This desertification was caused by excessive gold mining in
paleolithic times.
Mines Of The High Desert
by Roland Dean Miller
Soft cover, 8.5" x 5.5", 72 pages, copyright 1968.
After the first bloom of the Gold Rush of the Mother Lode, the miners spread out over the rest of the state, looking for other untouched lodes. By 1873 claims were filed near the Oasis of Twentynine Palms. Soon a boom was in full swing at the Palms Mining District. A decade later the larger deposits of the Dale District were discovered some twenty miles to the east. Here were born, lived and died the three camps, 'Old Dale', 'New Dale' and 'Virginia Dale'.
Author Ron Miller lived in this area and knew both the countryside of the High Desert and the men who were responsible for the location and the development of the Mines of the High Desert. Mines Of The High Desert tells stories that have never before been given to the lovers of desert lore. Included are many early as well as contemporary photographs of these early mines. The author has enlarged and supplemented his justly popular first edition. Here are also the mines of the Space Age, the ores needed to alloy steel, as well as the 'rare-earths' that supply the brilliant tints and hues of color television.
Contents include: Beginnings, Early Activity, Virginia Dale, United Greenwater, People Of The Town, Eastern Mines - Map of the High Desert, Desert Freighting, The McHaney Gang, Other Mines, Mine Closures, After Gold, Desert Driving, Reference and Index.
The oasis of Twentynine Palms was discovered in 1885 by Col. Henry Washington, who commanded a government survey party. Before the turn of the century, this area was well known by prospectors and miners. The major mountain range, the Bullion Mountains, reflects the influence of those miners and prospectors in the naming of local terrain features and areas. Many abandoned mines are located in the fire and maneuver areas of the Combat Center. The Dale mines, located 15 miles southeast of the Combat Center, yielded more than $3 million in gold prior to the turn of the century. Mining continued to be a major activity in the High Desert until shortly after World War I.
From the 1880s to about 1910, gold was discovered and prospectors mined the desert hills near the Oasis, and the mining camps Virginia Dale and Old Dale were established. When the price of gold fell too low to pay for the high costs of mining and hauling ore from outlying desert areas, the mines shut down and the miners and their families moved away. Mining continued sporadically but ended with the start of World war I, when gold production was curtailed by the government. It revived briefly in the 1930s during the Great Depression when almost all local men found employment in the mines that reopened.
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