> Shale, Sedimentary Rock Absolute ages of these fault sets remains unknown. The dike is undated and may correlate with the regionally extensive diabase dikes of the Independence swarm. It is not known why the sulfide bearing solutions did not greatly affect the marble which generally is more receptive to sulfide replacement than diabase. Generally, these rocks are impure carbonate and argillaceous rocks that have been variously metamorphosed and recrystallized to marble, argillites, and hornfels. Despite the ores not being contemporaneous, the quartz filled fractures and the fissures in which the green porphyry bodies were emplaced were important conduits for the earlier chimney ore fluids. Regular shipments of lead-silver bullion were being shipped to San Francisco by way of Los Angeles and San Pedro (Merriam, 1963). He immediately recognized the richness of the ores and the need for a smelter to efficiently process the ore. By 1870, the Union Mine's Union Chimney had become the most important working and was being developed by a vertical shaft and by the Union Tunnel (65 level) which was driven eastward 400 feet to encounter the chimney 175 feet below its outcrop. Collaborative Action and Dispute Resolution. The Lone Pine Fire Department did not reveal the conclusion of the investigation into the fire to SFGATE, though it is believed to have not ignited in the American Hotel itself, but in Crapos house next door. Gold and copper production, important byproducts from the siliceous quartz vein ores, totaled about 2,000 ounces and 300 tons respectively (Merriam, 1963). Two children died after getting trapped in a steamer trunk; and when 30 immigrant miners from China were entombed in a collapsed mine shaft, no one went down to retrieve the bodies. It was once the most violent town in America. Since the early 1990s, portions of the Cerro Gordo mining camp have been undergoing restoration by private individuals as a historical and recreational destination. Stratification in the Lost Burro formation also influenced ore disposition and bedded ore bodies are found in a small portion of the Union Chimney. Most of these trails are not shown on maps. > Clastic Sedimentary Rock The district covers an area of approximately eight square miles although the principle Cerro Gordo Mines lie within a radius of 1 mile of Cerro Gordo peak. While the Union Mine again produced small quantities of ore, exploratory activity produced few new reserves. During that time there was a change in myself. At shallow depths, the dike diverges from the fault plane and cuts the Chainman Shale section in the hanging wall. The Friends of Cerro Gordo is a 501(c)(3) public benefit corporation established to assist in. Smithsonite ore extended laterally from the Union Chimney for as much as 100 feet (Knopf, 1918) from which the majority of zinc ore was produced (Union zinc ore body). These veins were also important sources of silica for fluxing material in the Cerro Gordo smelters. I ask him if hes monetized his rise to social media stardom. In 1874, a pipeline was brought in from the Cerro Gordo Spring, 3 miles to the north. Cerro Gordo was once a thriving, albeit violent, California mining town. But Cerro Gordo's demise was swift. A lock ( > Granitoid Some of the faults are thought to have been pre-mineralization features with a long history of pre and post mineralization movement. Various intrusions have caused localized contact metamorphism and hydrothermal alteration of carbonate rocks and regional metamorphism of limestones to marbles is common. The Santa Maria quartz vein generally parallels the San Felipe Vein. A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States. For the first few years, Mexicans worked the surface exposures and smelted the ores in crude smelters or "vasos". The shaft was sunk vertically to 900 feet with levels at 86, 200, 400, 550, 700, and 900 feet. Now, a mysterious fire has destroyed its famed American Hotel. By the 1890s, Fat Hill had gone to the ghosts. The terrain is particularly rugged and steep and population is sparse. Dying here is the exit plan, Brent Underwood tells me from somewhere above the accidental tomb of 30 immigrant miners. I dont think it will ever be done. At Cerro Gordo, Devonian age marbles host the primary ore bodies. A 250 foot winze was also driven 450 feet south of the main shaft with a drift from the bottom and one at about 1,030 feet. Zone B is primarily light gray - white marble with infrequent stromatolite beds in the lower part. The Crapo House and the American Hotel, Cerro Gordo, Calif., before the fire. However, through a particularly difficult stretch, the original Belshaw road presented the only option, over which he collected reduced tolls. ) or https:// means youve safely connected to the .gov website. Quartz veins, such as the Santa Maria and San Filipe veins carry ores of argentiferous galena and tetrahedrite. Their work consisted of diamond drilling and drifting in an attempt to find a faulted segment of the Jefferson Ore body. Should it be unfortunately severed, we would inevitably collapse.. Between the 200 and 700 levels, the dike passes through the chimney. It intersects the Jefferson Chimney at the 550 level and above the 200 level lies to the east of the chimney. These ore bodies occur almost exclusively in shattered marble of the Lost Burro Formation, however, ore has also been found in fissures within the Jefferson diabase dike. This unit thins to extinction towards the northwest and was included with the overlying Chainman Shale in mapping by Merriam (1963). GEOLOGY OF