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This page last updated on 07/17/2018
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| Argentina Mine |
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| Columbia Mine |
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| Ingomar Mine |
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| Whale Mine |
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| (Fig. 01) - Click map to Enlarge |
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Description of Sandy Valley Road: The map in (Fig. 01) above shows how Sandy Valley Road winds its way through a series of mountain ranges. As it leaves Route 161, Sandy Valley Rd heads west, following along an area that is known as the Columbia Pass, between the southern end of the Spring Mountain range to the north and the Table Mountain range to the south, on its way towards the town of Sandy Valley. All of the mines along this road fall within the Goodsprings Mining District. Click here to learn more ... Goodsprings Mining District. There are literally dozens of old mines, adits and starter shafts along this 10 mile stretch of road. Just to name a few, there's the Argentina, Hermosa, Bill Nye, and Hoosier mines to the south; and the Belle, Keystone, Cosmopolitian, Shenandoah, Mobile, Whale and Smithsonite mines to the north.
The Lookout & Mountain Top Mines are along the crest of the same spur on which the Argentena mine is located, and are reached by a dirt road on the south side of Sandy Valley Road, west of the Argentena processing remains. The Mountain Top claim was located before 1893 and was followed several years late by the Lookout claim. The smaller of the two, the Lookout Mine has two digging sites (Lookout & Lookout 1). Both are located north northwest of the Mountain Top mines. The Mountain Top Mine is surrounded by three additional digging sites (Mountain Top 1, 2, and 3). Zinc and Lead were the most common ore mined here. Calamine and hydrozincite are the most common zinc minerals, and galena is the source of most of the lead. Material screened from dumps at the Mountain Top mine in 1944 contained 19 percent zinc and 11.5 percent lead. At the Mountain Top No. 2, croppings of malachite and greenish descloizite were prospected. |
The map above (Fig. 01) shows the locations of four of the more accessible mines that we have hiked on our various visits here. Click each of the links below to view a page with pictures and detailed information on each of these four mines, as well as a hike to the top of Table Mountain:
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As you can see in (Figs. 02 through 07), many of the washes and hillsides that we have hiked in search of mines are covered with variety of cacti and desert flora. I believe that the cactus in (Fig. 02 - click to enlarge) is a Desert Spinystar (Escobaria vivipara var. deserti), a small, round cactus that is usually 3" x 2" inches or smaller). (Fig. 08) shows some of the malachite ore samples I collected while hiking around the Columbia Mine.
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| (Fig. 02) |
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| (Fig. 03) |
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| (Fig. 04) |
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| (Fig. 05) |
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| (Fig. 06) |
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| (Fig. 07) |
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| (Fig. 08) |
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