the magazine y - Desert Magazine of the Southwest

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Shadow mountain near Mirage valley in the Mo jape desert is 40 miles northwest of Victorville,
California, and about 40 miles south of the famous Atolia mine, second only to
Mill City, Nevada, as the most productive tungsten deposit in the United States, and one
of the richest concentrations of scheelite in the world. The white area in the range to the
left of the middle of the picture marks the location of the Shadow mountain mine which
may prove even richer than the Atolia mine.
Fortunately for Adams he had seen a group of men working
a small mining claim a few miles bad. After a gruelling
walk he reached their camp. The men who gave him water
and towed his car from the sand were the Baxter brothers,
working a small tungsten mine on the sotth side of Shadow
mountain in Mirage valley.
Strange twist of Fate, reminisced Adams later, that this
incident—getting stuck in the sand—should be the first of a
series of events that eventually led to an important discovery.
It was several weeks later that Adams picked up a newspaper
and read a small item stating that th; mineral scheelite,
in which tungsten is found, is one of "hose rocks which
fluoresce under ultra-violet light. Also that mining men were
using small ultra-violet lamps to test tungsten concentrates
in their mills.
Tungsten! Wasn't it tungsten those two mothers were mining
out near Shadow mountain that hot July day? Then Adams
had another idea. If scheelite fluoresces in ultra-violet
light, why not go out to Shadow mountain and actually prospect
for it at night? As far as he knew it had never been
done—but why wouldn't it work?
Eagerly he prepared for his Shadow mauntain adventure.
He waited for a moonless night—dark so I hat the fluorescent
scheelite, if he found it, could be seen. Unlike old-time desert
prospectors with pack burros, pick and shovel, Adams was
equipped with a small portable ultra-viole: lamp and batteries.
Across the northern slopes of Shadow mountain he trudged
one cold winter night.
From one rocky outcropping to another he worked. Presently
a lifeless rock began to glow. Here ;ind there tiny diamonds
of beautiful bluish-white light sparkled. He chipped
away some specimens of the rocks.
Next day in Los Angeles an assayer told Adams that the
dull grey rock he brought in was scheelite containing a good
percentage of tungstic acid.
Naturally he was excited. But at that time he had no con-
ception of the extent or importance of his discovery. He did
know, however, that the U-V lamp he had been using was
far too small. Its feeble rays would not travel effectively
more than a few inches. It forced him to prospect almost on
his hands and knees.
To solve this problem he went to Thomas Warren of the
Ultra Violet Products corporation. Said Adams, "I want an
ultra-violet searchlight. I want to send a beam of light all
over those mountains. Have you got one, or can you make
me one?"
Such a lamp was, of course, out of the question. But Tom
Warren did construct the largest ultra-violet lamp that had
ever been made.
Armed with this big portable lamp and a 75-pound generator,
Adams soon learned that his discovery on Shadow mountain
was a real "gold mine" of tungsten ore. The ground at
night actually sparkled with scheelite crystals.
Several months later after preparatory mining operations
had been launched, Adams felt that the time was ripe to announce
his discovery to the mining world. He invited a group
of leading California mining engineers to meet him at the
Shadow mountain site at three o'clock one winter afternoon.
He told them about his discovery; of the use of ultra-violet
rays to find scheelite.
It was my good fortune to be present that afternoon. But
I'll confess I was not impressed with the rock Adams pointed
out as he led the way to various places on Shadow mountain.
He showed us ore that he said was rich in tungsten. To
me it looked no different from the rest of the rocks covering
the hillside. In fact I overheard some of the mining engineers
express similar skepticism. Certainly no human eye could
pick and identify tungsten-bearing scheelite. Everyone knew
that the only reliable way was the tried and true assay
method.
Adams told us we were walking upon and looking at what
was probably the richest tungsten deposit in the United
12 The DESERT MAGAZINE