizona. It was occupied from the early-1880s through the late-1880s in what was then known as the Arizona Territory. Only a few foundations now remain of this boomtown which was settled and abandoned with the rise and fall of silver mining in and around the area of Tombstone.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ivanpah (ghost town), California</span> Ghost town in California, United States

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hart, California</span> Ghost town in California, United States

Hart was a short-lived gold mining town located in the Mojave desert, in San Bernardino County, California. It existed between 1908 and 1915, and was located on the northeastern edge of Lanfair Valley near the New York Mountains. The area is now in the Castle Mountains National Monument, administered by the National Park Service.

Providence was a short-lived silver mining town located in San Bernardino County, California, United States. It existed between 1880 and 1886.

Lookout City is a former settlement in the Mojave Desert, in Inyo County, California. It lay at an elevation of 3579 feet.

Hunt's Hill is a former mining camp in Nevada County, California, United States. Hunt's Hill was located in the Sierra Nevada foothills about 6 miles in a straight line southeast of Nevada City and about 2 miles northwest of You Bet, on the north side of Greenhorn Creek, not far from the present intersection of Red Dog and Buckeye Roads. Hunt's Hill was founded in 1852 by a miner named Hunt. It was located on one of the deepest parts of the rich Blue Lead channel of gold-bearing gravel. In 1855, one of the mining claims established by some French miners, was “jumped". During the fight, one of the French miners lost an eye. Thereafter, that mine, and sometimes the town, were called Gouge Eye. By 1857, the town boasted two saloons, a hotel, a blacksmith and stable, a butcher shop, a boot and shoe store, and several grocery stores. In 1858, a stage line from Nevada City arrived. In 1866, seven cement mills for extracting gold from the “blue cement” were operating in the area. By 1880, the town was reduced to a combined store and saloon and a few houses. In 1895, one directory summed up the state of the community thus: "At the present time there is not much doing there." Since that same directory identified the town's justice of the peace and constable, what little happened must have been interesting. Today, it is just a historic site.

The Cripple Creek Gold Rush was a period of gold production in the Cripple Creek area from the late 1800s until the early 1900s. Mining exchanges were in Cripple Creek, Colorado Springs, Pueblo and Victor. Smelting was in Gillett, Florence, and (Old) Colorado City. Mining communities sprang up quickly, but most lasted only as long as gold continued to be produced. Settlements included:

Barnwell, originally a rail camp named Summit, then Manvel, was a former railhead serving local mining camps, now a ghost town, in San Bernardino County, California. It lies at an elevation 4806 feet in the New York Mountains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">California Eastern Railway</span>

California Eastern Railway, is a defunct 45-mile (72 km) short-line railroad that operated from 1902 - 1911. The railroad ran from Goffs, California, to Ivanpah. It was first a private line operated by a mining company, that was acquired by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway.

Hedges, later renamed Tumco, is a locale, a ghost town, site of a former mining town, in Imperial County, California. It lies at an elevation of 617 feet / 188 meters along the Tumco Wash in the Cargo Muchacho Mountains. Nearby is the Hedges Cemetery at an elevation of 643 feet, at 32°53′04″N114°49′52″W.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vulcan, Colorado</span> Ghost town in Gunnison County, Colorado, United States

Vulcan is a ghost town in Gunnison County, Colorado, United States, approximately 15 miles (24 km) southwest of the City of Gunnison. Vulcan was a mining camp established along Camp Creek in 1894 and was deserted within thirty years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pine Grove, Nevada</span> Ghost town in Nevada, United States

Pine Grove is a ghost town in Lyon County, Nevada, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manchester, Monterey County, California</span> Ghost town in California, United States

Manchester was a mining town in the Los Burros Mining District in the southern Big Sur region of Monterey County, California from about 1875 to 1895. The town was reached by a 20 miles (32 km) road from King City to Jolon. From Jolon travelers could ride or take a stage or wagon to the Wagon Caves, followed by a difficult 14 miles (23 km) trail over the steep Santa Lucia Mountains to the site, about 4 miles (6.4 km) inland of Cape San Martin. Prospecting began in the area in the 1850s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Potash wars (California)</span> Conflict over potash deposits in the Searles Valley of California between 1910 and 1915

The Potash wars were a series of events that took place from 1910 to 1915 in the Searles Valley near Searles Lake, a dry lake, near the current town of Trona in the San Bernardino County of California. The Potash wars gained national and international news at the time due to the involvement of famous lawman Wyatt Earp and the importance of the valley's supply of potash at the time. Potash is an important crop fertilizer and the Searles Valley was a major supplier in the 1910s.

References

  1. "Vanderbilt, California". Destination4x4. June 14, 2020. Retrieved April 27, 2021.
  2. 1 2 "Vanderbilt Mine". mojavedesert.net. Retrieved April 27, 2021.
  3. "Vanderbilt Mine". mojavedesert.net. Retrieved April 28, 2021.