Rare 1st-ed report describes & maps Cerro Gordo silver mines — largest ever in SoCal. Mine area is still accessible, near Lone Pine, Keeler, in Owens Valley, Inyo County, California. ALL 5 oversize maps in rear pocket, plus 24 inside maps; possibly the most sought-after California mining report of them all, VG+ condition. Small portion of oversize color map, Geologic map of the Cerro Gordo Mining District, Inyo County, California. Note location of town of Cerro Gordo, Hart Camp and entrance to the Belshaw shaft, one of the district’s biggest moneymakers. H ere’s a chance to explore one of the richest mining sites in California history, Cerro Gordo, from your living-room chair. Why is this report special? Rare first-edition locates and describes every gold and silver mine in the Cerro Gordo Mining District. This is the ONLY USGS report on these incredibly rich mines. Has 5 BIG separate maps in a rear pocket that shows all the mines, keyed to the text. You could wait. To find another first edition with all the maps in VG condition. The report is USELESS without the maps. This is the ONLY full-length government report ever published about gold and silver mining at California’s fabulously rich mountaintop mine, Cerro Gordo, in Inyo County. Two steamships plied the waters of then-filled Owens Lake, transporting ore across the lake to begin its journey 200 miles south to Los Angeles. In fact, some historians credit the Cerro Gordo mines for the very existence of Los Angeles as a city. Just like the Comstock Lode is widely believed responsible for the financial stability of San Francisco, Cerro Gordo had the same effect on L. Very rare and in very good condition This first edition is very rare and in very good to fine condition (one of the best copies that I have seen in 30+ years). It has all five oversize separate maps (two in color) in the rear pocket, and all are in very good to near-fine condition, with strong folds and no soiling. BEWARE of reprints Cheesy cheap overseas reprints of some of these old reports are now slowly filtering into the marketplace. They do NOT have the large separate maps. Without the maps, these reprinted reports are absolutely useless. Not to mention that the reprint photos are almost illegible and look like 1969 photocopies. Honestly, if these reprints were any good, we would be the first to sell them. But they are illegible garbage. Mining report value has sky-rocketed You won’t be finding one of these anytime soon. This is NOT a reprint. This 62-year-old (1963) first edition is harder to find than a snowball in Death Valley in July. I used to run into one or two a year. This is the first one I have found in 10 years. Investors are snapping up these first editions the second they appear on the market. Old deposits that weren’t economic to mine are fast becoming VERY economic with gold and silver prices going through thr roof. Investors realize that very few of these mining reports were ever printed, and they are a wise investment indeed. Cost of these reports have sky-rocketed over the last 10 years. And it’s no secret why: This report is packed with geologic information, ore value, mine production stats and history. Once it’s gone; it’s gone. I have no more of these to sell. Spectacular view of Owens Valley and Sierra Nevada including Mt. Whitney from a point near Hart Camp, near Cerro Gordo, in the Inyo Mountains. Treasure trove of information Geology of the Cerro Gordo Mining District, Inyo County, California is not some coffee-table book; it was prepared by the Geological Survey and the California Division of Mines and Geology. It’s a treasure trove of info for history buffs, bottle collectors, photographers, geologists, hikers, offroaders, rockhounds, prospectors, stock certificate collectors – just about anyone interested in exploring or learning about old mine sites in the historic Cerro Gordo Mining District, home to the most productive silver mines in Southern California history. The site is amid the spectacular scenery of the rugged Inyo Mountains and surrounding Mojave Desert, about 15 miles from the western border of Death Valley National Park. Although Cerro Gordo townsite is Southern California’s best-preserved ghost town and only a few miles outside Lone Pine, it receives far fewer visitors than the heavily promoted ghost towns of Bodie in Mono County and Rhyolite, outside Death Valley. Also a valuable tool for stock certificate collectors Because this report also lists mine owners and different names for the same mine, it is also a valuable tool for collectors of stock certificates. Some mine descriptions contain brief histories of the mines in question (including dates of actual production) and previous owners. Town had a brothel, no churches and weekly murders In its 1870s heyday, Cerro Gordo was a rough-and-tumble boomtown with two brothels and no churches or schools; murders averaged about one a week. “Cerro Gordo” means “fat hill, ” and fat it was, with silver. Small section of oversized, separate color map from pocket: Isometric block diagram of the Cerro Gordo mine. Yield per ton averaged 140 ounces of silver. By 1869, the district boasted 700 mining claims within one square mile of the town. Steamboats were used to transport ore and bullion across then-wet Owens Lake (now sucked dry by Los Angeles’s thirst for water). Contains much on mines and subterranean workings Unlike other USGS geology reports about California quadrangles and mining districts, this 83-page report has much on the mines themselves, as opposed to just academic geology. This information includes locations of the mines and maps of subterranean workings for most of the major prospects. Charles Lease tunnel – 2,800 feet south of Cerro Gordo and 1,700 feet north of the Morning Star mine at an altitude of 7,960 feet. Ignacio mine, which comprises more than 4,000 feet of tunnel, a glory hole and many pits and trenches. Sunset mine, in Cerro Gordo Canyon. 