Prospecting Holes Near Cajon Summit

By Bill Neill

In late February, while taking geology photos of the San Gabriel Mountains and vicinity, I discovered Forest Route 3N21 that heads west from Cajon Summit, along the ridge between the Mojave Desert and Cajon Amphitheater, starting at the brake check area on Interstate 15 southbound. At its west end, this easy but winding 4WD route terminates at Highway 138 about 5 miles northwest of Cajon Junction. I drove only about a mile west of I-15, for impressive views of the Cajon basin and San Gabriels, with snow-covered Mt. Baldy about 14 miles to the southwest.

The ridge west of Cajon Summit is underlain by relict alluvial fan sediments containing cobbles and boulders of granite and metamorphic rocks, plus chunks of white vein quartz that are scattered about on the surface. Shown in the photo below, I placed several angular clasts of vein quartz on a gray slab of Pelona Schist, derived from mountains to the south.

Aligned along the ridge crest, I was surprised to see dozens of closely spaced prospector holes that I presume were dug in search of the source of vein quartz that can contain gold mineralization. Although I don’t know much about primitive gold mining methods, I presume that the holes were dug for prospecting and not dry-washing due to their fairly uniform size, depth and close spacing.

The photo below shows a straight line of diggings extending from the lower left corner past and behind my truck. The middle photo is a close-up of the same hill behind my parked truck. The lower photo is another location, with diggings extending up the hill and then turning to the left.

After returning home, I searched the Internet for the area’s prospecting history and found this posting from June 2012 on the www.treasurenet.com website by someone named “MrLee”: 

Cajon Summit Mormon Diggings

I was out on the GPAA Crystal Claim 2 this afternoon and was surprised as I started to descend from the top of the hill there were layers of river rock in the cliff sides. I’m really wanting to know more about this area and how the hell there are river sediments on the tops of the hills with no mountains connected to them. Does anyone know more about this area? There are also boulders bigger than a suitcase and rounded by river tumbling all over the place. Very interesting area.

Answers to these questions might surprise “MrLee” and certainly would have surprised his Mormon predecessors, if that’s who they were.  The granitic and metamorphic rocks forming the San Gabriel Mountains are thought to have originated where the Salton Sea is now located, and have been displaced by fault movement along the San Andreas Fault, as coastal southern California shifted by earthquakes about 150 miles to the northwest over the past 5 million years, since the Gulf of California opened and separated Baja California from mainland Mexico.  More recently, the mountain range shed coarse sediments onto the Mojave Desert, before moving to its present location, which “beheaded” the alluvial fan complex and allowed Cajon Wash to erode the basin north of the fault.

The photo below was taken from near the summit of the paved road between Cajon  Junction and Lone Pine Canyon, showing the northwest portion of the Cajon Amphitheater.  The light-colored rock outcrop is made of thick sandstone layers that form Mormon Rocks; and on the skyline are steep cliffs called the Inface Bluffs, formed of relict alluvial fan sediments which dip gently northward toward the desert.  The San Andreas Fault is a half-mile behind the camera in Lone Pine Canyon, and alluvial fans sourced from the mountains once extended from the fault to the skyline ridge, but have been beheaded by erosion of the basin as the mountain range moved northwestward along the fault.

At the Cajon Summit diggings, we can only guess whether the “Mormon” prospectors were looking for placer gold or a mother lode of quartz veins.  Because the diggings follow the ridge crests, I assume that the prospectors thought the ridge line followed harder rock underneath that sourced the quartz fragments.  If so, they were hopelessly wrong; but in their defense, I’m only guessing.   ~ Bill

A Trifecta

 (sort of)

by Ed Jack

Disclaimer: I’m not an expert at much of anything and any quirky facts shared were merely the result of some creative Googling. As you know, everything you find on the internet is true. Right?

The idea of a winter trek started as a notiosn to traverse the California Backcountry Discovery Route (CABDR) from Yuma to Bishop. Shoot down to Yuma in the middle of winter and see how far north we could get before we had to return home. After talking to my desert explorer buddy Pat we decided we’d head out on the 4th of February and spend the next eleven days traversing the deserts from Joshua Tree NP, to Yuma and back north to the Mojave. Call it a Trifecta (sort of) as we’d be exploring the Colorado Desert (a subsection of the Sonoran desert making it a “sort of”), then a bit of the Sonoran Desert as we head over to Quartzsite for a little respite and then on to the Mojave Desert.

We started the trip by heading over to Indio and then swearing off as much blacktop as we could for the next eleven days. What better way to kick off the trip then a short loop up Thermal Canyon and then back down Pinkham Canyon. This gave us a taste of the lower Colorado Desert and a bit of the Mojave in one quick trip. Even on this short loop you could see the Ocotillo slowly disappear as we climbed north and then reappear as we headed back south. Leaving Joshua Trees behind we headed south under the 10 and across the expanse to the Orocopia Mountains searching for camp. There was a bit of wind but we lucked out by finding a nice spot tucked up into a box canyon.

