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This is my sibling Damocles, claim-jumping. Since this behavior once caused
a whole lot of shooting and dying, I grabbed my camera and shot him with
it.
This loading chute was very dangerous to work in; the chute clearer had
to use an iron bar to free the chute when it jammed, and now and then
he had to use small shots of dynamite to do the job. This chute is
still very dangerous; it could fall at any moment.
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Mines are not things to play in.
Here we have my sibling Damocles and
his spawn, posing for a photograph.
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This automobile got too sick to go any farther, rolled over on its
back, put its feet up in the air, and waited to die. Someone hurried
the death along with a few thousand bullets. The carcass was then
stripped of anything and everything useful.
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Desertphile, looking for old mines to reclaim. Abandoned mines are
very dangerous, but they can also be a source of a little money if
newer mining methods are applied to old mines. This mine has
nothing more to offer the fortune seeker, except perhaps death.
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Damocles taking a break from climbing rock faces.
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I did not believe Damocles when he boasted he could climb to the top of this
rock face; when he did, I was both astonished and amused: once up there he
had to find a way back down, which took him an hour or so. Note the lack of
a helmet, lack of knee pads, and lack of.... well, any and all protective
gear. This is proof that I'm the smarter of the two of us.
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Damocles at the mouth of a lava cave.
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Damocles at another lava cave. He visits these site to pick up the trash that
people tend to leave here, and to check the safety of the cave. The ceiling
could cave in at any time.
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There is a large amount of silver ore laying around this mine. Most of that ore
is too poor to bother smelting. There are three gold mines just a few miles
west-southwest of here, in Afton Canyon.
Here in this image are the walls that were built along the small-guage
rails where the ore carts were loaded at the chute. At the end of
this rail was once a brick-lined smelter, so there was no doubt
also a stamp nearby.
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Here is a better image of the wall. Look at how well it was made--- amazing!
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Desert humor.
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All that is left of an adobe building at Riggs, California.
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The trash dump of Riggs, California. There are hundreds of tin cans here.
Dumps like this are scattered all over the Mojave Desert.
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Here is Barb, using the desert's wind to travel.
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Desertphile in the Hand of the Land.
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For a month or so I lived here, in this palapa under the tree.
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The palapa, which shows how open and inviting it is. This is a nice
place to stay in the spring and fall, but during the summer the bugs
and insects are too great a bother.
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The second time my pickup's gearbox protection rod was bent!
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I protest Scientology Inc.'s crimes and human rights abuses, even in the desert! :-)
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Near the Blue Bell mine.
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This is the "before and after" image of the steel bar
under my pickup that protects the gearbox. Desert travel is very
hard on automobiles; in many places, the best way in and out is
on foot or on a horse. My pickup has a "open" differential,
which means that if one of the rear wheels is stuck in sand, that
wheel continues to spin while the opposite wheel does not. This
means that once stuck, it is a lot of work with a shovel, a jack,
and assorted blankets to get unstuck.
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caliente.jpg
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The road to Carp, Nevada.
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Carp, Nevada. I didn't find anyone living here. Kind of looked
like the whole town was abandoned.
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Shack at China Ranch, near Tecopa California.
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Building at China Ranch
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Castle Rock Camp Grounds
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Train bridge, on the way to Denver
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Train bridge, on the way to Denver
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Miner's shack, Utah
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Miner's shack, Utah
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Elgin Schoolhouse, Nevada.
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Big hook, on a corral in the Mojave Desert.
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The road to Moore, Utah.
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Navaho Rug
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Navaho Rug
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Navaho Rug
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Navaho Rug, Storm
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Rainbow Valley, Nevada
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Dine'tah
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Dine'tah
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Hubbell's Trading Post, Dine'tah.
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The ShyMobile, Dine'tah.
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