The Cerro Gordo Mines are a collection of abandoned mines located in the
Inyo Mountains
The Inyo Mountains are a short mountain range east of the Sierra Nevada in eastern California in the United States. The range separates the Owens Valley to the west from Saline Valley to the east, extending for approximately south-southeast fro ...
, in
Inyo County
Inyo County () is a county in the eastern central part of the U.S. state of California, located between the Sierra Nevada and the state of Nevada. In the 2020 census, the population was 19,016. The county seat is Independence. Inyo County is o ...
, near
Lone Pine, California
Lone Pine is a census-designated place (CDP) in Inyo County, California, United States. Lone Pine is located south-southeast of Independence, at an elevation of . The population was 2,035 at the 2010 census, up from 1,655 at the 2000 census. T ...
.
Mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic via ...
operations spanned 1866 to 1957, producing high grade
silver
Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...
,
lead
Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...
,
zinc
Zinc is a chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. Zinc is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodi ...
ore, and more rarely
gold ore and
copper ore
Following is a list of minerals that serve as copper ores in the copper mining
Copper extraction refers to the methods used to obtain copper from its ores. The conversion of copper consists of a series of physical and electrochemical proces ...
.
Some ore was
smelted
Smelting is a process of applying heat to ore, to extract a base metal. It is a form of extractive metallurgy. It is used to extract many metals from their ores, including silver, iron
Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from l ...
on site, but larger capacity smelters were eventually constructed along the shore of nearby
Owens Lake
Owens Lake is a mostly dry lake in the Owens Valley on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada in Inyo County, California. It is about south of Lone Pine, California. Unlike most dry lakes in the Basin and Range Province that have been dry for th ...
.
These smelting operations were the beginnings of the towns of
Swansea
Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Swansea ( cy, links=no, Dinas a Sir Abertawe).
The city is the twenty-fifth largest in ...
and
Keeler. Most of the metal
ingot
An ingot is a piece of relatively pure material, usually metal, that is cast into a shape suitable for further processing. In steelmaking, it is the first step among semi-finished casting products. Ingots usually require a second procedure of sh ...
s produced here were transported to
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
, but transportation difficulties hindered the success of the mines. Mining of silver and lead peaked in the early 1880s, with a second mining boom producing zinc in the 1910s.
During its peak, Cerro Gordo was home to some 4,700 people and the site is known as a California ghost town today.
History
Discovery of the silver ore is credited to Pablo Flores, who began mining and smelting operations near the summit of Buena Vista Peak in 1865. Increasing migration to the area was met with resistance from the
Native Americans, which limited early mining efforts. The establishment of
Fort Independence allowed for the expulsion of native populations, facilitating the expansion of the mining town.
These early miners employed relatively primitive techniques of open pits and trenches and used
adobe
Adobe ( ; ) is a building material made from earth and organic materials. is Spanish for ''mudbrick''. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is used to refer to any kind of e ...
ovens to smelt the ore. Businessman Victor Beaudry (younger brother of Los Angeles Mayor and developer
Prudent Beaudry
Prudent may refer to:
*Prudent (name)
Ships:
* HMS ''Prudent'', a Royal Navy third-rate ship of the line
* USS ''Prudent'' (PG-96), a US Navy gunboat
* French ship ''Prudent'', a French third-rate ship of the line burned at the Siege of Louisbou ...
) of nearby
Independence, California
Independence is a census-designated place in Inyo County, California. Independence is located south-southeast of Bishop, at an elevation of 3930 feet (1198 m). It is the county seat of Inyo County, California. The population of this census-de ...
, became impressed by the quality of silver mined at Cerro Gordo and opened a store nearby. He soon acquired several mining claims to settle unpaid debts and proceeded to have two modern smelters built. Beaudry continued acquiring mining rights from debtors until he soon owned a majority of the richest and most productive mines in the area, including partial interest in the Union Mine.
In 1868, Mortimer Belshaw arrived in Cerro Gordo (lit. "Fat Hill" in Spanish), attracted by the rich deposits of
galena
Galena, also called lead glance, is the natural mineral form of lead(II) sulfide (PbS). It is the most important ore of lead and an important source of silver.
Galena is one of the most abundant and widely distributed sulfide minerals. It cryst ...
ore. After establishing a partnership with another stakeholder in the Union Mine, he brought the first wagon load of silver from Cerro Gordo to Los Angeles. In Los Angeles he was able to secure financing to build his own smelter that was superior to all other smelters at Cerro Gordo, as well as to build the first wagon road up the mountain. This road became known as the Yellow Road from the color of the rock that it had been cut through. By operating the Yellow Road as a toll road, Belshaw was able to earn income and control the shipments of silver from the mountain.
Between 1879 to 1880 in Cerro Gordo district, of ore was raised and treated, $3,307 ($88,088 in 2021) gold bullion produced and $140,517 ($3,742,932 in 2021) worth of silver bullion produced.
