BEST BOOK ever on Barstow, Calif, GOLD MINES Mojave Desert, last one, RARE, vg+

When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

BEST BOOK ever on Barstow, Calif, GOLD MINES Mojave Desert, last one, RARE, vg+ :
$97.77

Scarce1954 1st-ed. book & maps pinpoint Mojave
Desertgold & silver mines near Barstow, CA

First-edition HARDCOVER is in very good condition;
has all NINE big ORIGINAL separate maps in rear pocket

Hasmore details about area mines and geology than countyreport

This rare first-edition hardcover describes every mine (including gold and silver mines) in a BIG chunk of Mojave Desert — 976 square miles of it — surrounding Barstow, California. Tiny portion of big (22-by-22 inch) separate map from pocket — Economic map of the Barstow quadrangle, California — shows just a few mines near Silver Mountain. Every "Au" symbol is a gold mine; every "Ag" is a silver mine. "Cu" is for copper.

It also is jam packed with geology information about this area, including how the various ores formed.

It took us a year to find this one with none others in sight. Could be the last one listed for a long long time. So buy it now or potentially wait for years for another.

It\'s a first edition in GREAT shape — with all NINE big separate maps and aerial photos bulging in the rear pocket. And those maps are guaranteed originals (with some in color). NO map copies here.

Thereport has exact mine locations, geology, ore value,mine-production stats, history, even claim holders\'names and addresses. This is the most comprehensive mining report ever written on the Barstow quadrangle. There is absolutely no government report that better covers this area. Nothing even comes close, so grab it today or forever hold your peace. Once it\'s gone, it\'s gone!!!!

Reprints = NO maps
Some cheesy Chinese and Indian illegal reprints of some mining books are now appearing on the market. BEWARE: Besides having some of the worst printing on the planet, NONE of the photos are usable. They look like 1969 photocopies. You can\'t tell if it\'s a picture of an elephant or a mine. Plus, more importantly, NONE of these reprints have the maps, not even copies of the separate maps. They have none of them, and these reports are absolutely worthless without the separate maps. If these reprints were any good at all, I would be selling them, but they\'re garbage and incomplete and useless.

Covers much more than other reports
What\'s more -- reports that cover the whole county DO NOT havethe level of detail about about the Barstow area. Howcould they? They don\'t have room. One county reporthas 150 pages devoted to the whole county. This reporthas 208 pages, and every single one of them is aboutjust the Barstow quadrangle. The county-wide reporthas one separate map. This report has NINE big separatemaps and aerial photos in the rear pocket, includingone map in color. (See "The Book" sectionfor more map-condition info.) these are all original maps; NO copies. And all maps are in nice condition.

Some mines are OPENto prospecting
And many of these mines are on BLM or public land and COMPLETELY open to exploring and prospecting. They are MILES from any population center, so there\'s no one to bother you no matter what you do (we are NOT condoning anything illegal). No fences, no no-trespassing signs, no barking dogs.

It is EXTREMELY likely that much gold and silver is still waiting to be extracted by some guy who decided to dig when everyone else sits around, drinks beer and says, "It can\'t be done." Get out your Gold Bug Two detector, and shoot some two-pound nugs. Or better yet, dig down to bedrock in washes around gold deposits and do some lucrative panning, wet or dry. I have personally detected and panned in this area and have been VERY successful. We have many MANY more rare mining books! Just search for our store, Rare Mining Books:

Easier than
going to Alaska
You\'ve watched the COMPLETE idiots on the Gold RushAlaska TV show finally strike it rich. There is noneed to travel to Alaska when HUGE riches could bewaiting just a couple hundred miles east of L.A.

The mines are plainly described in the text and even more plainly marked on the maps. Yes, the area is a bit remote, but where did you expect to find undiscovered gold in California? At the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa?

4WD vehicle not needed
Don\'t have four-wheel-drive? Not to worry. Much of the area in this report is within striking distance of graded dirt roads. And it\'s a cinch to correlate the area in this report with the Auto Club San Bernardino County road map that I mentioned before.

Thisis not some gift-shop rockhound book; it was preparedby the California Division of Mines and Geology 53years ago. It contains much valuable information forhistory buffs, bottle collectors, paleontologists,photographers, rockhounds, prospectors, hikers, offroaders,geologists, metal detector enthusiasts — justabout anyone interested in the Mojave Desert\'s geologyand historic old mine sites. This report is consideredprimary source material; much of this info is available nowhereelse.