THE CERRO GORDO DISTRICT In 1925, a significant new ore body was found by the Estelle Mines Company on the La Despreciada claim west of the old Cerro Gordo Mines. In its heyday, Cerro Gordo had 4,000 residents and 500 buildings, including seven saloons and three brothels, though it never had a church or schoolhouse. The San Filipe Mine exploited a silver quartz vein near the Union shaft. The tunnel continued 400-500 feet south along the fault and east to work the Jefferson Chimney on the south end of the mine area (this tunnel was opened up and extended as the 86 level in the later Belshaw Shaft). These include north trending monzonite and diabase dikes, and northwesterly trending dacite and andesite porphyry dikes. Cerro Gordo was founded in 1865 and was once the largest mining town in California. The reward is a walk amongst what remains of a small mining town that got its start as a silver producer back in late 1860's. Had its ups and downs up through the 1950s. The Cerro Gordo Mines are a collection of abandoned mines located in Cerro Gordo in the Inyo Mountains, Inyo County, near Lone Pine, California. Northwesterly trending porphyritic andesite and dacite dikes are common in the southern Inyo mountains. These zones of fracturing may have been related to movement on the Cerro Gordo Fault. Intersections of these features with north trending breaks were important in ore fluid migration and the localization of ore body chimneys. Shootouts were common. The majority of the district's production has come from ore bodies within Devonian marble of the Lost Burro Formation. At it's peak, over 4,500 miners called Cerro Gordo home. Deserted today, it stands as the greatest . Final Mesozoic deformation is represented by the White Mountains Fault Zone in the White Mountains and by minor numerous conjugate strike slip faults in the Inyo Mountains. At its height, hundreds of dwellings dotted the landscape, while miners sought their fortunes. I stood in here in Levis right now that I bought myself, he laughs. Now millions of people know thats my intention, it's holding me accountable, he laughs. The man, along with his friend Jon Bier, bought the town for $1.4M back in 2018 From 1919 to 1923, Cerro Gordo was idle. Start your Sunday right, with a leisurely offbeat read from the SFGATE editors. The total underground workings at Cerro Gordo are estimated at approximately 15 miles of tunnels and drifts (Tucker and Sampson, 1938). Cerro Gordo is located on the western slope of the Inyo Mountains about seven miles east of Keeler and thirty miles south of Independence. West of the Inyo Mountains is the Owens Valley, a structural valley marking the eastern front of the Sierra Nevada Range. These included the Union Mine, Santa Maria Mine, and San Filipe Mine. The mining town of Cerro Gordo, in the Inyo Mountains above Death Valley, was formed in the 1860s after silver was discovered there. > Limestone, Swansea-Coso Thrust System, Cerro Gordo Anticline, Cerro Gordo Anticline, Cerro Gordo Fault, Buena Vista Fault, La Despreciada Fault, Omega Fault. Siliceous Veins Cerro Gordo, California, on the western slope of the Inyo Mountains about seven miles east of Keeler and thirty miles south of Independence, was the first major silver strike in Owens Valley.Long before the area was developed, Mexicans had been crawling the mountain they called Cerro Gordo, meaning "Fat Hill," looking for silver. Above the 200 foot level, the dike lies east of the chimney, paralleling the long axis of the chimney's cross section. Cerro Map. Only rocks of the Lost Burro Formation and Chainman Shale have been largely penetrated in the Cerro Gordo Mines. Ore was not continuous throughout the chimney, but occurred in erratic chambers, within the cracks and fractures of the shattered marble, and sometimes in open cavities. Bottoming of the Union Chimney has been attributed to post mineralization faulting, but exploration efforts have not confirmed this (Merriam, 1963). Near intrusive bodies, the carbonates are commonly altered to tactite and calc-hornfels (Merriam, 1963). Despreciada Ore Bodies From this abandoned town, now reached by eight miles of steep and winding dirt road, once flowed as much as $13,000,000 in silver and lead bullion. The quartz monzonite Newsboy stock is exposed one mile east of Cerro Gordo. Commodity Info: Argentiferous galena, tetrahedrite, cerussite, anglesite, chalcopyrite, and pyrite occured in hydrothermal stock and replacement ore bodies. Nearby cities include Los Ranchitos . By 1868, Belshaw was producing silver lead bullion. Remaining buildings include the American Hotel, the oldest standing hotel in California east of the Sierra Nevada. These ores are composed variously of argentiferous galena, cerussite, anglesite, tetrahedrite, and pyrite emplaced by silica poor mineralized solutions. Man forced to quarantine in ghost town with gruesome past, led the New York Post. and extended from the surface to below 900 feet where the chimney bottomed. What do I want to accomplish in my life? southward. The Buena Vista Tunnel (@ 68' level) was driven eastward almost 350 feet to intersect the Buena Vista Fault. During its peak years the Cerro Gordo silver-lead bullion contained about 140 ounces of silver per ton. Founded in 1865, Cerro Gordo Spanish for "fat hill" was an infamous boomtown for silver and lead miners looking for the metals deep under the desert near Death Valley. The Cerro Gordo District is centered around Cerro Gordo Peak (elevation 9,188 feet) within he rugged topography of the southern Inyo Mountains. Ore Occurrence in the Cerro