During its entire operating history from 1865 to 1949 mines produced over of lead, of silver and of zinc, which estimated worth was over $17 million.
By 1907 high-grade zinc ore was found in Cerro Gordo and ore shipments begun and by 1912 Cerro Gordo became the largest producer of zinc carbonates in the US.
In 1916 the town became electrified replacing the steam power that operated the machinery.
In 1920, about ten miners still worked, mostly mining silver-lead ore. Mining had largely ceased by 1938.
, a former high school teacher was the only miner; the then-70-year-old had been collecting small amounts of silver underground since 1997, selling the silver to tourists, while searching for a productive vein.
The Cerro Gordo mines were the most extensive with more than of underground tunnels in the Cerro Gordo Mining District.
The
ghost town
Ghost Town(s) or Ghosttown may refer to:
* Ghost town, a town that has been abandoned
Film and television
* Ghost Town (1936 film), ''Ghost Town'' (1936 film), an American Western film by Harry L. Fraser
* Ghost Town (1956 film), ''Ghost Town'' ...
of Cerro Gordo was purchased in June 2018 with the intent to turn it into a tourist attraction, accessed by special permission. At that time it had several vintage buildings, including the general store and . The buyers,
Brent Underwood
Brent Underwood is an American entrepreneur and owner of Cerro Gordo Mines.
Career
After graduating from Columbia University, Underwood worked briefly for an investment bank in New York City. After one month, he quit and backpacked across Central ...
and Jon Bier, purchased the property with additional Los Angeles-based investors. The American Hotel, an icehouse, and a residence were destroyed in a fire on June 15, 2020.
Despite these challenges, Underwood says he is still committed to the project.
Buildings
The American Hotel was built in 1871 by John Simpson, and was the oldest standing hotel in California on the east side of the
Sierra. On the morning of June 15, 2020, a fire destroyed the hotel and neighboring buildings. The owners plan to build a replica.
The Belshaw House was built around 1868 by Mortimer Belshaw, developer of the Belshaw
Blast Furnace
A blast furnace is a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce industrial metals, generally pig iron, but also others such as lead or copper. ''Blast'' refers to the combustion air being "forced" or supplied above atmospheric ...
.
The Gordon House was built in 1909 by Louis D. Gordon, who began the "zinc era" of Cerro Gordo.
Underwood broke ground and commenced to rebuilding The American Hotel in 2022.
In popular culture
Remi Nadeau
Remi A. Nadeau (August 30, 1920 – June 6, 2016) was an American historian. He earned a bachelor's degree from Stanford University and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Born in Los Angeles, Remi Allen Nadeau was the son o ...
, a descendant of the family involved with the transport of ingots from Cerro Gordo across Owens Lake and by
mule
The mule is a domestic equine hybrid between a donkey and a horse. It is the offspring of a male donkey (a jack) and a female horse (a mare). The horse and the donkey are different species, with different numbers of chromosomes; of the two pos ...
train to Los Angeles, has written books and articles on the period.
[
*]
In 2013, an episode in the series Artbound entitled "Agh20: Silver and Water" features Cerro Gordo's role as a source of silver for the nascent film industry in California.
Cerro Gordo, the Belshaw House, and the Inyo Mine are featured in the season 19 episode of ''
Ghost Adventures
''Ghost Adventures'' is an American paranormal and reality television series that premiered on October 17, 2008, on the Travel Channel before moving to Discovery+ in 2021. An independent film of the same name originally aired on the Sci-Fi Chann ...
'' titled "Cerro Gordo Ghost Town", which aired in 2019 on the
Travel Channel
Travel Channel (stylized as Trvl Channel since 2018) is an American pay television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, which had previously owned the channel from 1997 to 2007. The channel is headquartered in New York, New York, United S ...
.
In 2020, one of the town's owners, Brent Underwood, started a
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
channel chronicling his intended development of the town into a functioning tourist destination and his exploration of mine tunnels.
In 2021, it was revealed the previous owners had sold the
mining claims of the nearby area to
K2 Gold Corp. There are plans to start a cyanide
opencast mine
Open-pit mining, also known as open-cast or open-cut mining and in larger contexts mega-mining, is a surface mining technique of extracting rock or minerals from the earth from an open-air pit, sometimes known as a borrow.
This form of mining ...
using
cyanide
Cyanide is a naturally occurring, rapidly acting, toxic chemical that can exist in many different forms.
In chemistry, a cyanide () is a chemical compound that contains a functional group. This group, known as the cyano group, consists of ...
in the adjacent
Conglomerate Mesa Formation area.
References
Further reading
*
*
*
*
External links
*
Cerro Gordo pictures on Ghost Town Gallery*
Cerro Gordo in USGS Mineral Resource Data System (MRDS)
{{Inyo County, California
Ghost towns in Inyo County, California
Mining in California
Inyo Mountains
History of Inyo County, California
History of the Mojave Desert region
History of Los Angeles
Geography of Inyo County, California
American frontier
1866 establishments in California