The Eureka Mine site is a very interesting piece of the mining history in Death Valley and pretty easy to visit as it is just a short drive along the Aguereberry Point Road (less than 1.5 miles from the junction with the Emigrant Canyon Road). This makes a great additional stop on the drive to Aguereberry Point or just by itself (in case you don’t think you can make it to Aguereberry Point in your vehicle; check at the Death Valley visitor center for road conditions). Our stop at Eureka Mine was not on our original itinerary. We decided to come up this way based on the advice of some Death Valley regulars who we met while hiking in Golden Canyon. They said that the view from Aguereberry Point was not to be missed, and that they had visited just the day before and had to place to themselves. They also said that the road was in the best shape that they had ever seen it. So we added that to our plan. On the drive out to the point, we spotted some of the remains of the mine site and decided to take the short side road leading to the mine. This driveway to the mine is a narrow but fortunately we did not meet any other cars as there is really no place for two cars to pass. This was a very interesting stop. The mine site is mostly on a little hill known as Providence Ridge where the Eureka Mine was dug and processing facilities built. There were still a few relics lying about and the remains of a few structures. Trails crisscrossed the area allowing up close access to most of the interesting items. An interpretive sign near the parking lot provided a little history of the mine as well as some information on the more recent inhabitants in the mine, the endangered Townsend Big-eared Bat that live in the mine during the winter months. The short story of the history is that the Pete Aguereberry established a claim on the site in 1905 and mined gold here until his death in 1945. It is estimated that he extracted $175,000 worth of gold from the mine. We walked around the mine site including up to the top of Providence Ridge. This took us past the remains of the Cashier Mill which was built in 1909 to extract gold by first pulverizing the ore then putting it through a chemical process using mercury and cyanide. We walked around the mill and up the trails to the top. There were clumps up wildflowers along the way; bright red Indian paintbrush and little lavender blooms from another wildflower. We also spotted a few birds (Rock Wrens) and Chuckwallas. The trails were not marked but they were obvious. Pretty easy to follow and in good shape. Obviously some elevation change to get to the top of the low ridge by the trails are not steep at all (less than 100 feet of elevation change from the parking area to the top of the ridge). The views from the top of the ridge were great in all directions. We could also see Aguereberry’s humble homestead from the ridge; a dilapidated collection of small shacks and out buildings. Once back down the at the base of the hill we walked around to the east end of the ridge past the main entrance of the mine and continued on to the north side of the ridge where there were a couple adits and the abandoned hulk of old car. No idea what the car used to be as any distinguishing marks at long since been stripped away and the poor thing had obviously been the main attraction at the shooting gallery for decades as it was riddled with bullet holes. Still it had some photographic interest. We decided not to walk down to Pete’s old camp and instead circled back the way we came and returned to the parking lot and continued our drive to Aguereberry Point. We only spent about 30 minutes at the mine site but that was plenty to get the lay of the land and see the mining elements of the site. If we had included the homestead we might have added another 15 minutes or so. But it was time well spent at a very interesting historical location.

Hiking/Backpacking

Death Valley, Eureka Mine, hiking, mining history

California, United States

time : Mar 27, 2016 4:27 PM

duration : 0h 44m 45s

distance : 0.7 mi

total_ascent : 95 ft

highest_point : 5066 ft

avg_speed : 0.9 mi/h

user_id : OhioHick

user_firstname : Allen

user_lastname : Arrington

The Eureka Mine site is a very interesting piece of the mining history in Death Valley and pretty easy to visit as it is just a short drive along the Aguereberry Point Road (less than 1.5 miles from the junction with the Emigrant Canyon Road). This makes a great additional stop on the drive to Aguereberry Point or just by itself (in case you don’t think you can make it to Aguereberry Point in your vehicle; check at the Death Valley visitor center for road conditions). Our stop at Eureka Mine was not on our original itinerary. We decided to come up this way based on the advice of some Death Valley regulars who we met while hiking in Golden Canyon. They said that the view from Aguereberry Point was not to be missed, and that they had visited just the day before and had to place to themselves. They also said that the road was in the best shape that they had ever seen it. So we added that to our plan. On the drive out to the point, we spotted some of the remains of the mine site and decided to take the short side road leading to the mine. This driveway to the mine is a narrow but fortunately we did not meet any other cars as there is really no place for two cars to pass. This was a very interesting stop. The mine site is mostly on a little hill known as Providence Ridge where the Eureka Mine was dug and processing facilities built. There were still a few relics lying about and the remains of a few structures. Trails crisscrossed the area allowing up close access to most of the interesting items. An interpretive sign near the parking lot provided a little history of the mine as well as some information on the more recent inhabitants in the mine, the endangered Townsend Big-eared Bat that live in the mine during the winter months. The short story of the history is that the Pete Aguereberry established a claim on the site in 1905 and mined gold here until his death in 1945. It is estimated that he extracted $175,000 worth of gold from the mine. We walked around the mine site including up to the top of Providence Ridge. This took us past the remains of the Cashier Mill which was built in 1909 to extract gold by first pulverizing the ore then putting it through a chemical process using mercury and cyanide. We walked around the mill and up the trails to the top. There were clumps up wildflowers along the way; bright red Indian paintbrush and little lavender blooms from another wildflower. We also spotted a few birds (Rock Wrens) and Chuckwallas. The trails were not marked but they were obvious. Pretty easy to follow and in good shape. Obviously some elevation change to get to the top of the low ridge by the trails are not steep at all (less than 100 feet of elevation change from the parking area to the top of the ridge). The views from the top of the ridge were great in all directions. We could also see Aguereberry’s humble homestead from the ridge; a dilapidated collection of small shacks and out buildings. Once back down the at the base of the hill we walked around to the east end of the ridge past the main entrance of the mine and continued on to the north side of the ridge where there were a couple adits and the abandoned hulk of old car. No idea what the car used to be as any distinguishing marks at long since been stripped away and the poor thing had obviously been the main attraction at the shooting gallery for decades as it was riddled with bullet holes. Still it had some photographic interest. We decided not to walk down to Pete’s old camp and instead circled back the way we came and returned to the parking lot and continued our drive to Aguereberry Point. We only spent about 30 minutes at the mine site but that was plenty to get the lay of the land and see the mining elements of the site. If we had included the homestead we might have added another 15 minutes or so. But it was time well spent at a very interesting historical location.