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This page last updated on 04/16/2018
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The Anniversary Mine: The Lovell Wash, a tributary of Callville Wash, cuts into a ridge in the Gale Hills at the south edge of the Muddy Mountains. The rocks here are composed of numerous thin sandstone and mud-stone layers angled around 45 degrees, These seemingly barren, grey-brown hills conceal a variety of hidden, scenic sites and landscapes including Anniversary Mine. On both sides of the wash you will find several mountain-sized ridges of sedimentary materials (sandstone, limestone, and mud-stone of various colors including purple, red, green, yellow, and gray) that have been steeply tilted up; some nearly vertically.Once the road drops into the wash, remnants of the old mining operation become much more visible. Just after entering the wash, a mile long road branches upward to the left toward the remains of the processing area of the Anniversary Mine (click Fig. 02). This area is littered with a rather large processing tailing pile, several mining shafts and adits, foundation ruins of dozens of mining buildings as well was what look to be the stone foundations of several buildings that may have been houses. Active in the 1920’s when the mine was a colemanite (borax) mine, more than 200,000 tons of materials were removed. Besides the foundations located here, down in the wash there is evidence of an old dam, an ore cart railroad with three tunnels and one of the main shafts. It is rumored that the name supposedly came from the signing of the claim on the anniversary of the owner.
| 02/07/2013 Trip Notes: On my last visit here, we referred to some type of construction activity that we observed in the middle of (Fig. 19) below. Curious as to what this activity was, Buster and I hiked over to and into the hills behind this area, (Fig. 03) below, to see if we could determine what was going on. It was obvious that the area was being used to pile various types of refuse. We also found and area (Fig. 04) where someone was quarrying stone that could be used for landscaping. As we continued to follow a road, running through the middle of (Fig. 05), near the base of the mountain, we ended up with a southeasterly view that actually gave us a glimpse of Lake Mead (Fig. 06) and the Arizona mountains. In addition to some very interesting geology (Fig. 07), we found several “test shafts” (Fig. 08) and two Anniversary Mine boundary markers (Fig. 09). On our return we ran into the caretaker of the property who informed us that part of the area was being used for “green” trash storage that was going to be shred and used as mulch by some Las Vegas landscaping companies. He also noted that they had been fixing up the roads in preparation for re-opening the original mine (Fig. 10) for extracting some type of crystallized ore used in jewelry making. |
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01/01/2012 Trip Notes: Harvey Smith and I spent a couple of hours touring the area of the old Anniversary Mine. It's nearly a two-mile ride in on the Anniversary Mine Road from Lake Mead's Northshore Road. Having arrived just around sunrise, I captured the picture in (Fig. 01) top, with the full moon still showing. Once we reached the wash, we drove to and investigated the main mine adit (Figs. 10 thru 14). Adits are driven into the side of a hill or mountain, and are often used when an ore body is located inside the mountain but above the adjacent valley floor. The use of adits for the extraction of ore is generally called drift mining. Knowing how dangerous these old adits can be, we only entered a few feet, just enough to capture a few pictures and get a feeling for what it may have been like to have worked here nearly 90 years ago.
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Next, we drove up a fairly long road that led to a large tailing pile (Fig. 15) at the top of a hill on the opposite side of the wash. Once we reached the top of this hill we realized that this was probably the main processing area for the original mine operations that went on here more than 90 years ago. This area was loaded with dozens of cement footings, slabs and stone foundations that supported a variety of structures, including what appeared to be several one-room houses. The slab in (Fig. 16) looked like what may have been an ‘oil pit’ in the middle that could have been used for maintenance of various mining vehicles and equipment. The center picture, (Fig. 17) appeared to be a ventilation shaft. The large stone foundation in (Fig. 18) had pipes running from it and may have supported some type of large water tank.
The top of this hill provided some outstanding views of the wash and valley below. At the end of the road up, standing next to the tailings pile, is a view (Fig. 19) looking to the East. On the right side of the picture you can see the Lovell Wash; to the left of the wash is the Anniversary Mine Road as it snakes it way in from Lake Mead’s Northshore Road. In the center of the picture, towards the rear, there was some active construction that we weren’t quite able to identify. The view shown in (Fig. 20), is looking down towards the bottom of the wash, and shows, at the very center, the opening of the adit we had previously entered. The final picture (Fig. 21) is a short, but extremely colorful side road that we drove, that branched off the wash just prior to reaching the main adit. |
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Because this is such a popular location, I have visited here on several occasions. Clicking the link that follows will take you to a page with pictures and trip notes from two previous visits ...
Daytrip - Lovell Wash.
