23 Skidoo

The history of Death Valley and the history of mining in Mohave Desert are one in the same. The mining history includes gold in Rhyolite, borax and talc in the Valley, and silver in the Panamints. The human part of the history is filled with tales of “varmints, virgins, vandals, and visionaries”. (quotes are subtitle to the book "An Unnatural History of Death Valley", by Paul Bailey)

This past December my wife and I drove into the Panamint Mountains on the West side of Death Valley to the 6,000 plus foot altitude. About six miles off the Emigrant Canyon Road is an overlook called Aguereberry Point. The Point provides a spectacular view of Death Valley to the east, and the very highest peaks of the Sierras to the west. Although there are barely 50 miles between the two points, there is a difference in elevation of almost 3 miles.

Pete Aguereberry, for whom the point was named, was a miner who in the early part of the century claimed the Napoleon Mine. He lived until the early 1940’s and we found old beds, clothes and furniture in the buildings near the mine. Pete led a colorful life. Shortly after the discovery of the mine, his partner shot him in the gut because he was having an affair with the man’s wife. He lived on but the partnership dissolved. In later years, he was often mentioned in the chronicles of the great city of 23 Skidoo.

Skidoo was a large mining town several miles to the north and they used to hold a founders’ day party each year. Part of the celebration was a foot race. Apparently, Pete won the race every year, except the year he was tripped by running the race bare foot.

Skidoo was also famous as the town that hung the same man twice and buried him three times. The man was Joe “Hooch” Simpson, and he was hung for the murder of James Arnold, the local banker. After the inquest, the armed citizenry snatched Hooch from the hands of the sheriff and hung him from a nearby telegraph pole. The event stirred up the big city papers interest, after all, these were civilized times and lynchings just weren’t done anymore. So they dug up Hooch’s body a second time and re-hung it, so the big city papers could capture the moment.

It wasn't over for Hooch and he was dug up a second time. This time to accommodate a visiting doctors in need for an office skull. Hooch should have skedaddled Skidoo, because in the end, it was there he lost his head.

To supply water to Skidoo a 25 mile line was build, at a cost of $200,000+ from the Wildrose Canyon. We drove up that Canyon to see the charcoal kilns. The kilns are at 6,800 feet. It was cold, windy, and there was snow on the ground. The juniper and pine that grow here were burned into charcoal to fire silver smelters, between 1876 and 1879.

The smelters were at the Modoc and Minetta Mines in the Argus Range (one more range to the west) and can be seen in the post card standing below the white capped Sierras. The Modoc Mine was discovered in 1875. With rich deposits of Silver-Lead ore, it was sold to a group of investors which included George Hearst, the famed mining engineer, U.S. Senator, and father of William Randolph Hearst. The Modoc Consolidated Mining Company was formed with the Modoc mine as the principal mine. Together with the discovery of other nearby mines, which included the Minnietta Belle below Lookout Mountain, these mines formed the basis for the Modoc District with the townsite of Lookout located on top of Lookout Mountain.

The kilns stand about 35 feet tall and are almost perfect parabolas. This shape gives them amazing sound acoustic qualities; we could whisper sweet nothings standing back to back at opposite ends of the interiors and hear each other perfectly.

Abandoned Mines in Death Valley Gunsight Breyfogle Garibaldi Lost Burro Keeler Quackenbush Lemoigne Big Four Eagle Harmony Ashfield Monte Blanco Lila C. Skidoo Napoleon Argenta Tucki Widow Chloride Cliff Rhyolite Inyo Keene Greenwater Lead Field

Up the hills from Ballarat some 40 miles or more The Man who made the Panamints, He left a ledge of ore, The Man who made the Panamints, had something on his Mind, He left the ledge of ore in sight for you and me to find. It’s forty miles from Ballarat, the mountains there are blue, The place is numberd 23, they’ve named the camp “Skidoo!” From GOLD by Craig Macdonald