Historical Markers in Death Valley National Park, California
Independence is the county seat for Inyo County
Death Valley National Park is in Inyo County
Inyo County(134) ► ADJACENT TO INYO COUNTY Fresno County(118) ► Kern County(336) ► Mono County(76) ► San Bernardino County(328) ► Tulare County(86) ► Clark County, Nevada(197) ► Esmeralda County, Nevada(23) ► Nye County, Nevada(74) ►
Touch name on this list to highlight map location. Touch blue arrow, or on map, to go there.
There is gold in the hill in front of you, and old-
time prospector Shorty Harris and his greenhorn
partner Pete Aguereberry discovered it in 1905.
Their discovery triggered a short-lived mining
boom. The tent town of Harrisburg blossomed . . . — — Map (db m168072) HM
Here at Aguereberry Point you can see why
Death Valley is often described as a vast geologic
museum. Badwater Basin far below and the
peaks of the Panamint Mountains above are the
results of the land tilting along active fault lines;
the . . . — — Map (db m168023) HM
Among the first structures greeting visitors entering
the park from the west, these two stone buildings at
Emigrant were built to serve as a ranger station and
are a legacy of the Civilian Conservation Corps
(CCC). Created by President Franklin . . . — — Map (db m159295) HM
In 1914, gold ore from the Golden Treasure Mine, 5 miles to the east, was processed here for shipment to a smelter. Legend has it that the Ashford Brothers sold the mine for $50,000 to a Hungarian Count, who later sold it to B.W. McCausland for . . . — — Map (db m89558) HM
Good Life in Badwater
Water is rare and precious in Death Valley. Imagine the disappointment when a surveyor mapping this area could not get his
mule to drink from this pool. He wrote on his map that the
spring had "bad water," and . . . — — Map (db m159465) HM
Barker Ranch was built by
"recreational ranchers"
who moved to the desert to
enjoy the solitude and simplicity of living far from civilization, Bluch and Helen
Thomason moved to the
area in the late 1930s to try
their hand at gold . . . — — Map (db m238166) HM
Near this spot the Bennett-Arcane contingent of the Death Valley '49ers, emigrants from the Middle West, seeking shortcut to California gold fields, were stranded for a month and almost perished from starvation. William Lewis Manley and John Rogers, . . . — — Map (db m159315) HM
These panels deal with how borax was mined and refined at the Harmony Borax Works in Death Valley.
Borax
Borates - salt minerals - were deposited in ancient lake beds that uplifted and eroded into the yellow Furnace Creek . . . — — Map (db m80567) HM
Through this natural gateway the Death Valley Forty-Niners, more than one hundred emigrants from the middle west, seeking a shortcut to gold fields of central California, entered Death Valley in
December, 1849. All suffered from thirst and . . . — — Map (db m167508) HM
Herman William “Bob” Eichbaum long dreamed of
building a resort hotel in Death Valley, convinced that
its “beauty, mystery, and history” would attract tourists.
Beginning in 1915, motion pictures, automobile companies,
and writers created . . . — — Map (db m195619) HM
Seeking to capitalize on the mystique of Death
Valley, early promoters attached dubious names
like "Devils Cornfield" to its strange and unusual
features. Thought to resemble bundled corn left
to dry in rows at harvest time, the root system . . . — — Map (db m195412) HM
Crystallized salts compose the jagged formations of this forbidding landscape. Deposited by ancient salt lakes and shaped by winds and rain, the crystals are forever
changing.
Listen carefully. On a warm day you may hear a metallic cracking . . . — — Map (db m158905) HM
A few structural remains and the nearby borax
windrows are the most visible reminders of
Eagle Borax Works, the first borax refinery in
Death Valley.