Pat’s plan for the trip was to limit driving to around four hours a day with a nice break each hour. This worked out perfectly and turned our days into wonderful exploring events as opposed to a mad dash from one point to another. Day 2 found us back on the trail around 9:30 a.m. and picking our way south. We started on the Meccacopia Jeep trail and headed toward the Coachella Canal. The canal would be a familiar traveling companion as we worked our way south toward Ogilby and eventually Yuma. When the jeep trail eventually started to turn back north we found another trail that took us all the way down to the canal. Traveling along the canal we passed the trailhead for the Bradshaw trail, past an RV park on Spa Road and eventually to the infamous Slab City. We’ve been through there before so we didn’t stick around for too long and started looking for a campsite a few miles down the trail from the Slab. Camp ended up right next to the shoreline of an ancient lake (Cahuilla Lake). White sea shells dotted the berm that served as the last indication of an ancient body of water.  

Onward and southward past the Algodones Dunes to Glamis where Pat purchased a $7 box of butter so he could continue to cook his damper (bread) while driving. The little “truckers’’ oven he uses is an ingenious piece of kit. A quick stop at Olgilby to air up the tires. Olgilby doesn’t look like much on the map and proved to simply be an intersection with Ted Kipf road and Olgilby road. Didn’t take long at all to cover the few miles of pavement and a short section of I8 before we were gassing up at the Circle K in Yuma. This being the official start of the CABDR. Less than a half hour later and we were airing up and heading north toward Picacho State Recreation Area. Camp found us at the base of Pebble Mountain not far off the main trail north.  

By now you’d figure we’d be plumb tuckered out but the pace we were setting was quite pleasant. The next morning we headed north past the Picacho Mines and I’m a sucker for obscure plaques in out of the way places so I took a picture. Pat likes to refer to them as “propaganda.” Picacho State Recreation Area turned out to be a jewel as it stretched northward along the Colorado River. There were plenty of spots along the trail to pull over and get a view of the river and of Taylor Lake. With the last of the river pictures safely stored away on our cameras we swung west through Indian Pass Road. 

It’s here where I really started to feel sorry for the motorcycles this route was created for, as this “road” was really a seven mile sandy trail that would make motorcyclists feel like they were playing a game with the devil. Easy stuff for our four wheeled vehicles though. Unfortunately this route terminated back on Ogilby road where we decided to keep the tires aired down and drove “slowly” north to the intersection of 78. Lucky for us there’s dirt that pretty much parallels the 78 all the way to Milpitas Wash Road. Note though, there’s a Border Patrol checkpoint on 78 and you really should leave the dirt and drive through the checkpoint. If you don’t you are almost guaranteed to be chased down by the border patrol so they can say Hi. Trust me. I can say though that Officer Blair was a really pleasant gentleman once he realized we weren’t smugglers and we weren’t up to anything nefarious. Once we reached Milpitas Wash Road and headed northwest until we found a great camping spot at the base of the Palo Verde mountains. Rumor had it there was a Saguaro cactus someplace in the vicinity at one point in time but we certainly didn’t see it. Lots of Ocotillo but we only espied three blooms on the entire trip. Just a little too early I suppose.

We decided to make it a short driving day given I had a lunch date with my folks in Quartzsite on Wednesday. Hodge Mine, along the Bradshaw Trail, turned out to be a great campsite and an easy place to stage for our drive into Blythe and eventually Quartzsite the next day. Lunch at Rebel BBQ was weighing heavy on my mind all night long. It had been a couple of years since I’d eaten there so anticipation was running high.  

We made a late start the next day so we’d be able to drive right over to Rebel and have lunch. It was a good decision and provided three hearty meals over the next several days. Stopped at Albertsons to stock up on groceries and then we headed over to Queshan Park to spend some lazy time watching the Colorado River flow by. After a short break we headed up to the highway and we were on our way to Quartzsite. It took about two seconds on the highway to remember why I like to seek out the quiet places. iOverlander (a handy phone app) showed us a good place to fill up on water was the rest stop on the 10 as we drove to Quartzsite. Sure enough there was a water spigot with some nice cold water. Everyone’s been to QZ so I won’t go into too many details. Polmosa Camping Area was sort of a dud because of the loud traffic driving through the area on the paved road. Some nice Saguaro to see though. Lunch at Silly Al’s Pizza with my parents and a quick stop at the Tom Wells market as I looked for a piece of vinyl tubing to replace a silicone tube I blew up with my water pump. No luck on the tube but we found an Ace hardware in Blythe later in the afternoon as we headed back to the BDR. It took a bit of pavement north of Blythe before we could finally turn off on dirt - the Old Blythe-Vidal road. What a treat to be back on dirt. It took about 9 miles of dirt before we were ready for another camp site. It felt good to get back into the groove again.