75 miles west of Cerro Gordo at an altitude of 7,250 feet. Newtown mine, for many years covered by a large and conspicuous shafthouse and is equipped with a horse whim. Newsboy mine, extracted by means of an inclined winze and sublevel on the vein, 40 feet below the tunnel level. Plus others, large and small. Here are a few titles of included maps, tables and illustrations. View of Cerro Gordo looking east. Table showing production of Cerro Gordo mine. Map of workings of Omega tunnel, Cerro Gordo mine (whole page). Enlarged geologic map of area surrounding Cerro Gordo to show location of principal tunnel workings (full page). Map of workings of Safeguard tunnel (half page). Map of Hungry Bat winze and tunnel. Map of Union tunnel workings (Union mine) showing relation of Union chimney (“China stope”) to Cerro Gordo fault and Union dike. Geology described in detail Because this is, after all, a book about mining and geology, it does cover the latter topic in minute detail. Ores of the Cerro Gordo mine occur in Devonian marble of the Lost Burro formation on the east or footwall side of the northward-trending Cerro Gordo fault. The fault is seemingly normal and carries Chainman shale down on the west against the marble of the Lost Burro formation. The two principal ore channels (known as the Union chimney on the north and the Jefferson chimney on the south) occur in fractured marble close to the master Cerro Gordo fault. They were fed by fissures that formed in sympathy to movement on the master fault. Major ore bodies also occurred in the sheared Jefferson diabasic dike. Quartz veins with northwest strike yielded siliceous ores of silver, lead and copper. Carbonate-zinc ores replaced unmineralized Lost Burro marble along the bedding. 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. Small section of map from book showing Cerro Gordo’s location in respect to Darwin, Lone Pine, Owens Lake, Hunter Mountain, Ubehebe District and Owenyo – all in California. Cerro Gordo is in the Inyo Mountains, scenically overlooking Owens Valley, about 220 highway miles northeast of Los Angeles, California; nearest town with services is Lone Pine, 15 miles away. The mines are currently privately owned, and permission may be needed. Cerro Gordo is about 30 miles from the Inyo County seat of Independence and 60 miles from Kern County. It is also about 10 air miles from the new mid-western boundary of Death Valley National Park. Nearest towns with supermarkets and chain stores are Ridgecrest and Bishop, CA, both about 75-80 highway miles away. The area around Cerro Gordo for many miles in all directions is chiefly unpopulated mountain and desert wilderness. The mining district is only accessible by dirt roads. The road to Cerro Gordo (and some other roads to mines in the Inyo Mountains) are plainly marked on the Auto Club of Southern California Death Valley road map, so that road map can be used easily to correlate some exact mileages to mines and other geologic features on maps from this report. A normal automobile with reasonable clearance usually can navigate the main road to Cerro Gordo, but side roads usually require vehicles with high clearance and sometimes 4WD. Check local conditions before proceeding. The book: Geology of the Cerro Gordo Mining District, Inyo County, California, Geological Survey Professional Paper 408, 1963, by C. Merriam, (prepared in cooperation with the State of California, Department of Natural Resources, Division of Mines), United States Government Printing Office, Washington, D. Stiff paper covers, 8.5 by 11 inches. This is one of the nicest copies that I have seen of this rare report. Condition is very good to near fine; ditto for large separate maps in the rear pocket. Corners are bumped throughout, and the covers have some discoloration. Couple words written on cover. Some slight toning throughout. You get what you pay for. I post feedback once a week. Detail from oversize separate map Composite map of workings, Cerro Gordo mine. Note the complexity and layers of adits and shafts. The fine print: Feel free to contact me if you have any questions about the item or terms of sale. Not responsible for typographical errors. Nearby counties Counties adjacent to Inyo are Mono, Fresno, Tulare, Kern and San Bernardino; nearby counties include: Riverside, Orange, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Tuolumne and Alpine. Towns, population areas and interesting sites in or near Inyo County include Aberdeen, the Alabama Hills, Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest, Argus, Badwater, Ballarat, Big Pine, Bishop, Bullfrog, Cartago, Cerro Gordo, China Lake Naval Weapons Center, Cottonwood Lakes, Coso Junction, Darwin, Death Valley Junction, Dolomite, Dunmovin, Eureka Sand Dunes, Fossil Falls, Furnace Creek, Greenwater, Haiwee Reservoir, Independence, Inyokern, Keeler, Laws, Lake Sabrina, Little Lake, Lone Pine, Mt. Whitney, Olancha, Owens Lake, Onion Valley, Panamint Springs, Pearsonville, petroglyphs, Rhyolite, Saline Valley, Scotty’s Castle, Shoshone, Sierras, Sierra Nevada, Stovepipe Wells, Swansea, Trona, Tecopa, Ubehebe Crater, Whitney Portal. Good luck and thanks for looking!