Gordo Mine From Lone Pine, you will travel east on State Route 136 until you meet the turn off to Cerro Gordo St in Keeler. Underwood did say that he recently started adding ads to his YouTube channel. Everyone in Owens Valley has a history or story about Cerro Gordo. Three of these dikes strike northwesterly through the Cerro Gordo mine area. west. I see it as a race against time, these mines will collapse, and everything in them will dissolve and turn to dust., He is also aware that they may collapse while he is in them, though that hasnt stopped him yet. Zak Bagans and the crew trek a treacherous cliffside trail to investigate a forgotten mining town in California, haunted by the lost souls of its former residents. Underwood and his business partner Jon Bier, founder of a boutique PR agency, bought the entire town for $1.4 million. > Marble, Plutonic Rock Though in his early 30s, he sometimes sounds like an old scarred cowboy entering his final years, reckoning with death. Some of the northwesterly faults were pre-mineralization breaks and likely have a long history of movement. The anticline strikes approximately N 22? Mines in the district were operated from . A second period of younger mineralization occurred with the emplacement of galena-tetrahedrite bearing silica rich solutions which deposited white quartz vein ores in several of the northwest trending fractures. These smaller breaks show no offset but are believed to be sympathetic to the Cerro Gordo Fault and served as avenues for ascent of the lead-zinc ore solutions (Merriam, 1963). The Union Dike is the largest and most significant. CNBC reported that the new owners would likely turn the town into a retreat center for conferences, workshop events and film shoots. The largest was Cerro Gordo, which reached a population of 1,500 in 1869 and can be accessed by 4WD vehicle today. The more significant of these were the Buena Vista and the Santa Maria tunnels. The smaller stocks are composed of varying compositions suggesting magmatic differentiation (Merriam, 1963). Don't miss the all-new Ghost Adventures . Your Privacy Choices (Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads). Public outcry resulted in construction of a new road partway up the mountain. The Darwin District ranks first in mineral production, followed by the Cerro Gordo and Tecopa districts. Most of these faults are reverse or thrust faults. On the 900 level, the dike is on the west side of the chimney. > Felsic Volcanic Rock The Cerro Gordo Fault, acting as a zone of weakness, allowed the intrusion of the Union Dike. Other mines in the district included the Belmont, Morning Star, Sunset, Silver Spear, Ella, and Perseverance mines. A younger set of northwesterly trending fractures intersect the northerly trend causing vertical zones of fracturing in which the Union and Jefferson chimney massive lead-silver ores formed. Two main zones, the lower Zone A and upper Zone B can be recognized in the district. In 1940, the Cerro Gordo group was acquired by the Silver Spear Mining Corp. By this time the Cerro Gordo properties comprised 43 claims and about 550 acres. Between 1865 and 1877, various tunnels were driven eastward on the west flank of the peak to work specific shallow ore bodies. W and dips steeply to the southwest. A ghost town with a murderous past suffers new calamity . Add Location About these numbers Photos No additional photos. Zak and his crew investigate Cerro Gordo, a remote mining town in California haunted by the spirits of its former residents. The last reported gunfight in Cerro Gordo occurred on Dec. 29, 1892. It occurs along the main Cerro Gordo Fault plane throughout most of the mine and extends from surface exposures to below the deepest levels of the mine below 1,100 feet. Similar to the Union Chimney, fracturing associated with the Cerro Gordo Fault provided a conduit for the ore solutions while fracture and fissure intersections help localize the individual ore shoots. One of the first newcomers to arrive was the experienced mining engineer M. W. Belshaw. Cerro Gordo, California Breathing life back into a mining town that was originally established in 1865. The fundraiser also likens the hotels restoration to that of one of the wonders of the world. By 1872, Cerro Gordo was a well established camp with eleven active mines in the district. These include the Hunter Mountain batholith to the east and the Coso Range batholith to the south (both considered coeval with Sierra Nevada). He has a knack for making headlines, and his story was told widely after a snowstorm on the mountain isolated him there for months instead of weeks. The upper part of the chimney was nearly vertical, but below the 400 level it was inclined 30?-40? On the 400 & 550 level it converges with the north green porphyry dike and then follows the dike contact with the marble. When I was in Austin I'd keep busy to avoid sitting with thoughts like that, he says. This geometry has led many to inconclusively interpret them as the faulted deeper continuation of the Jefferson Chimney. Update, July 24, 2018: Travel + Leisure reports that Cerro Gordo, the California ghost town put up for sale earlier this summer, has new owners, Brent Underwood, who owns a backpacker hostel in . Within the northwesterly trending fault group, a zone of fracturing (Bonham Canyon Fault Zone) almost 1 mile wide trends southwest from Bonham Canyon to Cerro Gordo where it intersects the northerly trending faults at Cerro Gordo in an area of intense crushing and brecciation.

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