Exact coordinates
This first-edition book gives exact locations of all minesin the Barstow quadrangle — including gold andsilver mining sites, some in remote unpopulated areasof Mojave Desert wilderness. The mines are sometimeslocated using landmarks, but most are pinpointed with infalliblerange-and-township coordinates. Road names or landmarksmay have changed radically in the last 53 years, butthese coordinates have not. Just plug \'em into yourGPS or look \'em up on the appropriate topo, and you\'rethere!

Not only that, the mines are also shown on the big separate maps from the report\'s rear pocket. And two of these maps are not vague sketch maps, but exacting color topos — showing altitude contours and rock types across the whole quadrangle. How can you look for gold, silver or minerals in mine dumps if you don\'t know exactly where the best dumps are? Don\'t waste weekends randomly hammering away at barren rocks or digging through tailing piles for specimens.

Mines and prospects covered include:

Carbonate mine — 1.5 miles from Oro Grande, "known for its high-grade gold ore." The best ore was found at or near the contact of the vein system and a dike of light colored, much-decomposed rock resembling feslite. Ninety feet of drift was driven on the 200-foot level and 40 feet on the 60-foot level.
Branch mine (also called the Whatnot, Four Brothers and Del Oro) — near Bryman. Discovered in the 1880s, in 1889 it produced ore that ran $60 in gold and $20 in silver per ton. A 300-foot tunnel is the principal working, but there are two raises to the surface.
Oro Grande — a very old mine first operated in the 1880s. Had a 250-foot deep timbered shaft. A stamp mill at Oro Grande once processed ore from this mine.
Sidewinder mine — near Victorville, first recorded production was 1889; 10-stamp mill in Victorville processed the ore. "The Sidewinder is by far the most extensive and has the greatest recorded production of any gold mine in the Barstow quadrangle."
Kramer Hills — operated in 1926 by the Shaherald Mining Company, Rialto.
The Hello Al Group — consists of 12 claims along two parallel veins.
Golden Witch, the Anaco and more.

Also a valuable tool for stock certificate collectors
Because this first-edition report lists mine ownersand different names for the same mine, it is also avaluable tool for collectors of stock certificates.Some mine descriptions not only contain brief historiesof the mines in question (including dates of actualproduction) but also include the names of previousowners.

This book covers one big chunk of desert real estate in San Bernardino County (see map below). Barstow quadrangle stretches north from the the San Bernardino Range and Lucerne Valley to Harper Dry Lake. The center of the area is 42 airline miles north of San Bernardino or 30 miles northeast of the summit of Cajon Pass. Barstow is only a few miles from the northeast corner of the quadrangle, and Victorville is near the southwest corner. The Shadow Mountains adjoin the quadrangle on the west and the Ord Mountains on the east. Interestingly, newer roads in this area are plainly marked on the Auto Club of Southern California San Bernardino County road map, so the road map can be used easily to correlate exact mileages to mines and other geologic features on the maps from this book.

Map from book shows location of Barstow quadrangle in relation to other counties, the Garlock fault and the San Andreas fault.

Don\'t rely on secondhand information
Okay, so you have a book by a \"noted rockhound\" or an \"ace prospector.\" You might get lucky and find a couple of neat places, but you\'ll also hit plenty of absolute duds. Why? Because what rockhound, mine explorer or prospector in their right mind would give away their favorite productive locations? Not one. What they will give you are directions to sites that are picked clean or second rate at best. Don\'t rely on secondhand information when you can get firsthand info from this 208-page book. Predict and find NEW gold deposits (and find existing mines) with Geologic map of Barstow quadrangle, California, a big full-color map in rear pocket. Only small section of map is shown. They don\'t make \'em like this any more.

Want to prospect or collect at virgin, undiscovered locations instead of ones already known? Then you\'ll need to find new areas with geologic attributes conducive to containing the minerals or fossils that you\'re seeking. This book and map has that too (see map at left). Who knows, maybe you\'ll discover the next Lost Burro gold mine.

Recovered materials
from this area include:
Gold, silver, copper, iron, silver-barite, tungsten, asbestos, barite, clay and magnesite.

Large maps folded in pocket
Like other sought-after mining and geology booksabout the Mojave Desert, the oversize folded maps arearguably the real prize here. They would look great framedif they weren\'t so useful in the field. Then again,you could have the best of both worlds: Make copiesof them for the field, and frame the originals. Thegeologic map (detail at left) is a particularly handsomeexample of geologic cartography with pleasing colorsand nicely executed calligraphy; they just don\'t make\'em like this any more.

Book describes geology in detail
Because this is, after all, a book about mining and geology, it covers the latter topic in minute detail (almost 140 pages worth). Mesothermal gold-bearing quartz veins have been found and worked on various scales at numerous places in the quadrangle. Ore bodies occur in fissure veins, most of which strike roughly north or east. Primary ore minerals consist of pyrite, chalcopyrite, sphalerite and rarely bornite, as well as free gold. The sulphides commonly act as hosts for gold deposition. Oxidized minerals commonly are limonite and malachite.