The next morning we headed north and stumbled upon another one of the curious plaques. Camp Rice - Desert Training Center. Amazing how they would use these desert training camps to harden troops before sending them overseas. More north to Chubbuck and onto Skeleton Pass Road where we ran across a very photogenic Desert Tortoise. Amazing creatures to say the least. Glad I had a camera with a long lens as it kept us from disturbing him (or her?) too much. We just made it through Skeleton Pass and pulled up well short of the railway to set up camp for the evening.  

We woke up to rainbows over the Mojave. You could tell there was a lot of rain being dumped in the high desert. We held off a while in the morning to let the storm pass as we stayed very dry watching things unfold over the Mojave. Onward to Sahara Oasis which must be the most expensive gas for miles and miles. Then north to Goffs where Pat was able to sweet talk the hosts to let us spend an hour walking around the grounds of the old Goffs school house and outdoor museum. What a treat that was. Sort of somber though as we had just heard the day before of the passing of Dennis Casebier. 

Hats off to the hosts for letting us spend some time looking around. We continued north and headed into some elevation for a cold night camping along the Mojave Road.

The next day found us travelling west along the Mojave Road and some unfortunate wind storms. We made our way south to Kelso Depot, around the Kelso Dune then west to Broadwell. It was here I said adios to Pat and made my way home. 60mph winds are no place to be camping in a roof top tent. Overall a great wintertime trip and an excellent time of year to explore some areas that are fairly inhospitable at other times of the year. ~ Ed

Wee Thump Joshuas

by Bob Jaussaud

Sue is addicted to Facebook. Every morning she turns on her iPhone and opens Facebook to learn what has been happening with our friends and the world in general. Facebook has learned that Sue is interested in all things desert and appropriately on a recent morning it included a blurb about the relatively new wilderness area, Wee Thump, and the giant Joshua Trees found there. We knew we had to go find them. So, with short notice and on the last day of 2020 we met Mignon and Robin in Searchlight and headed to Wee Thump in search of the giant Joshuas …and, thanks to Robin, to enjoy some fine wine and hors d’oeuvres on the desert

Wee Thump means “ancient ones” in the Paiute language and it is the name given to a relatively new (2002) wilderness area in Nevada located a few miles west of Searchlight and just north of Hwy 164. The Wee Thump Wilderness was set aside to protect an ancient forest of Joshua Trees, some as old as 900 plus years. Joshua trees grow as little as 1/2 inch per year and some of them in the Wee Thump Wilderness are over 30 feet high.

The history and evolution of the Joshua Tree is truly unique. John C. Fremont described Joshua trees as “The most repulsive tree in the Vegetable Kingdom.” Indeed, they do kind of look like an agave on steroids. Early Mormons thought they saw the prophet Joshua’s silhouette, or perhaps his beard, in the tree. In fact, it is likely the Mormons were the first to name the plant “the Joshua.” Before that (in the 1880’s) it was known as 

Yucca Palm” (Yes, that’s where the city of Palmdale gets its name). Other references to the plant include“palmyra cactus”, “cabbage tree”, “gray pilgrims”, “tree yucca”, “desert dagger” and more correctly the “Yucca brevifolia.”

Fortunately, on that last cold morning of 2020 we were able to find giant Joshua Trees. In fact, lots of Joshua Trees of all sizes. They were not repulsive but quite beautiful and, as Sue reminded us, have a very unique relationship with the Yucca Moth. The Joshua Tree shares an obligate mutualism (symbiotic relationship) with the Yucca Moth. It seems this moth has evolved a unique mouthpiece that enables it to efficiently extract and hold pollen from the tree flowers. With the gathered pollen it flies to another Joshua flower and uses its uniquely evolved ovipositor (rear end) to insert its eggs into the seed pack of the bloom. Then it pollinates the bloom so the seeds will grow and feed the moth’s baby caterpillars when they hatch. The caterpillars don’t eat all the seeds, so the Joshua Tree has pollinated seeds left over to reproduce with. Its a win-win for the moth and the tree. What’s really interesting is that Joshua Trees do not have nectar, so the moths are doing this specifically to pollinate the trees. None less than Charles Darwin wrote that this was the “most wonderful case of fertilization ever published.” Even 

more amazing is that now two distinct species of Joshua Trees have been identified and two distinct species of Yucca Moth have evolved to uniquely service each species.