Businessman Isador Daunet founded the Eagle
operation on this site, producing borax by . . . — — Map (db m159313) HM
In 1926 H.W. Eichbaum obtained a franchise for a toll road from Darwin Falls to Stovepipe Wells, the first maintained road into the valley from the west. It changed the area from mining to tourism and brought about the creation of Death Valley . . . — — Map (db m149164) HM
From the very early days of tourism in Death Valley, visitors wanted to explore the geologic treasures found in Golden Canyon. Once a road travelled up the canyon, but now only remnants of asphalt remain and the route is now Death
Valley's most . . . — — Map (db m195617) HM
Roy Journigan acquired this mill site in Emigrant Canyon shortly after passage of the 1934 Gold Reserve Act caused the price of gold to jump from $20 to $35 an ounce. His strategy was to operate a custom mill for local mines, so both he and the . . . — — Map (db m212389) HM
Good fortune inspired the name “King of the Desert,“ coined for the Keane Wonder Mine by the Rhyolite Herald in 1911. The mine was discovered by Jack Keane and Domingo Etcharren in 1904. Producing over a million dollars in gold from 1904 to 1917, . . . — — Map (db m159260) HM
During the first two decades of this century the Keane Wonder Mine was the scene of major investment and development. The products of this labor were the riches - gold and silver.
About 1903, Jack Keane, prospector, discovered gold in this . . . — — Map (db m159264) HM
How vivid is your imagination?
Can you visualize the desert scene before you as it would have appeared approximately 20,000 years ago? Imagine, if you can, this valley filled with a lake, 90 miles long, 6 to 11 miles wide and up to 600 feet . . . — — Map (db m160793) HM
This was a mining boom town founded on wild and distorted advertising. 300
hopeful people swarmed here and a post office was established in August,
1926. In February 1927, the post office closed and the town died. — — Map (db m159527) HM
The Roaring '20s, like the 1990s and
early 2000s, fueled an age of excess and
speculation, setting the stage for Leadfield,
a town built on dreams of wealth.
Lead deposits attracted prospectors to Titus
Canyon as early as 1905, but . . . — — Map (db m195240) HM
On the marsh near this point borax was discovered in 1881 by Aaron Winters who later sold his holdings to W. T. Coleman of San Francisco. In 1882 Coleman built the Harmony Borax Works and commissioned his superintendent J. W. S. Perry to design . . . — — Map (db m158971) HM
This waterhole, only one in the sand dune area of Death Valley, was at the junction of two Indian trails. During the bonanza days of Rhyolite and Skidoo it was the only known water source on the cross-valley road. When sand obscured the spot, a . . . — — Map (db m94591) HM
From the snowey heights of
the Sierras beyond the
deep shadows of Death Valley,
beloved and trusted by people
of all faiths. He led them
toward life's wider horizons.
He passed this way. — — Map (db m72566) HM
Indian rock carvings are found throughout
the Western Hemisphere. Indians living today
deny any knowledge of their meaning. Are they
family symbols, doodlings, or ceremonial
markings? Your guess is as good as any.
Ancient Archives . . . — — Map (db m159528) HM
Named after the famed Saratoga Springs in
New York state, the springs here create
open-water ponds that contrast starkly
with the hot, dry, desolate floor of Death
Valley. The first visitors to its refreshing
waters included resident and . . . — — Map (db m235621) HM
Flash Flood Scours Grapevine Canyon
On the night of October 18, 2015, heavy rains pounded Grapevine Canyon. Floodwaters roared out of the canyon mouth — visible to the northeast — and down the valley behind the ranger station. After . . . — — Map (db m195573) HM
Bury me beside Jim Dayton in the valley we loved. Above me write: "Here lies Shorty Harris, a single blanket jackass prospector." - Epitaph requested by Shorty (Frank) Harris, beloved gold hunter, 1856-1934.
Here Jas. Dayton, pioneer, perished, . . . — — Map (db m159314) HM
You are standing in what once was downtown
Skidoo.
Unlike other Death Valley boomtowns, Skidoo
flourished for nearly ten years. At its height in
1907 it boasted 700 residents, a newspaper, bank,
school, and telephone service. The hundreds . . . — — Map (db m159370) HM
Powered by water piped from a spring high in
the Panamint Range, the Skidoo Mill extracted
gold from ore and was one of Death Valley's
most profitable operations. Skidoo had the only
water-powered milling plant in Death Valley.