Of course, the text contains far, far more detail about geology — especially how it relates to mineral deposits and their formations — than just the previous paragraph. Geology varies widely over an area the size of this quadrangle, so it is impossible to convey but the simplest geologic features in an ad.

Maps in the rear pocket include:

"Geologic map of Sidewinder mine area and aerial photograph."
"Geologic structure sections across Barstow quadrangle, San Bernardino, California."
"Outline geologic map of Quartzite Mountain, with aerial photograph."
"Geologic map of the Hodge area and aerial photograph."
Plusfive others (see scans throughout the ad; one map maybe a copy; please see "The Book" section later in thisad for map condition).

Anothertiny detail of map from pocket shows more goldprospects, marked with crossed-pickaxe symbol and "Au," theelemental abbreviation for gold.

Area has changed
Interestingly, this area has changed markedly in the 53 years since this report was published. This chunk of western Mojave Desert was once even less populated than it is now. The big maps from the rear pocket reflect this, showing few streets and towns, making it valuable not just for those interested in area geology, but also for those seeking information on the large impact that rural sprawl has had on what was once true backcountry.

Where is it?
The Barstow quadrangle is in San Bernardino, California. Adjacent counties are Riverside, Orange, Los Angeles, Kern and Inyo. Barstow quadrangle (seee map, bottom left) stretches north from the the San Bernardino Range and Lucerne Valley to Harper Dry Lake. The center of the area is 42 airline miles north of San Bernardino or 30 miles northeast of the summit of Cajon Pass. The Mojave River is one of the quadrangle\'s dominant features.

The book:
Geology and Mineral Deposits of the BarstowQuadrangle, San Bernardino County, California,Bulletin 185, 1954, by Oliver E. Bowen Jr., CaliforniaDivision of Mines, San Francisco, CA, 208 pages, sixby nine inches softcover, 84 illustrations plus nine ORIGINAL oversizemaps in rear pocket (NO copies).

In very good condition with some cover wear. Slight cornerbumps; few slight spots on page edges; back cover edges are a bit crumpled, as are ALL of these books, becaue of the map pocket. Tiny bit of chipping on a couple page and map edges.

NineBIG OVERSIZE maps (one in color) and aerial photosin pocket are folded with some slight rippling. Folds are not worn and exceedingly sturdy.

Allin all, one of the best copies that I have seen of this raremining book.

As always, I am extremely conservative about rating book condition and very detailed in listing any potential flaw, no matter how slight. You get what you pay for. If you want a trashed book — filled with torn and dog-eared pages that the seller just "somehow forgot" to tell you about in his ad — then look elsewhere on .

Payment methods and domestic shipping
Paypal only. I pride myself on bulletproof packaging and ship in sturdy cardboard boxes or heavily reinforced padded envelopes.

The fine print:
Feel free to e-mail me if you have any questions about the item or terms of sale. I post response once a week. Not responsible for typographical errors.

Good luck and thanks for looking!

Towns, cities and nearby counties
Towns, cities and notable features in the quadrangle include Barstow, Hinkley, Eads, Jimgrey, Iron Mountain, Kramer Hills, Lenwood, Hodge, Wild, Stoddard Mountain, Stoddard Well, Daggett Road, Fairview Valley, Apple Valley, Victorville, Leon, Oro Grande, Bear Lake Road, Frost, La Delta, Bryman, Las Cruces Ranch, Adelanto, Turner Springs and Randsburg Transmission Road.

San Bernardino County is in southEastern California, bounded on the east by Arizona and Nevada; on the south by Riverside County; on the west by Los Angeles and Kern Counties; and on the north by Inyo County. Nearby counties include Imperial, San Diego, Ventura, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Kings, Tulare and Mono.

Other San Bernardino County cities and towns (besides the ones previously mentioned in this ad) include: Adelanto, Alta Loma, Apple Valley, Barstow, Big Bear Lake, Bloomington, Chino, Cima, Colton, Cucamonga, Essex, Etiwanda, Death Valley Panamint Village, Fontana, Forest Falls, George Air Force Base, Grand Terrace, Havasu Landing, Helendale, Hesperia, Highland, Hinkley, Lake Arrowhead, Loma Linda, Lucerne Valley, Mentone, Montclair, Morongo Valley, Mountain Pass, Mt. Baldy, Needles, Ontario, Oro Grande, Parker Dam, Phelan, Pinon Hills, Pomona, Rancho Cucamonga, Redlands, Rialto, Upland, Yermo and Yucca Valley.