Unfortunately, the future for this evolutionary miracle is threatened by climate change and other man made disasters such as the Cima Dome Fire. Cameron Barrows, an ecologist at UC Riverside, feels the Mojave Desert could lose up to 90 percent of its Joshua Trees before the end of the century. Tall mature trees do not necessarily show how healthy a Joshua Tree forest is.

It is the little juveniles that indicate the species is healthy and replacing itself. And, thankfully, we did find some juveniles when we visited Wee Thump. So hopefully, if man can keep his mitts off it, that beautiful forest will survive for at least another 900 years. ~ Joeso

Bonanza Springs by Steve Reyes

On a recent Sunday afternoon, my wife and I decided to explore the Needles to Ludlow Truck Trail (NS203) which runs east to west from Kelbaker Road. The intended stopping point was Bonanza Springs in the Clipper Mountains which is located a few miles east of Essex. When we first arrived at the spring we were amazed to see water in the desert! The water was clear and feeding some vegetation surrounding the springs. I first read about the springs in Joe De Kehoe’s book The Silence and the Sun. I learned the spring is part of the Lower Fenner Valley and played a role in the service of the Santa Fe Railroad. Prior to 1901 water from the spring was piped via 4” cast iron pipe to Danby to provide water for the train’s steam engine. The spring was once called home to people and the significance of the spring continues today.

According to the Bureau of Land Management’s website the Bonanza Springs Watchable Wildlife Area “Is one of the few natural watering areas for wildlife within the Mojave Desert. It is tucked into a beautiful, small canyon of yellow and white limestone. Visitors are asked to minimize their stays near the water and to use the adjacent viewing areas, 

which have picnic tables and fire pits. Dispersed camping accommodations are available downstream for larger groups.” The area was completely devoid of trash and it did not appear anyone had visited in quite awhile.

According to an article appearing in the Los Angeles Times dated August 9, 1966 there were three people living at Bonanza Springs. There was a Jack Copley also known as “Desert Fats”who was attempting to raise catfish and bluegills in ponds. He told the reporter “Surprised to see water in the middle of all this dryness, ain’t you” as he threw horse meat to the fish. The ponds were fed by the springs and were home to hundreds of the fish. It seemed “Desert Fats” was planning on opening an “oasis in the middle of the Sahara.” Evidently the BLM stepped in and “Desert Fats,” and his business venture ended with him being told “Uh-Uh-No soap.”

“Desert Fats” claimed to have lived at Bonanza Springs for fifteen years and “Never made a dime out of the desert but I aint quit trying.” “Desert Fats” even attempted to raise frogs for a time. “Frog legs bring in good money. God, a pair runs $5 in a fancy restaurant. Just when the frogs were getting nice and fat wildcats and hawks wiped them out.” Sometimes the population at Bonanza Springs included Sam Mellos who split his time in Los Angeles. Al Stangberg who at the time of the article was vacationing at Lake Tahoe. At one time there was a fourth person 

living at the springs by the name of “Sparky.” One day “Sparky” ventured out into the desert after the sun “got to him” and his remains were found six months later.

In 2008, Joe de Kehoe interviewed Clarence Chambers in preparation for his book. During that interview Clarence explained how his father came to reside at the springs. Clarence Chambers has been a long time resident of Twentynine Palms / Wonder Valley and has drilled the majority of the wells in the area. In 1948 his father, Philip Chambers, got together with a friend and spent forty five years searching for the “Lost Dutch Oven” mine. They began their search for the mine camping at an old stone cabin which Clarence refers to as Tom Schofield’s cabin. In the 1960s he moved to Bonanza Springs because of the access to water. According to Clarence, his father Philip piped water approximately a mile and a half to two miles to his residence. Over the years Philip made several mining claims in the area and established a mill site in search of gold. Philip was married to Ellen Faye Chambers who worked at Amboy and the Cadiz store. They established a home at the springs and Clarence stayed until he was forced out by the BLM in 1989.

During the interview, Clarence made reference to an interview Ellen Chambers had with Huell Howser while he explored the desert and made stops in Wonder Valley and  Amboy. The interview can be found on the Chapman University video archive.

According to the Needles Desert Star newspaper, the BLM partnered with members from the community in 1999, 2004 and 2008 to remove non-native plants at the springs. Today Bonanza Springs is a quiet and remote day use only area with picnic benches and fenced in parking areas. The access road from Route 66 is almost impassable as it requires a four wheel drive vehicle which is washed out in several areas. All that remains are concrete slabs where people once lived. The springs offer a panoramic view of Route 66 / National Trails Highway, Danby, and the Sante Fe Railroad. The brief history of Bonanza Springs cannot be complete without one mention of its relation to the Cadiz water project. In 2019, there was a scientific investigation to determine if the Cadiz Water Project would impact the springs. ~ Steve