The . . . — — Map (db m159375) HM
The Skidoo Pipeline can be seen either north or south of this location. The pipeline, which ran from Birch Spring in Jail Canyon to the millsite 23 miles away, was completed in 1907 at a cost of $250,000. — — Map (db m159328) HM
Before
you is part of one of the largest military aircraft
training areas in the U.S. It has been used continuously since
the 1930s. Much of what is now the western portion of
Death Valley National Park was added under the condition
that . . . — — Map (db m194626) HM
Gold from the Eureka Mine sustained Pete
Aguereberry for 40 years. Historians estimate
that Aguereberry extracted about $175,000 worth
of gold (then valued at $20 per ounce) from
Providence Ridge during his lifetime.
Cashier Mill . . . — — Map (db m168029) HM
In front of you is a dry lake bed - a playa - the
flattest of all natural surfaces.
Fine mud and silt, eroded from the surrounding
mountain, compose the playa. Water washes across the
playa, suspending the sediments in a
shallow, . . . — — Map (db m235586) HM
For more than a century, the 20 Mule Team has been the symbol of the Borax industry — on product labels, in history books, and on television. The status is well-earned; mule teams help solve the most difficult task that faced death Valley Borax . . . — — Map (db m194275) HM
Before you is vivid evidence of one of the geologic forces that shapes Death Valley. Unlike most geologic features, the age of Ubehebe Crater (u-bee hee-bee) is measured in thousands rather than millions of years; it is about 2,000 years old. . . . — — Map (db m167511) HM
Traces of civilization remain for a long time on the face of Death Valley. Here, on both sides of the paved highway, you can see tracks of wagons that rolled between the mining boom towns of Rhyolite, Nevada and Skidoo, California. — — Map (db m159209) HM
Independent from an early age, Louise Grantham moved from Ohio to California
in her twenties and, without training or experience, became a prospector. The fact
that this land belonged to someone else did not deter her.
In 1929, . . . — — Map (db m238062) HM
Though steeped in legend, the frenzied search
for gold and other materials in Death Valley
produced few fortunes. Borax, the "White
Gold of the Desert," ranks as the valley's
most profitable mineral.
Harmony Borax works, in front of you, . . . — — Map (db m32661) HM
During the 1930s, Americans struggled with the financial and social turmoil of the Great Depression. The employment rate reached 25 percent, and many men were unable to support their families. Their frustration contributed to the election of . . . — — Map (db m159360) HM
Built in 1877, these kilns produced charcoal for the Modock Mine smelter about 20 miles to the west. Workers filled the stone kilns with piñon pine logs (relatively abundant in this area) and fired them. The burning, which reduced the wood to . . . — — Map (db m159369) HM
Mining comes and goes with fluctuating demand for minerals, but the draw of the desert is eternal. By the 1920s borax mining activity had slowed and the Pacific Coast Borax Company began looking for other uses for its holdings in Death Valley. The . . . — — Map (db m159455) HM
Used in hauling borax from Death Valley to
Mojave, 165 miles - 10 days. The borax weighed
24 tons. The entire weight totaled 36½ tons. — — Map (db m159870) HM
Furnace Creek is a spring fed stream flowing into Death Valley. Native Americans lived here centuries prior to its discovery by lost Forty Niners. In 1881, Aaron Winters found borax nearby, and sold his claims and water rights to William Tell . . . — — Map (db m159457) HM
Steam tractor and ore wagons introduced
at Old Borate to replace the twenty mule
teams and replaced in turn by the Borate
and Daggett Railroad. The tractor was later
used and abandoned on the Beatty-Keane
Wonder Mine Road in Death Valley. — — Map (db m159872) HM
He laid the foundation of the National Park Service, defining and establishing the policies under which its areas shall be developed and conserved unimpaired for future generations. There will never come an end to the good that he has done. — — Map (db m158620) HM
Near this monument, Jayhawker group of Death Valley Forty-Niners, gold seekers from middle west, who entered Death Valley in 1849 seeking short route to mines of Central California, burned their wagons, dried the meat of some oxen and, with . . . — — Map (db m89481) HM
The first resort on this site, originally named “Bungalette City," was opened on November 1, 1926. Owned and operated by Herman William (Bob) and Helene Eichbaum, this resort was the first attempt to provide full scale tourist services in Death . . . — — Map (db m103254) HM
