Hedges, later renamed Tumco, is a locale, a

ghost town A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...

, site of a former mining town, in

Imperial County, California Imperial County is a county located on the southeast border of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 179,702, ranking as the least populous county in Southern California. The county seat and largest city is ...

. It lies at an elevation of along the Tumco Wash in the

Cargo Muchacho Mountains The Cargo Muchacho Mountains are located in the southeast Colorado Desert in the Lower Colorado River Valley, in Imperial County, California in the United States. Much of the range's geology was described by the geologist John T. Dillon. Geograp ...

. Nearby is the Hedges Cemetery at an elevation of , at .

History

Gold mining had been going on in the western Cargo Muchacho Mountains by the Spanish in the early 1780s until the

Yuma Revolt Yuma can refer to: Places United States * Yuma County, Arizona ** Yuma, Arizona ** Marine Corps Air Station Yuma ** Yuma Proving Ground ** Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona (CDP) ** Yuma Territorial Prison * Fort Yuma, California * Yuma County, Co ...

ended mining there until the Mexicans returned to the area after 1823. Mexican miners prospected and mined there prior to 1848, the name of the mountains date from this period. Mining was conducted mostly by

Sonora Sonora (), officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora (), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Administrative divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is divided into Municipalities of Sonora, 72 ...

n miners familiar with dry washing techniques and using

arrastra An arrastra (or arastra) is a primitive Mill (grinding), mill for grinding and pulverizing (typically) gold or silver ore. Its simplest form is two or more flat-bottomed drag stones placed in a circular pit paved with flat stones, and connected ...

s to extract gold from the ore taken from small mines scattered across the mountains. Lt. Williamson's Pacific Railroad exploration party, passing the mountains in 1853 reported seeing several quartz veins from three inches to a foot or two in thickness there. Despite this report, no American miners began large scale development of the mines until the Southern Pacific Railroad passed by the location to Yuma in 1877. Ogilby a railroad stop was founded nearby in 1877 and became the rail-head and supply point for the mines and camps in the Cargo Muchacho Mountains. Hedges began as the Gold Rock mining camp, that grew up around the Gold Rock Mine discovered by Peter Walters in 1884. He soon thereafter sold out to developers who renamed the mine the Golden Cross in 1892. In 1893, Golden Cross Mining and Milling Company began a development program bringing in a stamp mill to work the ore in the local mines. The camp grew into a town amidst the mines, named Hedges, in honor of the firm's vice president C. L. Hedges. The town was renamed Tumco in 1910, for The United Mines Company, the company that bought the Gold Cross mining company from its previous owners. The Tumco Mine operated from 1892 until 1917, and again from 1937 until 1942. The town in the late 1800s had a population of several thousand by 1942 it only had 30. Tumco Historic Mine is currently operated by the

Bureau of Land Management The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands, U.S. federal lands. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the BLM oversees more than of land, or one ...

California Historical Landmark

The Tumco Mines are a

California Historical Landmarks A California Historical Landmark (CHL) is a building, structure, site, or place in the U.S. state of California that has been determined to have statewide historical landmark significance. Criteria Historical significance is determined by meetin ...

and reads: :''NO. 182 TUMCO MINES - Pete Walters of Ogilby discovered the first gold vein at Gold Rock on January 6, 1884. From his Little Mary Claim began a gold camp which reached its peak development between 1893 and 1899 as Hedges, with 3,200 residents. Nearly closed, 1900-10, it was reopened as Tumco, 1910-13, and worked intermittently until 1941. Tumco has long been a California ghost town.''californiahistoricallandmarks.com Landmark chl-182
/ref>

References

External links

Tumco - Hedges - Ogilby, California Gold Mines and Historical Towns, Desert USA

Tumco Historic Mines
- BLM

* ttp://wheelingit.us/2013/01/20/back-in-time-to-the-heyday-of-gold-hedgestumco-ghost-town/ Back In Time To The Heyday Of Gold -> Hedges/Tumco Ghost Town
Tumco

* ttp://www.peakbagging.com/Magazine_pdf/Desert_Jan1969.pdf Jack Pepper, Mysterious Cargo Muchachos, Desert Magazine, January, 1969, pp.23-31, pdfbr>Desert Magazine, January, 1969

Mining Ruins, Tumco, California
from ghosttownaz.info {{Imperial County, California Former settlements in Imperial County, California Hedges Locale (geographic)

History

California Historical Landmark

See also

References

External links